By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
Zack Birge said he didn't have a very good practice session for the Bass Pro Tour Heavy Hitters event at Florida's Kissimmee Chain of Lakes. He had a heck of a first day of competition, however.
The 6th-year pro from Oklahoma caught 17 fish in the first Group A Qualifying Round that combined to weigh 53-07. He's a full 17 pounds clear of the other 39 competitors in the group, which will take Monday off while Group B undergoes its initial Qualifying Round.
"Honestly, I had no earthly idea what kind of weight it was going to take to be leading or even be around the cutline today," he said. "I didn't catch any big ones offshore in practice and I hardly caught any at all, even small ones, up shallow.
"I had two or three little areas that I'd gotten a couple of bites in and I just stayed around those today," added Birge, whose heaviest fish was a 5 1/2-pounder. "Fortunately there was more fish there than I knew about.
Some impressive specimens were registered on the in-boat scales on opening day, but quantity was decidedly lacking. Birge, Bryan Thrift and Gary Klein were the only anglers to catch more than six scoreable fish (the minimum weight is 2 pounds).
Thrift was in 2nd place after a 12-fish, 36-07 haul. Almost all of the bass he caught were of similar size, as his biggest weighed 3-13.
The veteran Klein settled into 3rd with 31-06 on 11 catches. He also was lacking a true kicker as his ledger was topped by a 4-02.
Bryan Thrift caught plenty of fish, but none reached the 4-pound mark.
Huge bonuses for catching the heaviest fish of each round are up for grabs in this event and Brent Ehrler is the current Group A leader with an 8-06. The three other scoreable fish he caught didn't equal the weight of that one bruiser and he's in 13th place with 16-08.
Justin Lucas boated an 8-03 and John Murray had a 7-13, while Kevin VanDam and Cliff Pace each caught a 7-10.
Birge caught eight fish in the first 2 1/2-hour period, five in the second and four in the third. A crankbait accounted for all but two of them – he enticed one with a worm and another with a topwater plug.
A canal that had some current running through it due to recent rain was particularly productive for him.
"I thought it was going to be even better than it was," he said. "I ended up catching them from a different place in the canal that where I thought I would. They either moved a little bit or the conditions got better where I caught them."
If he can maintain any part of his huge lead throughout his group's second day of qualifying, he'll skip the Knockout Round and move directly to the finals.
"I stayed in my areas a little longer than I intended to, but I wanted to keep catching them. I'll probably go back to those same areas (on Tuesday) to try to lead that next round and get an extra day off."
A worm was Thrift's most effective offering, but he also caught scoreables on a swimbait, a crankbait and a jig. All of his fish came from offshore vegetation – most of them toward the latter part of the day.
All of Gary Klein's 11 scoreable fish were enticed by a crankbait.
"I found just enough in practice to give me a little bit of a clue and a little bit of hope," he said. "I was kind of surprised because I thought I'd catch them a little quicker than I did. I didn't get on the program I'm doing until the afternoon (of the second practice day), so maybe what I'm doing isn't good in the morning."
He's yet to catch a 4-pound-plus fish since he arrived in Florida.
"That same size is what I saw in practice, too – they're all between 2 and 3 3/4 pounds. I'm going to have to find a way to catch a big one because I don't think I'm around any."
All of Klein's fish were fooled by a crankbait and all except two of them were situated away from the banks. He said he lost a few bites that would've given him another 8 or 9 pounds.
"I got a couple bites in practice that led me in the right direction, but I'm still hunting," he said. "I had the same rod in my hand all day and never picked another thing up.
"There are boats everywhere, but I'm not fishing in a crowd. Luckily for me, I left one area and went to a place where I'd gotten one bite in practice and that's where I ended up making my run in the second and third periods. Guys are either fishing through these areas using the wrong technique or the schools are unmolested."
Unlike Thrift, he did catch some big ones in practice and is confident that they're around.
"The right quality of fish are there. I only caught three or four non-scoreable fish today, so I was happy with that deal."
Weather Forecast
> Mon., June 8 – Thunderstorms - 90°/75°
- Wind: From the S at 9 mph
> Tues., June 9 – P.M. T-Storms - 92°/75°
- Wind: From the SSE at 7 mph
> Weds., June 10 – P.M. T-Storms - 89°/74°
- Wind: From the ENE at 7 mph
> Thurs., June 11 – Thunderstorms - 87°/71°
- Wind: From the E at 8 mph
> Fri., June 12 – Partly Cloudy - 88°/72°
- Wind: From the E at 9 mph
Group A Qualifying Round 1
(Number at far right indicates weight of angler's heaviest fish.)
1. Zack Birge -- 17, 53-07 -- 5-08
2. Bryan Thrift -- 12, 36-07 -- 3-13
3. Gary Klein -- 11, 31-06 -- 4-02
4. John Murray -- 6, 29-06 -- 7-13
5. Jordan Lee -- 6, 25-05 -- 6-13
6. Justin Lucas -- 4, 20-05 -- 8-03
7. Jacob Wheeler -- 5, 19-10 -- 5-11
8. Casey Ashley -- 5, 19-06 -- 6-11
9. Kelly Jordon -- 7, 17-15 -- 3-02
10. Boyd Duckett -- 6, 17-11 -- 5-00
11. Kevin VanDam -- 3, 17-05 -- 7-10
12. Matt Lee -- 7, 17-02 -- 3-01
13. Brent Ehrler -- 4, 16-08 -- 8-06
14. Gerald Spohrer -- 5, 15-13 -- 4-13
15. Dean Rojas -- 5, 15-05 -- 5-03
16. Michael Neal -- 5, 14-15 -- 3-09
17. Brandon Coulter -- 5, 14-10 -- 3-14
18. Brent Chapman -- 6, 13-14 -- 2-13
19. Alton Jones, Jr. -- 5, 13-09 -- 3-06
20. Cliff Pace -- 3, 12-05 -- 7-10
21. Jacob Powroznik -- 4, 11-13 -- 3-03
22. Wesley Strader -- 4, 11-01 -- 3-10
23. Fred Roumbanis -- 4, 11-00 -- 3-02
24. Jared Lintner -- 2, 9-13 -- 6-04
25. Marty Robinson -- 3, 7-09 -- 3-01
26. Mike McClelland -- 3, 7-05 -- 3-00
27. Cliff Crochet -- 3, 7-02 -- 2-15
28. Mike Iaconelli -- 2, 6-15 -- 4-11
29. Todd Faircloth -- 3, 6-05 -- 2-03
30. Justin Atkins -- 2, 5-00 -- 3-00
31. James Watson -- 2, 4-15 -- 2-13
32. Shaw Grigsby -- 2, 4-14 -- 2-09
33. Jesse Wiggins -- 2, 4-07 -- 2-04
34. Anthony Gagliardi -- 2, 4-06 -- 2-04
35. Randy Howell -- 1, 3-10 -- 3-10
36. Dave Lefebre -- 1, 3-05 -- 3-05
37. Edwin Evers -- 1, 2-14 -- 2-14
38. Dustin Connell -- 1, 2-10 -- 2-10
39. Roy Hawk -- 1, 2-04 -- 2-04
40. Scott Suggs -- 0, 0-00 -- 0-00
