FLW Tour pro Greg Hackney leads day 1 of the Professional Bass Fishing Hall of Fame's World Championship here on Lake Ouachita with 13.68 pounds, but that's only 0.15 pounds better than hometown favorite and BASSMASTER Tour pro Mark Davis.
As you would expect in such an event, the rest of the day 1 Top 10 reads like a who's who of bass fishing. In order from 3rd to 10th are: Ron Shuffield (13.38), Gary Yamamoto (13.01), Rob Kilby (12.85), Gary Klein (10.69), Shaw Grigsby (10.65), George Cochran (10.49), Kenyon Hill (10.20) and Aaron Martens (9.95).
Davis in Borrowed Boat
When Davis hit the water yesterday morning his motor promptly blew up so he had to rush around to find a loaner. "I called a friend of mine who had a Ranger and he brought it right out to me," Davis said. Needled about running a Ranger (Davis has a Bass Cat), he said: "When you're blown up, you'll take a tugboat with a paddle."
Despite catching more than 13 1/2 pounds, Davis said that Ouachita is "fishing really tough. We have a lot of things working against us, mostly the Largemouth Bass Virus. Plus we had an east wind and bluebird skies."
Most pros are catching their fish deep -- Davis is fishing in about 20 feet. He said he caught 15 short fish in addition to the five keepers he weighed-in.
For today he said, "I'd like for the wind to lay down. I need the water to be clear and it's all muddy now. When you're trying to bring those suspended fish up and the water's dirty, it's tough." He said that on Ouachita, "the water clears up really quickly when the wind lays down. If the wind continues to blow (today) I don't know about my chances."
Berryman Has So-So Day
Day 1 for WBFA pro Penny Berryman (in 17th) was "pretty good," though she had to persevere through "an awful lot of slow periods."
Her best bite, as for many pros, was at daylight and she said he "lost a lot of fish on top including "three good at fish at the boat. I have no idea how they came off, but they decided not to go in the boat."
She has "no idea" about her chances of making the Top 10 cut today. "I don't know the lake that well, and you have no control over what everyone else is catching."
Other Pros
> Rob Kilby (B.A.S.S./FLW pro) -- This is Kilby's home lake. "The fish are post-spawn. They're just coming out of shallow water and staging outside. They're pretty beat-up and skinny." He said he's catching fish suspended in 7-8 feet in spots "really close to deep water." He believes 21-22 pounds will be needed to make the Top 10.
> Skeet Reese (B.A.S.S. pro) -- "The lake is fishing a lot tougher than I expected. I don't know if the wind changed the positioning of the fish -- the only thing that's changed in the last few days is the wind. I caught 13 to 15 pounds the first day of practice and felt pretty comfortable going into it, but I didn't get the bites." All of his fish have been caught in 18-25 feet on outside grasslines and he anticipated fishing the same way today.
> Mike Wurm (B.A.S.S./FLW pro) -- "I caught several shorts, stripers and white bass. The lake has a really good population of stripers right now and they're all feeding on the surface in the morning. But I didn't get a good keeper bite (he zeroed yesterday). Today he "might go to the other end of the lake to see what happens." He said the water temperature is "still 70 degrees so the fish are still moving around a lot."
Weather Forecast
Note that the high winds forecast for today did not materialize.
> Today, May 23 -- Partly Cloudy -- high 78°F, low 58°F
- Wind: from the S/SW, S, S/SE to 8 mph
> Fri, May 24 -- Cloudy -- high 79°F, low 59°F
- Wind: from the S/SW and W to 6 mph
* This is a practice day at Lake Hamilton
