GILBERTSVILLE, Ky. – Day 1 of the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Plains Division started out with a lot of variables in play on Kentucky Lake. The last few years, Kentucky has been somewhat plug and play in the spring – smallmouth offshore or near the main lake have been the move. For this one, with rising, dirty water and lots of current, nobody was quite sure what the game plan would be.
Still, at least early, the smallmouth are looking good, with Brad Jelinek leading the way with 22 pounds, 11 ounces of brown on Day 1. In second, Joe Lucarelli sacked up 21-15, and Marcus Sykora sits in third with 20-10. Notably, the Top 10 is all over the place in this one – Lucarelli is a local to the lake now, as is Drew Morgan in fifth and Sam Lashlee in seventh, but plenty of anglers from well out of town found success on Day 1.
On the co-angler side, Mike Mueller took the early lead with 16-8, and he’s narrowly ahead of a bunch of other good co-angler bags.
Quality over quantity for Jelinek
With a fairly short practice and wild conditions, Jelinek went out with a plan, but not one he knew would succeed.
“It’s pretty awesome, I’m not going to lie,” he said of Day 1. “It’s just one of those deals that I just want to catch them like that again tomorrow and do it again. You know? It’s so freaking hard out there, at least for me, but when I get one to bite, it’s generally a big one.”
Though he’s from Missouri, Jelinek has now fished Kentucky a decent amount in the spring, but this is a new challenge.
“I culled twice, and I lost two, I think I might have had 10 bites,” he said. “I’m not catching a lot. The water coming up, tons of current, and super dirty water is not ideal. I’m trying a little bit of everything.”
Coming into town after another event, he had a spotty practice to say the least.
“We got canceled at Norfork, and we all drove straight here,” he said. “The first day of practice that we had, it was, like, not even a half day, because we left that morning, and it was a 6-hour, 7-hour drive, maybe even longer by the time we had to get rerouted 45 times because of all the rivers and stuff being flooded.
“But, anyway, it was blowing 50 miles an hour and raining sideways,” he said. “So, the first day of practice, it was terrible. I got, like, two bass. Second day of practice, I grinded, and I thought I found some. I didn’t know what to expect. I caught one pretty good one and then a couple other decent ones. After that, I went to a completely different arena and I never even caught a bass the third day. So, I’ve got one zone, and I’m just going to wear it out.”
Jelinek has had a lot of close calls in Toyota Series events, often on home waters – if he can keep it rolling in this one, it’d be a pretty incredible way to pop his first win with MLF.
“I’m going to pray tonight that I can catch ‘em again,” he said. “I know the big ones are down there. If I can get five bites and get them in the boat, I think they’ll be big ones. But other than that, man, I don’t know. It’s not like I’m nervous because it is what it is, but I’ve pretty much got two things in my head and my hand. So, I’m going to go do me and try to get lucky again.”
Top 10 pros
1. Brad Jelinek – 22 – 11 (5)
2. Joe Lucarelli – 21 – 15 (5)
3. Marcus Sykora – 20 – 10 (5)
4. Blake Schroeder – 20 – 8 (5)
5. Drew Morgan – 20 – 7 (5)
6. Ken Thompson – 19 – 10 (5)
7. Sam Lashlee – 19 – 6 (5)
8. Chase Serafin – 18 – 10 (5)
9. Tristan McCormick – 18 – 8 (5)
10. Yukihiro Sawamura – 18 – 6 (5)