X-Factor Duckett Leads In Lake, River Key For Others

As the day dawned this morning, 50 Bassmaster Classic anglers sat at idle, and wondered what sat beneath the waters of Alabama's Lay Lake – questioned what massive, or minor, changes had unfurled since the final practice 2 days prior.

Not much had changed, and as the field slapped its bags down on the scales, three things became immediately obvious: There is a local advantage, spotted bass are a major factor, and the river's on big-time.

The leader, local Boyd Duckett from nearby Demopolis, pulled ahead with a phat 19-14 sack that included an 8-02 mule largemouth. He's running and gunning around the lake, visiting historic areas that have played for him in the past.

In 2nd is Randy Howell, also an Alabaman (although a transplant). He fished up the river and whacked all spotted bass. He's not as far up as Jay Yelas

was when he won the Classic here in 2002, but he's on the same type of bite.

Howell's 17-15 limit of spots puts him 1-15 behind Duckett.

Skeet Reese is fishing within sight of Howell, and was shocked when his spot limit settled out at 17-08. He's currently 3rd, and 2-06 behind Duckett.

Tim Horton, another Alabaman, scrambled and fished all three parts of the lake. He hauled in a 17-05 limit, and in 4th, trails Duckett by 2-09.

Terry "Big Show" Scroggins did a little of everything today. His 17-00 puts him 5th – 2-14 in back of Duckett.

Tommy Biffle whacked a solid spot sack up near Howell and Reese. He's currently 6th with 16-11.

Federation qualifier Terry McWilliams, fishing a river ledge pattern, weighed all spots and sits in 7th with 15-09.

Here's a look at the Top 10 standings. Distance behind the leader appears in red in parentheses.

1. Boyd Duckett: 19-14
2. Randy Howell: 17-15 (1-15)
3. Skeet Reese: 17-08 (2-06)
4. Tim Horton: 17-05 (2-09)
5. Terry Scroggins: 17-00 (2-14)
6. Tommy Biffle: 16-11 (3-03)
7. Terry McWilliams: 15-09 (4-06)
8. Ish Monroe: 15-00 (4-14)
9. Gerald Swindle: 14-10 (5-04)
10. Kevin Wirth: 14-09 (5-05)

Duckett's bite seems to have the greatest depth right now, because he's doing it all over, in places he's done it before.

The river bite appears to be the most fragile, and that comes down to a couple of factors. Current shouldn't be a problem – the Logan Martin Dam (directly above where they're fishing) ran 1 turbine today until 2:00, and is expected to keep up the same schedule tomorrow and Sunday.

Instead, the anglers in the river could get hurt bad by boat traffic, which was already somewhat of a factor today. Gerald Swindle left the river with 2 hours left to fish, which he regretted, but he left because he felt boat wake had affected his bite.

Tomorrow's Saturday, which means spectator traffic could get heavy. Aaron Martens was blown out by boats in 2002 up the river, so that remains a top concern. Also, there are four anglers in the Top 10 all fishing that same area, so the fish could start to dwindle by Sunday.

Horton and Scroggins are big-time wildcards right now, because they're definitely on good stuff, but whether it can last isn't known.

McWilliams seems settled in what he's doing, and doesn't have too many jitters. Then again, if he pops a 17 bag of spots tomorrow, and starts Sunday with 40 boats on him, the Classic rookie could let it get to him.

The Weights

Although Duckett's 19-14 and Howell's 17-15 look unduly strong, they're actually pretty vulnerable, because the largemouths in Lay can top out at the 10-pound range (as evidenced by Duckett's 8-02 monster). And 5s are plentiful.

The weights throughout the field decrease on a fairly steady curve, with lots of anglers in the 11- to 14-pound range. One big fish for any of those anglers should be good enough to push them into the Top 10 tomorrow. Two 5s would do the same.

So nothing's out of reach for at least the Top 25 right now.

The Weather

The warming water still hasn't reached the point to excite the female largemouths. There are tons of bucks scratching along the banks, but the big females are still holed up off the bank, and they're not eating.

