The team of Richard Villemarette and Josh Sikes traveled to Arkansas for the Bass Cat Owners Championship hoping “not to be humiliated in the ultra-clear water of the reservoirs.” If day 1 is any indication, they're well on their way to surpassing that goal as they’ve staked themselves to a slim lead after the two-session opening day of competition with six fish that weighed 15.29 pounds. The husband-and-wife team of Ivan Morris and Janet Morris of Virginia sits in 2nd, less than a pound back at 14.47.
Villemarte and Sikes practiced on Lake Norfork, one of tomorrow’s two lakes, and on Monday evening they spent time examining what they could on Bull Shoals, the last of the four venues.
“We have as much of a game plan as we did for today,” Villemarette said.
He hopes that a 4-pounder Sikes lost Monday morning will not come back to haunt them. They caught their fish in the morning at Crown Lake on a jerkbait, then used a dropshot to add three more at Thunderbird.
The Morris tandem used a dropshot at Crown and paired a dropshot with a spoon at Thunderbird.
Two other teams are less than 5 pounds off the lead, so one good bite will make a huge difference. The winning team will earn an all-expenses -aid trip to the Amazon to fish for peacock bass.
BassFan will provide a more detailed summary about the winning pattern tomorrow and thoughts from all of the competitors will be available on the BCB website later this week.
