‘Special Day’ At Wheeler Has Rose Out Front With 21-06

By BassFan Staff

It was a given that Wheeler Lake was set to undergo some changes after 2 solid days of rain earlier in the week, followed by the first true cold front of the season.

Just how much change was the question on the minds of the 89 pros who darted up and down the lake today as the Wheeler Lake FLW Tour Open got under way out of Decatur, Ala. They were greeted by higher, stained water that in some areas had cooled off by more than 10 degrees since Tuesday.

What never seems to change, however, is Mark Rose’s mastery of the Tennessee River. Of his 31 career Top-10 finishes in FLW events, 12 of them, including all five of his wins, have come on TVA impoundments. While he admits Wheeler’s not his strong suit when it comes to Tennessee River fishing, you couldn’t tell from today’s results as he sacked 21-06, making him the lone angler to break 18 pounds, let alone 21.

Blake Nick, an Alabama native, is his closest challenger in 2nd with 17-15. Luke Clausen is 3rd with 15-15 while Elite Series regular Russ Lane, another Alabamian, is 4th with 15-14. Greg Hackney has 14-13 in 5th.

Here's a look at the Top 10 following the first day of competition, with deficit margin from Rose indicated by red numbers in parentheses:

1. Mark Rose: 21-06
2. Blake Nick: 17-15 (3-07)
3. Luke Clausen: 15-15 (5-07)
4. Russ Lane: 15-14 (5-08)
5. Greg Hackney: 14-13 (6-09)
6. Marty Stone: 14-04 (7-02)
7. Chad Grigsby: 13-11 (7-11)
8 (tie). Scott Suggs: 13-10 (7-12)
8 (tie). Justin Lucas: 13-10 (7-12)
10 (tie). Art Ferguson III: 13-08 (7-14)
10 (tie). Brett Hite: 13-08 (7-14)

The fish continue to be scattered, mainly due to the wealth of shad throughout the lake and while many essentially used today as another practice day, what got plenty of pros’ attention was the amount of current moving through the lake. As long as that keeps up, the weights could improve over the next few days. With less than 90 boats in this week’s event, crowding was a non-factor and is expected to reman that way throughout the event. It doesn’t appear that any one specialty dominated day 1, as many of the leaders mixed shallow water and intermediate or deeper areas to catch their fish.

Today was the second straight day of bluebird sky conditions and another is in the forecast for tomorrow, so it could give those catching fish around isolated shallow-water targets another opportunity to do well. The field will be cut to the Top 20 after tomorrow’s round and following day 3, the Top 10 will advance to Sunday’s final round when the winner will be determined by highest cumulative weight.

Rose Mixed Deep and Shallow

> Day 1: 5, 21-06

While very few knew what to expect this morning, Rose came into the event confident and relaxed after a 3rd-place finish at the Arkansas River PAA Series last week. It seemed to stoke memories of when he learned to fish river systems.

“I’ve got a good feel and a lot of confidence,” he said. “I’m having a fun time fishing right now. Making the finals at the PAA last week brought back some old memories of river-rat fishing, so I’m kind of mixing it up a little bit.”

He brought seven keepers into the boat, so he wasn’t on a motherlode by any stretch. He just happened upon the right bites at the right time. He averaged about a bite an hour and caught fish on a variety of baits, including a topwater, a crankbait and a worm. He did fish some ledges and junk-fished the shallows.

“It was a special day on the water. You can’t explain it,” he said. “I wasn’t really on a whole lot. I had one little deep spot going into this tournament and I thought, ‘Just maybe.’ I marked some fish there and caught one little one, so I just said, ‘Maybe.’

“I caught a couple there today and then I just went fishing. It was just a special day. I know it sounds cliché, but today it actually was. Usually I can put my finger on stuff, like it was current-related or a type of contour on the bottom or a bait, but today it was just special. I was very blessed today.”

As far as how the conditions may continue to change, he’s not sure, but he does plan on checking the areas where he got bit tomorrow.

“Wheeler is the one lake on the Tennessee River that I probably know the least about, so I don’t really have a lot of knowledge of what these fish would do in different weather,” he said. “I just had to go with the best stuff that I found and found some more during the day. Things worked out.”

2nd: Nick Being Flexible

> Day 1: 5, 17-15

While Nick caught most of his weigh fish out of one stretch today, he’s by no means married to the area.

"Let’s not kid ourselves, they’re smoking that water, so you have tons of current and the conditions are better,” he said. “If that stays the same, I can catch them. I’m prepared to do anything. I’m not sold that that one spot is it for me. It just really worked out today. You can’t be all-in on one spot on this lake or you’ll look like a dang fool. It’ll humble you real quick.”