Wind should arrive tomorrow, at around 16 mph, but the bigger factor could be rain, which may arrive late Saturday. Nobody's quite sure what the rain would do to the shallow bite – it might help by warming the water – but it'll almost certainly help the river bite if there's enough rain that Alabama Power opens another gate.

Duckett Feels Good

No angler has ever won a Classic in his home state, but Duckett aims to change that. BassFan called him the "X-Factor" for this Classic, because of his local knowledge, and sound experience. He's a longtime tournament angler who's finally set with his business to the point that he can move out for a tour in the "bigs."

"I'm in the hunt, so I feel good about that," he said. "I just want to stay in it so I can make a charge at it the last day."

He's working two patterns. The first involves staging fish on secondary points, which he uses to catch a limit. The other is a shallow-water pattern for kicker fish. Both patterns target largemouths, which he thinks he can win with.

He caught an 8-02 from one of his spots today on a Berkley Powerbait plastic, which was the big fish of the day.

"There's very few large fish shallow, but that's what I'm targeting," he noted. "I'm trying to find them, and tomorrow I'll do about the same.

"I'm fishing areas of lake that have always produced big fish in the past."

About whether or not his Lay Lake experience gives him an advantage, he said: "It was an advantage to me today. I got on a little something this morning, chased it down, then had a half-dozen other places like it, all because I know the lake.

"Whatever I find tomorrow, I'll chase that pattern too."

He didn't even look at the river today.

About his emotions, he said: "I'm cautiously excited. I'm not nervous. I think I can win this thing, but I've got to get the bites. I know where they live, and I'm going to fish for them both days. I may weigh less than a limit, but I'll fish to win this tournament."

2nd: Howell Stoked

Howell's tuned to the river bite like a New York cabdriver to a 50-dollar bill. There's no change in sight.

"I'm excited about it," he said of his 17-15 bag. "It really turned out to be a good day – just like I'd hoped. The fish are in the area, and the water ran today like it needed to do to catch them.

"They ran two at the Lay Dam, and one at Logan Martin, which is the one I'm concerned with. They ran from 6:00 to 2:00, and they say it's going to run the next 2 days the same as it ran today. I'm hoping there's going to be a lot of rain coming tomorrow night. If it rains real heavy, and they run two or three turbines, the river will rise 3 or 4 feet and the fish in open water will move right to the bank and be easy to catch."

Among himself, Reese, Swindle and Biffle, he was closest to the dam. He thinks he's at the upper reaches of where the resident spots live right now. The spot where Yelas won is a bit further up, but he thinks the water's too skinny to fish up there now.

He also said a number of spectator boats followed him today, and that the first four or five fish he contacted only bit the trailer off his jig. And the first one he hooked was a 5-pound spot that was skin-hooked. He didn't land it.

"I think that had a little to do with the boat traffic. It was muddying the banks and the water's not as deep up there. There's only 4 to 7 feet of water.

"I'm exposed – I'm in the wide-open," he added. "These are resident fish and they live up here all their life. They see the same rocks every day – the same bait. They're finicky. When they don't want to bite, you can't make them bite. But if you stick them out, like today, and keep a bait in the area, you'll get one to bite."

He added that it takes all day to get his weight, but thinks if he grinds it out tomorrow, he can answer with another 16 or 18 pounds.

He's especially stoked, because he thinks a strong start is critical at the Classic. And he had a lot of family at the weigh-in today, because he lives only 30 minutes away.

> He said he's catching all his fish on a 1/2-ounce Lunker Lure Ultimate Rattlin' jig with a Berkley Gulp! Wicked Wing trailer.

3rd: Reese Shocked

Reese is the first to admit that he "sucks at guessing the weight of fish." When he walked onstage, he figured he had 12 or 13 pounds. He was about a pound off on each fish.

He was "shocked" when the scales showed 17-15.

"I feel pretty damn good," he said. "I had nothing going into this tournament. I thought I'd be going into tomorrow 6 or 7 pounds off the lead. I'm back in the game now boys."

As noted, he's fishing up the river near Howell.