> Sat, May 25 -- Scattered T-Storms -- high 80°F, low 57°F
Day 1 Standings
1. Greg Hackney -- Oak Ridge, LA -- FLW -- 13.68
2. Mark Davis -- Mt. Ida, AR -- Classic/FLW Champ. Win -- 13.53
3. Ron Shuffield -- Bismarck, AR -- B.A.S.S. -- 13.38
4. Gary Yamamoto -- Mineola, TX -- B.A.S.S. -- 13.01
5. Rob Kilby -- Hot Springs, AR -- B.A.S.S. -- 12.85
6. Gary Klein -- Weatherford, TX -- B.A.S.S. AOY -- 10.69
7. Shaw Grigsby -- Gainesville, FL -- B.A.S.S. -- 10.65
8. George Cochran -- Hot Springs, AR -- Classic/FLW Champ. Win -- 10.49
9. Kenyon Hill -- Norman, OK -- B.A.S.S. -- 10.20
10. Aaron Martens -- Castaic, CA -- B.A.S.S. -- 9.95
11. Keith Green -- Arkadelphia, AR -- FLW -- 9.72
12. Jimmy Walker -- Alpine, CA -- Fished HOF in 2001. 8.18
13. John Sappington -- Wyandotte, OK -- B.A.S.S. -- 8.07
14. David Wharton -- Sam Rayburn, TX -- B.A.S.S. 20 yrs or 10 Classics -- 8.01
15. Kotaro Kiriyama -- New Milford, NJ -- West/B.A.S.S. -- 7.66
16. Scott Rook -- Little Rock, AR -- B.A.S.S. -- 7.20
17. Penny Berryman -- Dardanelle, AR -- WBFA/Bassin' Gals -- 7.14
18. Jimmy Houston -- Cookson, OK -- B.A.S.S. AOY -- 6.98
19. Skeet Reese -- Auburn, CA -- West/B.A.S.S. -- 6.82
20. Clark Wendlandt -- Cedar Park, TX -- B.A.S.S. -- 6.49
21. Paul Elias -- Pachuta, MS -- Classic/FLW Champ. Win -- 6.46
22. Greg Carpenter -- Royal, AR -- FLW -- 6.30
23. Dalton Bobo -- Northport, AL -- B.A.S.S. -- 6.24
24. Ricky Harp -- Cottondale, AL -- 2000 B.A.S.S. Fed. Champ -- 5.95
25. Doug Garrett -- Cabot, AR -- B.A.S.S. -- 5.94
26. Davy Hite -- Prosperity Point, SC -- Classic/FLW Champ. Win -- 5.70
27. Gerald Swindle -- Hayden, AL -- B.A.S.S. -- 5.10
28. O.T. Fears III -- Sallisaw, OK -- B.A.S.S. -- 5.05
29. Guido Hibdon -- Gravois Mills, MO -- Classic/FLW Champ. Win -- 4.82
30. Stacey King -- Reeds Spring, MO -- 2001 HOF Tourney Winner -- 4.80
31. Larry Nixon -- Bee Branch, AR -- Classic/FLW Champ. Win -- 4.69
32. Ray Sedgwick -- Cross, SC -- B.A.S.S. -- 4.69
33. Sean Stickler -- Fort Lauderdale, FL -- FLW -- 4.57
34. Stephen Browning -- Hot Springs, AR -- B.A.S.S. -- 4.24
35. Byron Velvick -- Boulder City, NV -- West/WON Bass -- 4.19
36. Roland Martin -- Clewiston, FL -- B.A.S.S. AOY -- 3.96
37. Emily Shaffer -- Mt. Juliet, TN -- WBFA/Bassin' Gals -- 3.81
38. Guy Eaker Jr. -- Cherryville, NC -- B.A.S.S. -- 3.72
39. Joe Thomas -- Milford, Ohio -- B.A.S.S. -- 3.70
40. Ken Cook -- Meers, OK -- Classic/FLW Champ. Win -- 3.65
41. David Smith -- Del City, OK -- FLW -- 3.14
42. Jeff Magee -- Mendenhall, MS -- B.A.S.S. -- 2.93
43. Peter Thliveros -- Jacksonville, FL -- B.A.S.S. -- 2.86
44. Tommy Martin -- Hemphill, TX -- Classic/FLW Champ. Win -- 2.72
45. Eddie Woody -- No. Little Rock, AR -- FLW -- 2.66
46. Lonnie Stanley -- Huntington, TX -- B.A.S.S. 20 yrs or 10 Classics -- 2.62
47. Chad Brauer -- Osage Beach, MO -- B.A.S.S. -- 2.61
48. Denny Brauer -- Camdenton, MO -- B.A.S.S. Anglers of the Year -- 2.44
49. Charlie Campbell -- Forsyth, MO -- B.A.S.S. 20 yrs or 10 Classics -- 2.33
50. Kevin Wirth -- Crestwood, KY -- B.A.S.S. -- 2.23
51. Lucy Mize -- Ben Lemond, AR -- WBFA/Bassin' Gals -- 2.20
52. Basil Bacon -- Springfield, MO -- B.A.S.S. 20 yrs or 10 Classics -- 1.51
53. Harold Allen -- Shelbyville, TX -- B.A.S.S. -- 0.00
54. Tom Burns -- Carbondale, IL -- B.A.S.S. -- 0.00
55. Jim Carnell -- Muskogee, OK -- FLW -- 0.00
56. Rick Clunn -- Ava, MO -- Classic/FLW Champ. Win -- 0.00
57. Dion Hibdon -- Stover, MO -- Classic/FLW Champ. Win -- 0.00
58. Randy Howell -- Trussville, AL -- B.A.S.S. -- 0.00
59. Sandy Melvin -- Boca Grande, FL -- FLW -- 0.00
60. Don Stevens -- Otsego, MI -- Fished HOF in 2001 -- 0.00
61. Mike Wurm -- Hot Springs, AR -- B.A.S.S. -- 0.00