He fished around Decatur in the morning, then made a long run up the river and had a good flurry to get a limit in the boat. Instead of hammering away, he left and went scouting for later on. He said he caught about 15 keepers today.

“I didn’t want anybody to see me. It was perfect,” he said. “Nobody came down the river and nobody saw me. This place can make you look like a fool. Who knows if that was a good idea or not, but I didn’t want to catch a bunch of 2-pounders in there because 2-pounders are good fish on this lake right now.

“I only have one place like that, but you can fish around and catch some fish. I lost a couple good ones up the river this afternoon that would’ve given me close to 20. I’m stoked to have (17-15). This lake is super, super tough right now and if you put 18 pounds in the boat, you need to be happy.

“Of all the Tennessee River lakes, I like this one the most. It’s not because of the weights you catch. It’s just the way I like to fish.”

3rd: Clausen Mixed It Up

> Day 1: 5, 15-15

It was a junk-fishing fest today for Clausen, who caught 10 keepers throwing numerous baits in 10 feet of water or less.

“I did a lot of chucking and winding and flipping and pitching, you name it,” he said. “I had about 20 rods on the deck and about went through everything.”

He didn’t unlock a go-to pattern or uncover a magical area, so he fully expects to do the same thing tomorrow and hope for the same results.

“I have a couple things I’m going to spend more time doing,” he said. “When you’re junk-fishing like this, it can turn out really good or it can turn out to be a disaster. Tomorrow, I might not catch five, but I could catch 20 pounds. I’m a firm believer that it doesn’t matter where you’re fishing when you’re fishing the way I’m fishing. It’s not area-specific. I’ll fish an area that I think looks good. It’s not like I have any good places I’m excited to go back to.

“You just keep going and hope you make the right decisions all day long and cast to the right spot. It’s definitely not easy fishing here right now. There’s obviously some quality that lives here, as Mark Rose showed, and you have to make the right five decisions throughout the day to catch five of those.”

4th: Lane Pleased

> Day 1: 5, 15-14

Lane thinks the conditions at Wheeler are prime for targeting big fish, but things changed so much from practice that it’s hard to tell what’s going to happen next. He targeted shallow wood with a Big Bite Baits Coontail Worm and cranked some deeper water with a Spro Fat Papa 70 today to catch his weight. He made the most of what he caught as he swung about 10 keepers into the boat.

“It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure,” he said. “I caught them different from what I would’ve figured today so I’m not really sure what’s going to happen tomorrow. I’m not going to make any plans and just stay open-minded and keep running new water and keep trying to find more fish.”

He had no issues with other boats covering up areas he wanted to fish.

“There’s not a place on this lake good enough to fight over with someone,” he quipped.

He’s anticipating an uptick in weights tomorrow now that everyone has a feel for how the lake is setting up.

“Today was a practice day for a lot of people,” he said. “I think you’ll see some guys catch them even better tomorrow. It took all day today just to figure them out.”

6th: Stone Feels Fortunate

> Day 1: 5, 14-04

This isn’t the Wheeler Lake Marty Stone remembers, but he was able to piece together a decent limit to start today. Coming up with something similar tomorrow is going to be a challenge, though.

“It changed quite a bit (from practice),” he said. “I didn’t have a great practice and it actually got a bit better for me. Somewhere around mid-morning, I started understanding some things and when I say it got better, it was sort of deceiving. I had seven bites today and on average it was better than my whole practice, so I probably got really fortunate. I could go out tomorrow and really struggle.”

He went through four different baits and moved up considerably depth-wise to fill his livewell.

“This lake fishes tougher than I’ve ever seen it fish as far as numbers of bites,” he said. “Wheeler’s always been a place you could get 15 to 30 bites a day. That day is completely gone. I was fortunate today. You just don’t know when your next bite’s coming. I say that with all sincerity. I’m ecstatic every time I get a bite. You can’t miss any and you better not lose any and when you get one of those 2 3/4- to 3-pound bites, that’s a really big fish on this lake right and you better take advantage of that.”

Since he wasn’t keyed in on anything in particular, he made frequent moves, staying no longer than 15 minutes without a bite in any area.

“I have a lot of history here and that’s good and bad,” he said. “The good is I know where I’m heading for my next stop. The bad is I might be running past a bunch of fish, but I just don’t think there are any big congregations here. I think you have to move around quite a bit and hope you get fortunate to get a decent bite.”