"I didn't have enough time to find structure-fish in the lower end of the lake, so I basically went to a big area that was like 5 miles long, where I'd caught two 3-pounders in practice.

"They're target-oriented fish. I wanted to go somewhere that would suit my strength – where I could see what I was throwing at. I put the trolling down and fished all day long. I never went back to anything. During the course of the day, I probably only fired up the motor once and moved a half-mile, just because I was bored."

About his emotions, he said: "I can't believe it. I'm just jacked right now. I'm happy."

4th: Horton Quite Pleased

Horton bounced all over the lake, and most of his moves were the right ones.

"If I can catch that every day and maybe get on bag that's 18 or bigger, I should be right there," he said. "The spotted bass are a little smaller than what I'd found in practice, but a 5-pounder can jump that creel up there.

"Of course, the real trump card would be a 7- or 8-pound largemouth."

He went through nine keepers to compile his bag of four spots and a largemouth, and his biggest fish weighed 4 1/4 pounds. "I lost two that I didn't get a look at, and one of them felt heavy."

He fished the lower, middle and upper portions of the lake.

"Lay's not that big, and I didn't have any trouble with spectators – they were all very courteous. It was just a good day."

He was a little surprised that the big largemouths didn't bite better, but he said that could change at any time.

"When this cold front comes in, they could turn on like gangbusters. If that happens, it'll be really interesting."

5th: Scroggins Off on Right Foot

Scroggins got off to a much better start than he did at last year's Classic at Lay Lake, where he was the hometown favorite.

"I caught them three different ways – both deep and shallow – but I don't want to say exactly what I was doing right now," he said. "I fished a little conservatively because this is a 3-day event and I didn't want to go to all my stuff. Hopefully I've got enough left for the next 2 days."

He started the day in pursuit of largemouths, but shifted gears early on.

"I had a tough time getting the largemouths going, so I went after spots and got a limit, then went back to largemouth-fishing. After awhile, they started biting pretty good."

His bag would have been even better had he not lost a 5-pounder. "I believe I might be able to catch that one later in this tournament."

He had no problems with crowds.

"It was really a fun day – I had almost everything to myself. We'll have to see how that pans out later on."

6th: Biffle on the Spots

Oklahoma veteran Tommy Biffle was characteristically tight-lipped about how he compiled his 16-11 bag.

"The fish weren't exactly like I thought they'd be," he said. "They'd changed a little bit."

His bag consisted entirely of spotted bass, and the biggest pushed 5 pounds.

He was noncommittal on whether he could duplicate – or better – his weight tomorrow. "I don't know. I'll just have to go fishing and see."

7th: McWilliams Not Nervous

McWilliams qualified for the Classic through the Northern division of the BASS Federation Nation. He's far and away the best of the Federation qualifiers right now, and is well within the hunt.

With his 15-09 limit, he's 4-06 in back of Duckett.

He weighed all spotted bass today, caught from the main-river channel. Probably the best news for him is he was pretty much alone all day. And since he's an under-the-radar guy, he probably won't have many boats on him tomorrow.

"I feel pretty good, really," he said. "I caught what I thought I could catch. I was hoping for a kicker fish, but I didn't get one.

"I got a good, solid limit, then left my fish to go look for kickers. I probably shouldn't have done that. I should have stayed with what I was getting."

About his emotions, he said: "I'm not feeling intimidated. I'm just fishing. All the hoopla was over at 7:00 this morning.

"I'm just stoked. The only time I get nervous is when I do an interview. I don't do interviews well, but I fish pretty decent."

He wanted to send out some thanks to the people back home in Greenfield, Ind. "I'd like to thank them all for their prayers, well-wishes, and staying behind me. I appreciate all they've done for me. And I want to thank Ron Moses from the Federation Nation. He kept the Nation going in the state of Indiana, which gave me the opportunity to come to the Bassmaster Classic."

On whether he can win, he said: "Yep. I can. I just need to get a good bite."

8th: Monroe Knew What to Do

Ish Monroe's fish had changed a bit since he'd last visited them on Wednesday, but he was familiar with the mode they'd reverted to.

