Kentucky crankbait king retains lead – by flipping
Napier keeps catching fish, leaves rest of field thunderstruck
HENDERSON, N.C. – Neither rain, nor hail, nor scattered fish could keep Arlie Napier from catching a king’s quarry of bass today. As rain approached Kerr Lake in the morning and thunderstorms rumbled through this afternoon, the Middlesboro, Ky., pro found a way to catch five bass weighing 17 pounds, 3 ounces and held onto the lead qualifying spot he captured yesterday in the final $185,000 EverStart Eastern Division tournament of the year.
“Man, that’s fun,” he said.
Initially, it didn’t look good for Napier Friday. All week he has been catching his fish in deeper water, about 12 to 15 feet, by using a crankbait – his favorite technique. But today the rain scattered the fish in his prime location, leaving him to scramble a little bit. He managed to catch a limit of smaller fish at his spot by about 10:30, but he knew it wouldn’t be enough.
So what did the young crankbait king decide to do?
“I caught a limit cranking,” he said, “then I went flipping.”
Indeed, he headed toward the bank and started throwing a watermelon jig at the bushes in the shallows. With the way things have gone for Napier this week, it’s no surprise what happened next.
“I flipped out two 4-pounders and two 3-pounders, and I broke off one 5-pounder,” he said. “I found a bunch of fish I wasn’t even fishing for.”
In fact, the pro leader said he lost some 9 pounds of fish today, on top of the 17-plus that he brought in.
Due to tornado warnings and pouring rain in North Carolina this afternoon, EverStart officials held a hasty, shotgun-style tournament weigh-in that would have put John Elway’s two-minute offense to shame. Afterward, Napier said he would go back to his trusty crankbaits – and still untapped fish – for tomorrow’s final round. But that didn’t stop him from calling his wife to remind her to bring his flipping rod from home, just in case.
“I might blow out tomorrow, but I’m going to try and keep it up for three days in a row,” he said. “I’m just glad I’m down to the last day.”
Sliding into second place just behind Napier was Mark Inman, a local pro from Henderson who’s fishing on his home lake. Inman, who is competing in his first full year on the EverStart Series, caught five bass weighing 17 pounds even. He worked by flipping and pitching early, then switching over to crankbaits later.
While he says he found that the fish seemed to want something different every day this week, Inman picked the right time to peak.
“Today is the best day I’ve had, including practice,” he said. “The rain and clouds helped me, to be honest. This is a great lake. To do well here means a lot to me.”
Points title still up for grabs
Third place in the Pro Division semifinals went to Frank Poirier of Hopewell, Va., who caught five bass weighing 16 pounds, 11 ounces.
In an interesting scenario, tomorrow Poirier has a chance to steal the Eastern Division standings title away from Mark Rogers of Naples, Fla. Yesterday, points leader Koby Kreiger of Osceola, Ind., was taken out of title consideration by engine troubles and a 60th-place finish at this tournament. Rogers, who came into this tournament sitting in second place in the standings with 571 points, missed the cut today and placed 13th. Poirier is in fifth place in the standings with 560 points. If Poirier places either first or second tomorrow, he will earn enough points to take the 2001 standings title.
But Poirier, a former EverStart winner with six top-10 finishes, knows that’s not going to be an easy task.
“I’m not going to cut (Rogers) any slack. I’m going to try and win this tournament,” he said. “But Mark’s a good guy who fishes full-time. If I don’t win, I hope he gets it.”
Rounding out the top 10 qualifiers in the Pro Division were Wayne Jeffcoat (fourth place) of Chapin, S.C., with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 9 ounces; Joel Richardson (fifth) of Kernersville, N.C., with five bass weighing 15 pounds, 8 ounces; David Wright (sixth) of Lexington, N.C., with five bass weighing 14 pounds, 5 ounces; Sean Stickler (seventh) of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with five bass weighing 13 pounds, 15 ounces; Robert Walser (eighth) of Lexington, N.C., with five bass weighing 13 pounds, 12 ounces; Wally Szuba (ninth) of Cary, N.C., with five bass weighing 13 pounds, 8 ounces; and William Smith (10th) of Moncks Corner, S.C., with five bass weighing 13 pounds, 8 ounces.
Wiser half of Hale team gains co-angler lead
It’s a good omen when a father-son tandem makes the semifinal round of a big-time tournament together, especially when one of them takes the lead. Jimmy Hale Sr. of Rocky Mount, Va., captured the Co-Angler Division lead qualifying spot after catching five bass weighing 12 pounds even.
Unfortunately for his son, Jimmy Hale Jr., also of Rocky Mount, fortune only struck once in the family this week. Both Hales qualified for today’s semifinal round, but only one gets to advance. Hale Jr. finished in 27th place.
“Yeah, he didn’t have a lot of luck today,” the elder Hale said.
But Dad did. Hale Sr. took advantage of the wet weather and a strong pro partner, Jeffcoat, to work his flipping stick among the shallow-water bushes.
“I think the rain helped,” Hale Sr. said. “It moved the fish out of the bushes a little bit so it wasn’t quite so tight.”
In tomorrow’s final round, however, Hale Sr. will likely have to shift gears into crankbait mode. He’s fishing out of the back of Napier’s boat.
“I feel good about it. My strong point is flipping. His is cranking. I’m just going to do whatever he tells me to do and I’ll follow suit,” Hale Sr. said.
Rounding out the Co-Angler Division top 10 qualifiers were Bob Scott of Lexington, N.C., (second place) with five bass weighing 9 pounds, 9 ounces; Bruce Bowersock (third) of Lake Worth, Fla., with three bass weighing 9 pounds, 6 ounces; Tee Watkins (fourth) of East Point, Ky., with four bass weighing 7 pounds, 4 ounces; Randy Buchanan (fifth) of Bullock, N.C., with three bass weighing 6 pounds, 9 ounces; Douglas Sauls (sixth) of Deltona, Fla., with two bass weighing 6 pounds, 4 ounces; Paul Reed (seventh) of Cordova, S.C., with three bass weighing 6 pounds, 1 ounce; Gary Fint (eighth) of Frankfort, Ky., with three bass weighing 5 pounds, 15 ounces; Carl Dillard (ninth) of Columbia, S.C., with three bass weighing 5 pounds, 10 ounces; and Arthur Partin (10th) of Petersburg, Va., with three bass weighing 5 pounds, 9 ounces.
Tomorrow, the top 10 pros and co-anglers will start at zero for the final round. The winning pro will receive $15,000 cash and a new Ranger boat, and the winning co-angler will collect $6,000 cash.
Saturday’s final-round action begins at 6 a.m. at Satterwhite Point Marina located at 6254 Satterwhite Point Road outside of Henderson. The final weigh-in begins at 3:30 p.m. at the Wal-Mart Supercenter located at 200 North Cooper Road in Henderson.
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