6 From Arkansas In The Top 10

FLW pro Greg Carpenter tops the Top 10 anglers who will fish Saturday's final round of the Professional Bass Fishing Hall of Fame's (HOF) World Championship. Carpenter caught 15.24 pounds today, another tough day on Lake Ouachita, for a two-day total of 21.54.

Including Carpenter, six of the Top 10 fishing the final round -- which will be on Lake Hamilton -- are from Arkansas, though the field also includes top-ranked anglers Clark Wendlandt (No. 3 in the world), Aaron Martens (No. 9 in the world) and Gary Klein (No. 13 in the world). Mt. Ida, Ark.'s Mark Davis is No. 2 in the world.

Davis Squeaks In

With just a little over 3 pounds today, Davis was surprised to make the Top 10 cut. "Yesterday I had an easy day as far as catching fish," he said. "I caught a lot of fish and had it figured out. But typical of a lake that has the (largemouth bass) virus, you can't return to the same water and catch bass two days in a row.

"Everyone in the Top 5 yesterday zeroed or caught one or two bass today," he said. "That's evidence of what I'm talking about. Fish (in virus-exposed lakes) don't respond well to pressure.

"Just a few years ago this lake wasn't like that. I guided full-time here for more than 15 years, and I had spots I could catch fish on every day. Lots of fish were there. But the lake's changed because of the virus.

Another thing that has changed along with the virus is that we have hydrilla in here now," Davis noted. "So we have more cover and less fish, and the fish have really scattered in that more-extensive cover. That sets up for a tougher bite."

Green, Martens Consistent

Most of the pros who made the Top 10 cut yo-yoed: they caught them well one day and not so well the other day. Two exceptions to that were Keith Green and Aaron Martens.

Green fished just two spots both days. "I fished a little submerged hump that had two schools of largemouths on it," he said of his first spot, which his father, fellow pro Ricky Green, put him on. "I caught 3 there yesterday and today."

The hump rose up to 3-5 feet under the surface, "but I was sitting in 60 feet throwing to it," he said. "I believe the shad would swim off the hump and the bass would bust them." To fool these fish Green fished a Bow Howdy (a locally popular topwater bait) and a Zoom Fluke.

"I also found a little spinnerbait spot yesterday," he said. "It was about 6-feet deep -- some grass growing up on a river edge." His spinnerbaits were War Eagles in 3/4- and 1/4-ounce (shad color).

Martens said he had "a good lipless crankbait pattern going. In practice I was catching a lot of keeper overs (over the 16-inch minimum size), but both competition days were tougher than practice."

Martens made long casts with a Megabass 5/8-ounce Vibration-X (blue back, gold sides, silver belly) and "slow-rolled" it back over grassy mainlake points "that extended out quite a ways." The fish were coming out of 25 feet.

For his limit fish, he turned to his trusty dropshot rig. "That was pretty easy," he said. He fished in 30-40 down on mainlake points. Equipment: 6-pound Sun Fluorocarbon, 1/4-ounce X-Metal tungsten weight, size 1 Gamakatsu lightwire splitshot hook and 4 1/2-inch Roboworm worm (blue neon and Aaron's magic colors).

Other Pros Today

> Wendlandt "did a little better" today, he said. "I had a good chance to do better yesterday, but I lost a couple on a topwater and a spinnerbait (he was making long casts with the spinnerbait)." Today he fished topwater (walking bait) and then a spinnerbait. He worked the topwater over grass points and a few steep rocky points, and the spinnerbait he fished over grass tops in 5-6 feet of water.

> Sandy Melvin, who did not make the Top 10, said fishing Ouachita has been "really tough" -- but that's what he wanted. "The reasons I came here were to support the Hall of Fame and to get familiar with these types of lakes." Deep and clear, Ouachita is a highland reservoir -- and Melvin is a saltwater fishing captain in Florida. "I learned a lot and accomplished what I came up here to do," he said. "Now that I've gotten to these national tournaments, I have to learn these lakes. These guys catch them everywhere they go."

Notable: Tomorrow (Friday)

> Tomorrow the Top 10 will be practicing on Lake Hamilton with their partners, many of whom are locals who are familiar with the lake.

** The BassFan.com Fishing Skills Competition will be at 6:00 p.m. at the Hot Springs Convention Center. More than 30 pros have signed up to participate.

The Top 10

1. Greg Carpenter -- Royal, AR -- FLW -- 21.54
Day 1, 6.30 -- Day 2, 15.24

2. Keith Green -- Arkadelphia, AR -- FLW -- 20.99
Day 1, 9.72 -- Day 2, 11.27

3. Doug Garrett -- Cabot, AR -- B.A.S.S. -- 18.96
Day 1, 5.94 -- Day 2, 13.02

4. Aaron Martens -- Castaic, CA -- B.A.S.S. -- 18.05
Day 1, 9.95 -- Day 2, 8.10

5. Clark Wendlandt -- Cedar Park, TX -- B.A.S.S. -- 17.18
Day 1, 6.49 -- Day 2, 10.69

6. Gary Klein -- Weatherford, TX -- B.A.S.S. AOY -- 17.12
Day 1, 10.69 -- Day 2, 6.43

7. Stephen Browning -- Hot Springs, AR -- B.A.S.S. -- 17.10
Day 1, 4.24 -- Day 2, 12.86

8. Mark Davis -- Mt. Ida, AR -- BASS Masters Classic Winner -- 16.71
Day 1, 13.53 -- Day 2, 3.18

9. George Cochran -- Hot Springs, AR -- BASS Masters Classic Winner -- 16.12
Day 1, 10.49 -- Day 2, 5.63

10. Greg Hackney -- Oak Ridge, LA -- FLW -- 15.95
Day 1, 13.68 -- Day 2, 2.27

Full standings will be up soon.