"They changed back to what they were doing last week (in pre-practice)," the Californian said. "I started catching them right away this morning on a spinnerbait, then I started flipping, but they weren't eating.

"So I just went back to the spinnerbait and started catching them again."

His 15-00 bag consisted of four largemouths and a spot. He caught 15 keepers for the day, and his biggest weighed 4 1/4 pounds.

9th: Swindle Disappointed

Swindle's one of the gang of four up the river, but he caught the least among the group (14-10).

"I'm a little disappointed because I had a chance," he said. "I had a 5-pounder to the boat twice and lost it. I can't do that tomorrow.

"And I left an area where they were biting, with 2 hours to go, to go looking."

He plans to start in the lower end of the lake tomorrow, in hopes for a big fish, then head up the river for a later bite. And he doesn't want to see any more competitors there beside the three with him today.

"We'd better not," he said. "I don't mind sharing with those three, but I don't want to see any new visitors."

He thinks he needs 18 pounds tomorrow, then 20 the last day for a chance to win

10th: Wirth Whacks 'Em

Oklahoma's Kevin Wirth said he caught at least 40 keepers. He thought his bag was only about 11 pounds, but it turned out to be 14-09.

"I'm as happy as I could be," he said. "I figured if I could catch 12 1/2 or 13 pounds, I could keep myself in the game. I knew there'd be a couple of good bags caught, but I didn't expect as many as there were. I thought there'd be quite a few 9- or 10-pound limits."

He developed three patterns during practice and ran two of them today. All of the fish he weighed in were spots.

"I was just picking stuff as I ran down the lake, and if I liked it, I'd pull up to it. Three different times I caught eight fish in eight casts.

"If I can run around and catch that same kind of weight again, I'll be in the ballgame somewhere. I don't think I'm going to change too much."

11th: Lintner Moved Around

California's Jared Lintner, the 2006 BassFan Rookie of the Year, caught a solid 14-06 bag despite breaking off his biggest fish.

"I was fishing a spinning rod with 10-pound test and when I got it up close to the boat, I tried to swing it in," he said. "It was hooked good, and I just got too excited."

He caught a limit of spots early, then moved shallow in search of kicker largemouths.

"I'll just go and do the same stuff tomorrow. I know there's bigger fish in those areas. I might change up a few colors and see if that makes a difference."

13th: Reed Missed Some

Texan Matt Reed caught 13-15, but failed to boat a few bites that would have helped him.

"I was hoping to have 15 pounds," he said. "My execution wasn't totally clean, and that cost me."

He found fish today in most of the same places he'd located them in practice.

"I did exactly what I'd planned on doing, and I'll do pretty much the same thing tomorrow. I might have to make a few adjustments to upgrade.

"The only thing that surprised me was they didn't bite this afternoon. I had nine keepers by noon and figured I'd get another decent bite to put me where I wanted to be, but it never came."

14th: No Biggies for Lane

Local ace Russ Lane of Prattville had his day unfold just about as he'd hoped, with one exception – he didn't get any big bites.

"I just didn't catch any kickers today," he said. "I started in a couple of limit holes and figured I'd spend the rest of the day chasing a big bite, but I wasn't able to get it.

"That was kind of hard to believe. I think the big ones are in their normal places, but there's just not a lot of them up (on the bank) yet. I think what I'm doing will get better as the tournament goes on. I don't think it's a dying deal."

He had 10 keepers for the day and ended up with three spots and two largemouths in his bag. The quintet was paced by a 3 1/2-pounder.

"I've dug myself a little hole. I need some kickers bad, and they're swimming in this lake."

14th: Martens Switched Species

Three-time Classic runner-up Aaron Martens of Alabama expected to catch spotted bass today, but he had four largemouths in his 13-13 bag.

"The fish made the biggest change I've ever seen in my career," he said. "Those spots are a little more intelligent than the largemouths, and they get all goofy with all of the boat traffic.

"The largies weren't affected at all, and I'm fishing for them the rest of the tournament. Those spots kicked my butt."

He went deep into his vast repertoire in an attempt to entice the spots, but nothing doing.

