Myers, Team Star brite lead Lucas Oil Qualifier’s first day of Match 3
ALEXANDRIA, Minn. – Team Star brite jumped out to an early lead when the third group of anglers hit Lake Le Homme Dieu and the connected lakes for the first day of Match 3 at the General Tire Team Series Lucas Oil Qualifier. The trio collectively caught 84 bass for 151 pounds, 5 ounces.
Leading the team was Britt Myers with 40 fish for 63-13, to go with solid days from teammates Alton Jones Jr. (25 for 52–1) and Roy Hawk (19 for 35-7) as they ended the day 26-2 over second-place Team Fox Rent A Car.
According to Myers, it was a team effort as their initial plan was to divide the areas between the different lakes in the chain to search for the most productive water.
Divide and conquer
With several lakes in play, Myers said the team’s first thought was to separate and cover different lakes. Team captain Alton Jones Jr. delegated who went where and although Myers didn’t get to go where he wanted, it all worked out.
“The maps we had were vague and didn’t show great contours, but one of the lakes stood out to me,” Myers said. “Alton said, ‘I’ll go here and Roy go there,’ and I was like, ‘dangit,’ because I wanted to go to that one he gave to Roy, but it worked out well for us as the lake I had ended up being really good.”
Even though Myers would eventually lead the pack, it resulted from a steady catch on SCORETRACKER® all day after a slow start.
“I wasn’t leading at first and it started pretty slow for me,” he said. “The fish started chasing bait up on the grass flats and the bite got better and better. Eventually, Roy came to my area and Alton came over after that. There was room for us all to fish.”
Other teams noticed all three anglers in one team fishing in close proximity and it was obvious to everyone in the area it was a good spot.
“It was a lot of cat and mouse to protect the best areas from the other teams,” Myers said. “We planned to catch as many as we could because there was no hiding our area because it was out in the open.”
The leading pattern
When the team divvied the lakes, Myers went to Lake Darling and ended up being the best on the chain for the day. He started with finesse baits before switching to a faster moving green pumpkin ½-ounce Z-Man Ever Green Jack Hammer ChatterBait with a matching swimbait trailer.
“I was able to catch a few right away in Lake Darling on a drop shot and then realized the bladed jig was the way to go,” Myers said. “It was typical grass fishing, and I was focusing on the edges of the grass and the high percentage areas like points in the grass.”
Although other baits may have produced, Myers went with the ChatterBait for efficiency.
“I know I could have continued to catch them on a drop-shot, but the ChatterBait was faster and you could catch more just because of how much more water you could cover,” he said.
At the end of one competition day, team Fox Rent A Car (James Elam, Brent Chapman, and Jonathon VanDam) had 125-3 and team B&W Trailer Hitches (Mark Davis, Cliff Pace, and Gary Klein) had 124-10.
Looking ahead
Match 3 Day 2 of the Lucas Oil Qualifier will broadcast at the following times on Outdoor Channel: Feb. 4 (2-4 p.m. ET), Feb. 5 (4-6 p.m. ET) and Feb. 10 (9-11 a.m. ET)