7th: Grigsby Went Shallow

> Day 1: 5, 13-11

Chad Grigsby plied one area today that he had found early in practice, but backed off of it once he’d caught a limit by about 11 a.m.

“I didn’t fish it real hard, but I caught a couple big ones there,” he said, adding that a Secret Lures flipping jig tipped with a Trigger-X trailer was his go-to bait. “Then I fished all over the whole lake. It might actually work out better because that’s the only area I have.”

He likes the area because it’s a shallow-water place where the fish have access to deeper water. He went through nine keepers and his sack was anchored by a 4-04 brute that came at 9 a.m.

“That makes all the difference in the world on a place like this,” he said. “I fished only about half of my stuff today. I don’t know if the other half’s any good, but we’ll find out tomorrow.”

58th: Struggle For Combs

> Day 1: 3, 6-12

The two things that Keith Combs had going in practice just didn’t work today and he came in with just three keepers.

“It was real tough,” he said. “I don’t know what the deal is. I need to come up with a plan B for tomorrow. I really thought I could catch some fish, but the two ways I thought I could catch them I caught none.”

He had success in practice targeting isolated wood and was catching them on a frog in the early morning around shallow grass.

“That stuff did not produce a fish today,” he said. “The three I caught today were schooling and it was just a total random deal. I was fishing a ledge and they came up and I caught them or else I would’ve had nothing.

“I tried to fish a lot of offshore stuff in practice because you can catch them out there all year on the ledges,” he said. “I really just didn’t try a bunch of other stuff because the first 2 days I was here I had the two shallow patterns going and then I tried to fish deep stuff. I’m going to have do something different tomorrow if I’m going to do any good.”

Notable

> Day 1 stats – 89 anglers, 57 limits, 12 fours, 9 threes, 8 twos, 1 one, 2 zeroes.

Weather Forecast

> Fri., Sept. 21 – Partly Sunny - 81°/55°
- Wind: From the SSW at 5 to 9 mph

> Sat., Sept. 22 – Partly Cloudy, Thunderstorm Possible - 75°/49°
- Wind: From the N at 7 to 13 mph