"I tried Senkos and all kinds of trick stuff. Nothing worked."

16th: Average Day for Ike

Mike Iaconelli rated his 13-09 bag as satisfactory.

"It was an average day," he said. "My fish were relating to the cover a little bit differently than they were in practice, and I had to make a few adjustments."

The 2006 Elite Series Angler of the Year is targeting fish that are on their way to shallow water, and he's catching a mix of largemouths and spotted bass. He's using both power and finesse techniques.

He got about 25 bites, and his biggest fish weighed about 4 1/2 pounds.

"My bites were spread pretty evenly the whole day and my execution was almost 100 percent. I did lose a few, but I don't think they would've helped me."

18th: Rojas Lurking

Texas' Dean Rojas is more than 6 1/2 pounds off the lead, but he's confident in what he's doing.

"I had chances to catch a bigger sack today, but I didn't capitalize," he said. "I like the way this thing is shaping up. It could play right into my hands."

His 13-04 bag was topped by a 4-pounder. It contained three largemouths and two spots.

"I missed a few bites that would've helped me. But those were telling me something, and I'm listening.

"I've got three patterns going, and I'm just going to keep working all three the best I can. Everything's right on track."

19th: VanDam's Bite Not Right

Kevin Vandam, a two-time Classic champion and the No. 1 angler in the world according to the BassFan World Rankings presented by Tru-Tungsten, struggled today.

He's not in terrible shape – with 13-01 he's about 7 pounds behind Duckett – but he was hoping for more.

"I'm not happy with it, that's for sure," he said of his weight. "I weighed in two spots, but I'm not fishing for them. I'm targeting largemouths, but catching a spot every now and then by accident.

"My day didn't start out real well," he added. "The fish are changing, and moving a lot right now with the water warming up. I probably moved a little too fast this morning. I have a bad habit of doing that in cold weather, when it warms up faster than the fish do. That's what I did."

He did add that he "learned a lot today," and that the sun probably hurt him the most. "The bass I was fishing for were real inactive – coming up and suspending and wanting to sun themselves, not eat.

"The bottom line is, I'd much rather have a big bag today, but I'm not going to worry about tomorrow. I know I need to catch a big sack tomorrow, but I just know I've got to fish my own style – do my own thing and what's comfortable for me. And that's what I'm going to do."

20th: Kriet Regretted Move

Oklahoma's Jeff Kriet might have been higher in the standings if he'd stayed in the place where he compiled his 12-10 bag instead of going on a hunt for kickers.

"I flailed around this morning and didn't catch my fifth fish until 11:30," he said. "Then from 12 to 1 I started smashing them, but I decided I had to go try to catch big ones.

"I ran up the river and flipped grass, and I got two bites in 3 hours. They were both little bitty ones and I missed one of them."

He won't go back to the river tomorrow because he doesn't expect Alabama power to pull current. He'll fish the lower lake and wait for the big bite to come.

"Today I tried to force the issue, and that doesn't work. Those fish bite when they want to.

"To catch a big sack, I need at least one big one because my average isn't good enough."

In addition to flipping grass, he also fished a jerkbait and a worm.

"All my stuff is really random. I'm changing up every minute."

21st: Rowland got Crowded

It was a frustrating day for Texas veteran Zell Rowland, who ended up with 12-09. He had a lot of company and he broke off his two best bites.

"I had 13 local boats on top of me the first time I stopped," he said. "They stayed for probably an hour. They'd get so close running their motors and stuff, and when you're trying to be quiet to get a bit, it's not very good."

Still, with five fish that each weighed about 2 3/4 pounds, he's not out of it. His bag contained both spots and largemouths.

He was another angler who had to make adjustments to the patterns he'd developed in practice. "I just went out and fished totally different."

24th: McClelland Still On 'Em

Arkansan Mike McClelland boated 20 keepers en route to a 12-05 bag and said his fish were just as cooperative as they'd been in practice.

"I pretty much got right back into the groove," he said. "But I was shocked that I only caught one largemouth, and I couldn't even include it in my bag – it was only a 2-pounder."

