PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (Sept. 16, 2011) – Gary Yamamoto of Palestine, Texas, caught a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 8 ounces Friday to maintain his lead on day two of the FLW Tour bass fishing tournament on Lake Champlain. His two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 41 pounds, 12 ounces matches the second-place angler’s weight, but Yamamoto’s heavier day-one weight breaks the tie. Pros and co-anglers from across the United States and Canada started the tournament and the top 20 will fish day three and the top 10 will compete for the title on day four.
“I started off in the opposite direction that I did the first day because I thought that some of my spots would be hit hard by other fishermen, but that didn’t work out,” Yamamoto said. “I went to a spot I fished yesterday and caught three keepers pretty quickly. Then I switched to a Chatterbait to fill my limit and I had my limit by 10 o’clock.”
Yamamoto said he started out the day fishing a Senko and caught most of his fish Friday on the Senko, but managed to boat three or four on the Chatterbait. Yamamoto estimates his keeper catch Friday numbered close to 30. He said he hopes Saturday’s results are similar to the first two days of competition.
“I’m just going to go fishing,” Yamamoto said. “I’ll probably start in same area where I caught better fish today. I have one area I haven’t hit yet, so I’ll go there tomorrow afternoon.”
David Wolak of Wake Forest, N.C., is in the No. 2 spot with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 41-12.
Rounding out the top 20 pros that will fish Saturday on Lake Champlain are:
3rd: Daryl Biron, South Windsor, Conn., 10 bass, 38-14
4th: Bryan Schmitt, Deale, Md., 10 bass, 38-3
5th: Straight Talk pro Scott Canterbury, Springville, Ala., 10 bass, 37-6
6th: Band Aid/Neosporin pro Glenn Browne, Ocala, Fla., 10 bass, 37-2
7th: Brian Bylotas, Olyphant, Pa., 10 bass, 36-6
8th: J. Todd Tucker, Moultrie, Ga., 10 bass, 36-3
9th: Joe Lucarelli, Center Harbor, N.H., 10 bass, 35-11
10th: Shinichi Fukae, Palestine, Texas, 10 bass, 35-7
11th: Jim Moynagh, Carver, Minn., 10 bass, 35-6
12th: Steve Kennedy, Auburn, Ala., 10 bass, 34-10
13th: Michael Iaconelli, Pittsgrove, N.J., 10 bass, 34-9
14th: Kyle Mabrey, McCalla, Ala., 10 bass, 34-8
15th: Wesley Strader, Spring City, Tenn., 10 bass, 33-14
16th: Jason Cordiale, Orinda, Calif., 10 bass, 33-8
17th: Greg Hackney, Gonzales, La., 10 bass, 33-2
18th: Dion Hibdon, Sunrise Beach, Mo., 10 bass, 33-0
19th: Dave Lefebre, Union City, Pa., 10 bass, 32-14
20th: Thanh Le, Lake Havasu City, Ariz., 10 bass, 32-13
Casey Martin of Huntsville, Ala., leads the Co-angler Division with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 34 pounds, 2 ounces, followed by Christopher Hall of Clarks Summit, Pa., in second place with 10 bass weighing 32-5.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers are:
3rd: Greg Scott, Dearborn, Mich., 10 bass, 28-15
4th: Carl Hunter, Snellville, Ga., 10 bass, 28-7
5th: Jason Bilow, Woodlawn, Ont., 10 bass, 28-1
6th: Phil Jarmon, Apex, N.C., 10 bass, 28-0
7th: Richard Schumacher, Newton, Conn., 10 bass, 27-4
8th: Mark Banks, East Aurora, N.Y., 10 bass, 27-3
9th: William Wood, West Palm Beach, Fla., 10 bass, 27-0
10th: Philip Jarabeck, Lynchburg, Va., 10 bass, 26-13
Co-anglers are fishing for a top award of $25,000 this week plus valuable points that could help them qualify for the 2012 Forrest Wood Cup. The top five co-anglers in the point standings from the four FLW Tour Open tournaments will qualify.
Anglers will take off from Dock Street Landing located at 5 Dock St. in Plattsburgh at 6:30 each morning. Saturday and Sunday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Walmart located at 25 Consumer Square in Plattsburgh beginning at 4 p.m.