Rand leads opening round at Pickwick
Skrzekut secures top co-angler spot
FLORENCE, Ala. – Despite sunnier skies, it was a little tougher fishing on day two at the EverStart Series Central Division tournament at Pickwick Lake. Leading the pros into Friday’s semifinal round is Brian Rand of Mattawan, Mich., who was one of the few competitors who managed to bring in two consistent sacks of bass weighing over 10 pounds each on the first two days.
Rand, who weighed in 10 bass worth 22 pounds, 2 ounces in the opening round, edged out local pro Clay Fritts of Florence, who caught eight fish weighing 21-14 and held onto second place.
Overall, the catch weights Thursday were down a bit compared to Wednesday, which was surprising since the sun that many anglers were hoping for came out today. Competitors are finding that the bass on this part of the Tennessee River are still reluctant to spawn due to cooler water temperatures, making for a pretty touchy prespawn bite.
But the pro leader seems to have found a way around that this week.
“I’ve been doing something that I guarantee nobody else is doing,” he said. “I’m bed-fishing. I happened to find a creek with some warm water in it.”
Most of the anglers here would love to have a warm-water hole with some spawning bass in it, but Rand appears to be one of the very few who has found one. He caught just one short bass during practice, so before the tournament he did a little poking around and learned from a local clam diver about a nice little warm-water spot. While many competitors are fishing in prespawn water anywhere from 55 to 60 degrees, the water in Rand’s location went from 65 degrees Wednesday to 71 degrees Thursday – ideal for spawning.
“I’m making a fairly long run to get there and a fairly long, treacherous run to get up in the creek,” he said.
It’s been worth it. He caught two 4-pound largemouths off the bed Wednesday and a 3-pounder and another 4-pounder from it Thursday. For his bedding fish, he’s using a Poor Boy’s jig that he says the bass “will downright eat.” He filled out his stringers over the first two days using a fluke and a spinner bait.
For Rand, who’s a stay-at-home dad for his day job, his performance so far this week has been ultimately rewarding.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “I’ve only been bass fishing for five years. I’m a Mr. Mom, so when my wife’s home, I’m out fishing. After such a bad practice, I was ready to head back north and start looking for a job.”
But he might be rethinking that strategy should his success continue this week and his spawning bass hold up through Saturday.
“If I win this, my wife will quit the day I get home and then I’ll fish full-time,” he laughed.
Rest of the best so far
Fritts held onto his runner-up spot by virtue of his five-bass weight of 14 pounds, 6 ounces Wednesday. Thursday he tacked on three more bass worth 7-8. He said he caught all of his bass using a variety of spinner baits.
“I didn’t go to where I caught my good fish yesterday,” he said, explaining that he didn’t want to wear out his prime fishing hole. “I caught three fish, then I quit and went looking for new spots. I did what I wanted to do today.”
Moving up a notch was pro Jonathan Newton of Rogersville, Ala., who advanced one spot into third place with a two-day total of nine bass weighing 21 pounds, 5 ounces. Despite his top-five performance in the opening round, Newton said the fishing is less than fruitful.
“It’s tough right now,” he said. “The fish are wanting to move up and spawn, but the water’s just not right yet. The weather put the fish tighter together, but they were a little slower to bite.”
Snickers Big-Bass winner Troy Eakins of Nixa, Mo., rode his 13-pound, 13-ounce sack Thursday into the fourth-place spot with a two-day total of 20-10. He anchored his four-bass stringer today – the day’s heaviest – with his 4-pound, 12-ounce big bass.
Rounding out the top five in the Pro Division was day-one leader Steven Lake of Lowell, Ark., who caught seven bass weighing 20 pounds even and placed fifth in the opening round.
Some familiar names also made the top-20 cut into Friday’s pro semifinals. FLW standout and smallmouth hunter Clark Wendlandt of Cedar Park, Texas, landed in the sixth spot with a weight of 19-13, and prior EverStart champion Jim Tutt of Longview, Texas, came in eighth. Also lurking on the leaderboard are Greg Hackney of Oak Ridge, La., Craig Powers of Rockwood, Tenn., and Darrel Robertson of Jay, Okla.
The opening-round cut weight in the Pro Division was 16 pounds, 5 ounces.
Co-angler Skrzekut finesses into first
Brent Skrzekut of Hammond, Ind., worked his way into first place in the Co-angler Division with a two-day total of nine bass weighing 18 pounds, 2 ounces. He bested second-place Robert Garner of Florence, Ala., by over 2 1/2 pounds.
Skrzekut, whose name defies any pronunciation key, used a finesse pattern to land his standout stringers in the opening round.
“I feel pretty confident about my pattern,” he said. “The lake’s pretty pressured right now so I’m finesse fishing with light line and tackle, and green-pumpkinseed color.”
Garner caught 10 bass weighing 15 pounds, 7 ounces for second place.
The rest of the top five co-anglers are Jimmy Brown of Little Rock, Ark., (third place) with nine bass weighing 13 pounds, 14 ounces; Mark Schuman of Greenwood, Ark., (fourth) with 10 bass weighing 13-12; and Guy Lindstrom of Horseshoe Bend, Ark., (fifth) with seven bass weighing 12-14.
Tim Hollifield of Byhalia, Miss., earned co-angler big-bass honors with a beautiful 6-pound, 10-ounce smallmouth bass, the biggest fish of the day.
The co-angler cut weight settled on 9 pounds, 14 ounces.
The semifinal round commences at 6 a.m. Friday as competitors take off from McFarland Park in Florence. All anglers’ weights will be reset to zero. The top 10 anglers in both divisions following tomorrow’s fishing will advance to Saturday’s final round. Friday and Saturday’s weigh-ins will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 3100 Hough Road in Florence at 4 p.m.
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