He's covering a lot of water with a stickbait and occasionally slowing down to fish a 1/2-ounce Jewel Football Jig.

"I don't think I'll do anything necessarily different tomorrow, but I might change some areas. I've got a lot more water I haven't fished.

"I feel the potential is definitely there and it just hasn't shown up yet. It's a timing deal, and I'll just keep running my pattern and see if I can't stumble into some big ones."

Notable

> Day 1 stats – 50 anglers, 46 limits, 1 four, 1 three, 2 twos.

> Duckett had some followers today, including BASS/ESPN personality and fellow pro Byron Velvick with a camera boat. "And I had four or five spectator boats – I think folks from Alabama. I recognized a few. I enjoyed that."

> Wirth witnessed an odd scene involving a piece of farm equipment. "I was fishing a point and I pulled around the corner and heard the darnedest racket, so I looked and saw a guy with his hands in his pockets watching a tractor roll down the hill. He watched it go all the way down and splash into the lake. He just casually walked up to it and it was still running, so he climbed up on some type of box that was on it and turned it off. Then he just started walking toward his house."

> It wasn't a great day for the five former Classic winners who are competing. Mike Iaconelli (16th) and Kevin VanDam (19th) are still in the hunt, but Takahiro Omori (36th), Rick Clunn (44th) and Denny Brauer (46th) are in the lower third of the field.

> BassFan Big Stick John Murray caught 10-03 today and is currently 37th. To read his full report, click here to go On Tour With The BassFan Big Sticks.

Weather Forecast

Here's the Weather Channel's forecast for the remaining tournament days.

> Sat, Feb. 24 – Mostly Cloudy/Wind – 66°/53°
- Wind: From the southeast at 20 mph

> Sun, Feb. 25 – Partly Cloudy/Wind – 64°/39°
- Wind: From the west/southwest at 21 mph