> Sun., Sept. 23 – Partly Cloudy - 75°/45°
- Wind: From the ENE at 8 to 13 mph

Day 1 Standings

1. Mark Rose -- West Memphis, Ar -- 21-06 (5)

2. Blake Nick -- Adger, Al -- 17-15 (5)

3. Luke Clausen -- Spokane, Wa -- 15-15 (5)

4. Russell Lane -- Prattville, Al -- 15-14 (5)

5. Greg Hackney -- Gonzales, La -- 14-13 (5)

6. Marty Stone -- Fayetteville, NC -- 14-04 (5)

7. Chad Grigsby -- Maple Grove, Mn -- 13-11 (5)

8. Justin Lucas -- Guntersville, Al -- 13-10 (5)

8. Scott Suggs -- Bryant, Ar -- 13-10 (5)

10. Art Ferguson III -- St. Clair Shores, Mi -- 13-08 (5)

10. Brett Hite -- Phoenix, Az -- 13-08 (5)

12. Steve Kennedy -- Auburn, Al -- 13-06 (5)

13. Edward Guice -- Decatur, Al -- 12-12 (5)

14. Koby Kreiger -- Okeechobee, Fl -- 12-10 (5)

14. Michael Williamson -- Fort Smith, Ar -- 12-10 (5)

16. Corey Saint -- Lexington, Al -- 12-05 (5)

17. Shane Long -- Willard, Mo -- 12-02 (5)

18. Jt Kenney -- Palm Bay, Fl -- 12-00 (5)

19. Larry Nixon -- Bee Branch, Ar -- 11-14 (5)

20. Michael Brewer -- Leoma, Tn -- 11-12 (5)

20. Chris McCall -- Brookeland, Tx -- 11-12 (5)

22. David Dudley -- Lynchburg, Va -- 11-11 (5)

22. Randall Tharp -- Gardendale, Al -- 11-11 (5)

24. Jonathan Newton -- Rogersville, Al -- 11-10 (5)

25. Brent Ehrler -- Redlands, Ca -- 11-08 (5)

26. Darrell Davis -- Dover, Fl -- 11-04 (5)

27. Jerry Lawler -- Athens, Al -- 11-03 (5)

27. Kevin Snider -- Elizabethtown, Ky -- 11-03 (5)

29. Bill McDonald -- Greenwood, In -- 11-00 (5)

30. Jason Christie -- Park Hill, Ok -- 10-15 (5)

30. Boyd Duckett -- Demopolis, Al -- 10-15 (4)

32. Gary Yamamoto -- Palestine, Tx -- 10-14 (5)

33. Tommy Martin -- Hemphill, Tx -- 10-13 (5)

34. Scott Canterbury -- Springville, Al -- 10-11 (5)

34. Justin Hamner -- Birmingham, Al -- 10-11 (5)

36. Jeff Gustafson -- Keewatin, On -- 10-09 (5)

37. Tommy Robinson -- Westland, Mi -- 10-05 (5)

38. Mike Surman -- Boca Raton, Fl -- 10-00 (5)

39. Bryan Thrift -- Shelby, NC -- 9-09 (5)

40. Jim Moynagh -- Carver, Mn -- 9-08 (5)

41. Nathan Davis -- Decatur, Al -- 9-07 (5)

41. Roland Martin -- Naples, Fl -- 9-07 (4)

43. Chad Prough -- Chipley, Fl -- 9-06 (5)

44. Clent Davis -- Montevallo, Al -- 8-12 (4)

44. Paul Elias -- Laurel, Ms -- 8-12 (5)

46. Robert Behrle -- Hoover, Al -- 8-11 (5)

47. Darrel Robertson -- Jay, Ok -- 8-05 (5)

47. Derek Yamamoto -- Boulder City, Nv -- 8-05 (4)

49. Jay Yelas -- Corvallis, Or -- 8-03 (5)

50. Greg Bohannan -- Rogers, Ar -- 8-01 (5)

51. Fred Roumbanis -- Bixby, Ok -- 8-00 (5)

52. Shinichi Fukae -- Palestine, Tx -- 7-14 (5)

53. Anthony Gagliardi -- Prosperity, SC -- 7-08 (5)

54. Jade Keeton -- Florence, Al -- 7-05 (5)

54. Pete Thliveros -- Saint Augustine, Fl -- 7-05 (3)

56. Wil Hardy -- Harlem, Ga -- 7-01 (5)

56. Rick Williams -- Decatur, Al -- 7-01 (4)

58. Keith Combs -- Huntington, Tx -- 6-12 (3)

59. Wesley Strader -- Spring City, Tn -- 6-11 (4)

60. David Fritts -- Lexington, NC -- 6-09 (5)

61. John Cox -- Debary, Fl -- 6-05 (5)

61. Craig Dowling -- Franklin, Tn -- 6-05 (5)

61. J Todd Tucker -- Moultrie, Ga -- 6-05 (3)

64. Robert Morin -- Seymour, Tn -- 5-15 (5)

65. Stacey King -- Reeds Spring, Mo -- 5-14 (4)

66. Brandon Card -- Caryville, Tn -- 5-10 (4)

66. Gary Thacker -- Athens, Al -- 5-10 (5)

68. Takahiro Omori -- Emory, Tx -- 5-07 (3)

69. Dave Lefebre -- Erie, Pa -- 5-06 (4)

70. Tony Dumitras -- Wnston, Ga -- 5-05 (5)

71. Tony Harvey -- Killen, Al -- 5-00 (2)

71. Dearal Rodgers -- Camden, SC -- 5-00 (3)

73. Charlie Hartley -- Grove City, Oh -- 4-11 (4)

74. Chris Baumgardner -- Gastonia, NC -- 4-10 (4)

74. George Cochran -- Hot Springs, Ar -- 4-10 (3)

76. Ray Scheide -- Dover, Ar -- 4-08 (3)

77. Jim Tutt -- Longview, Tx -- 4-02 (4)

78. Kerry Milner -- Bono, Ar -- 3-15 (2)

79. Chris Neau -- New Orleans, La -- 3-13 (2)

80. Bob Eagleston -- Newberry, Fl -- 3-12 (3)

80. Dion Hibdon -- Sunrise Beach, Mo -- 3-12 (2)

82. Sam George -- Athens, Al -- 3-08 (3)

83. Matt Pennington -- Springdale, Ar -- 3-05 (2)

84. Daniel Welch -- New Martinsville, WV -- 2-00 (2)

85. Jimmy Houston -- Cookson, Ok -- 1-15 (2)

86. Bill Day -- Frankfort, Ky -- 1-12 (2)

87. Brad Knight -- Wartburg, Tn -- 1-07 (1)

Nathan Brewer -- Lawrenceburg, Tn -- 0-00 (0)

Harry Moore -- Valley, Al -- 0-00 (0)