ROGERS, Ark. (May 15, 2008) - Mark Pack of Mineola, Texas, stood atop the leaderboard Thursday with five bass weighing 14 pounds, 13 ounces on a closely contested opening day at the FLW Tour bass fishing tournament on Beaver Lake. Just 13 ounces separated the leader from a tie for second place in the international competition featuring anglers from 37 states and four countries.
Anglers had no problem catching five-bass limits. In fact, of the 200 pros and 200 co-anglers competing, 157 pros and 48 co-anglers caught limits. A rainy spring has made Beaver Lake almost unrecognizable to returning anglers - its characteristically clear waters are now muddy, with less than 3 feet of visibility in most areas. The lake is 8 feet above normal pool, creating thousands of acres of flooded bass cover.
"There was no sight fishing here, but Texas has a lot of muddy water, so I'm used to this kind of stuff," said Pack, who has amassed more than $296,000 in career earnings with FLW Outdoors and is currently ranked 38th in the 2008 FLW Tour standings. "I found them in the real muddy water and probably had to go through 30 fish to catch the five biggest ones."
Pack stayed within five miles of the marina and caught his limit using a worm and crankbait in 2 feet of water, and believes the forecast for sun Thursday should help him.
"I'm running a pattern, and it is really strong right now, so I can run just about anywhere and do it," Pack said. "I think my pattern will hold up for four days, since it's not like a sight-fishing deal, where they'll run out."
Pack holds a 13-ounce lead over his closest competitors, Jason Reyes of Humble, Texas, and Joel Richardson of Kernersville, N.C., who both caught five bass weighing 14-00.
While Pack focused on power fishing to catch his fish, Reyes opted for finesse fishing and Richardson chose a variety of baits to catch his bass. "I started out on clear water and had a limit by 9 o'clock," said Reyes, who is in his second season of FLW Tour competition. "Then I came back into the dirty water late in the day and caught a couple of really nice fish that culled well for me-a 4 ½- and 2 ½-pounder."
"I think my pattern will hold up if I keep changing up and fishing a little bit deep and a little bit shallow and find out what they want. The deeper fish are coming from the lower end of the lake, and I didn't really have many other boats around," he added.
"I caught some of my fish on spinnerbaits, one on a jig and some on crankbaits," said Richardson, who has had 20 top-10 finishes since 1995 in FLW Outdoors events and won the FLW Tour tournament on Lake Okeechobee in 1999. "I was fishing in muddy, shallow water on points and caught a lot of fish, maybe 30 keepers."
Rounding out the top five pros are Greg Bohannan of Rogers, Ark. (five bass, 13-12) and Sam Newby of Pocola, Okla. (five bass, 13-07).
Rob Digh of Denver, N.C., earned the day's $1,000 Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 6-pound bass he caught on a jig. If that weight holds up Friday as the heaviest of the two-day opening round, he will earn an additional $1,000.
Overall there were 903 bass weighing 1,605 pounds, 1 ounce caught by 200 pros Thursday.
Brett Winborn of Alma, Ark., leads the Co-angler Division with five bass weighing 11-12 followed by Jared Taliaferro of Rogers, in second place with five bass weighing 11-11.
"I caught largemouth in shallow water, flipping a lot of bushes, grass and timber," Winborn said. "I went to about 25 to 30 small areas."
Winborn said he felt a little "out of his element" at Beaver Lake with the muddy conditions, but adapted quickly, catching eight or nine keepers. Winborn took the early lead in the tournament while fishing with Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C., who is currently in 97th place with five bass weighing 8-03.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Ty Hester of Russellville, Ala. (five bass, 11-02); Scotty Villines of Ponca, Ark. (five bass, 10-01) and Mike Drain of Purcell, Okla. (five bass, 9-10).
Winborn earned the day's $500 Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 4-pound, 4-ounce bass.
Overall there were 527 bass weighing 794 pounds caught by 200 co-anglers Thursday. Co-anglers are fishing for a top award of $40,000 this week.