Day 1 Standings

1. Boyd Duckett -- Demopolis, Ala. -- 5, 19-14 -- 300
Day 1: 5, 19-14

2. Randy Howell -- Springville, Ala. -- 5, 17-15 -- 295
Day 1: 5, 17-15

3. Skeet Reese -- Auburn, Calif. -- 5, 17-08 -- 290
Day 1: 5, 17-08

4. Timmy Horton -- Muscle Shoals, Ala. -- 5, 17-05 -- 285
Day 1: 5, 17-05

5. Terry Scroggins -- San Mateo, Fla. -- 5, 17-00 -- 280
Day 1: 5, 17-00

6. Tommy Biffle -- Wagoner, Okla. -- 5, 16-11 -- 276
Day 1: 5, 16-11

7. Terry McWilliams -- Greenfield, Ind. -- 5, 15-09 -- 272
Day 1: 5, 15-09

8. Ishama Monroe -- Hughson, Calif. -- 5, 15-00 -- 268
Day 1: 5, 15-00

9. Gerald Swindle -- Warrior, Ala. -- 5, 14-10 -- 264
Day 1: 5, 14-10

10. Kevin Wirth -- Crestwood, Ky. -- 5, 14-09 -- 260
Day 1: 5, 14-09

11. Jared Lintner -- Arroyo Grande, Calif. -- 5, 14-06 -- 257
Day 1: 5, 14-06

12. Mike Wurm -- Hot Springs, Ark. -- 5, 14-00 -- 254
Day 1: 5, 14-00

13. Matt Reed -- Madisonville, Texas -- 5, 13-15 -- 251
Day 1: 5, 13-15

14. Russ Lane -- Prattville, Ala. -- 5, 13-13 -- 246
Day 1: 5, 13-13

14. Aaron Martens -- Leeds, Ala. -- 5, 13-13 -- 246
Day 1: 5, 13-13

16. Michael Iaconelli -- Runnemede, N.J. -- 5, 13-09 -- 243
Day 1: 5, 13-09

17. James Niggemeyer -- Van, Texas -- 5, 13-07 -- 241
Day 1: 5, 13-07

18. Dean Rojas -- Grand Saline, Texas -- 5, 13-04 -- 239
Day 1: 5, 13-04

19. Kevin VanDam -- Kalamazoo, Mich. -- 5, 13-01 -- 237
Day 1: 5, 13-01

20. Jeff Kriet -- Ardmore, Okla. -- 5, 12-10 -- 235
Day 1: 5, 12-10

21. Zell Rowland -- Montgomery, Texas -- 5, 12-09 -- 233
Day 1: 5, 12-09

22. James Charlesworth -- Saint Cloud, Fla. -- 5, 12-07 -- 231
Day 1: 5, 12-07

23. Alton Jones -- Waco, Texas -- 5, 12-06 -- 229
Day 1: 5, 12-06

24. Mike McClelland -- Bella Vista, Ark. -- 5, 12-05 -- 227
Day 1: 5, 12-05

25. Steve Kennedy -- Auburn, Ala. -- 5, 12-02 -- 225
Day 1: 5, 12-02

26. Kevin Waterman -- Laplata, Md. -- 5, 11-14 -- 223
Day 1: 5, 11-14

27. Todd Faircloth -- Jasper, Texas -- 5, 11-12 -- 221
Day 1: 5, 11-12

28. Lee Bailey -- Boaz, Ala. -- 5, 11-11 -- 219
Day 1: 5, 11-11

29. Mark Tucker -- Saint Louis, Mo. -- 5, 11-10 -- 217
Day 1: 5, 11-10

30. Gary Klein -- Weatherford, Texas -- 5, 11-06 -- 215
Day 1: 5, 11-06

31. Greg Hackney -- Gonzales, La. -- 5, 11-02 -- 213
Day 1: 5, 11-02

32. John Crews -- Salem, Va. -- 5, 11-00 -- 210
Day 1: 5, 11-00

32. Jason Quinn -- Lake Wylie, S.C. -- 5, 11-00 -- 210
Day 1: 5, 11-00

34. Peter E Thliveros -- Jacksonville, Fla. -- 5, 10-15 -- 207
Day 1: 5, 10-15

35. Jeff Reynolds -- Idabel, Okla. -- 5, 10-11 -- 205
Day 1: 5, 10-11

36. Takahiro Omori -- Emory, Texas -- 5, 10-10 -- 203
Day 1: 5, 10-10

37. John Murray -- Phoenix, Ariz. -- 5, 10-03 -- 201
Day 1: 5, 10-03

38. Shigeru Tsukiyama -- Tokyo, Japan -- 5, 10-01 -- 199
Day 1: 5, 10-01

39. Royce Dennington -- Barnsdall, Okla. -- 5, 9-15 -- 197
Day 1: 5, 9-15

40. Bill Lowen -- North Bend, Ohio -- 5, 9-14 -- 194
Day 1: 5, 9-14

40. Edwin Evers -- Talala, Okla. -- 4, 9-14 -- 194
Day 1: 4, 9-14

42. Tom Hamlin -- Lizella, Ga. -- 5, 9-09 -- 191
Day 1: 5, 9-09

43. Kelly Jordon -- Mineola, Texas -- 5, 9-08 -- 189
Day 1: 5, 9-08

44. Rick Clunn -- Ava, Mo. -- 5, 9-06 -- 187
Day 1: 5, 9-06

45. Derek Remitz -- Hemphill, Texas -- 5, 9-04 -- 185
Day 1: 5, 9-04

46. Denny Brauer -- Camdenton, Mo. -- 5, 8-03 -- 183
Day 1: 5, 8-03

47. Chris Novack -- Willington, Conn. -- 5, 7-02 -- 181
Day 1: 5, 7-02

48. Russell Colwell -- Baltimore, Md. -- 3, 6-08 -- 179
Day 1: 3, 6-08

49. Sam Lashlee -- Camden, Tenn. -- 2, 4-15 -- 177
Day 1: 2, 4-15

50. Brent Long -- Catawba, N.C. -- 2, 4-14 -- 175
Day 1: 2, 4-14

Big Bass

> Day 1 -- Boyd Duckett -- Demopolis, Ala. -- 8-02 -- $1,000