TRI-CITIES, Wash. (Sept. 17, 2008) - Pro Paul Hall of Soap Lake, Wash., landed a five-bass limit weighing 14-15 Wednesday to lead day one of the FLW Series bass fishing tournament on the Columbia River. He now holds a slim 1-ounce lead in the $1 million tournament. "Today I went to some spots that I hadn't touched in practice and was anxious to see if they had any fish on them," said Hall, who is fishing in only his second FLW Series event. "It took me until noon to catch my fifth biggest fish."
Hall said he caught a total of 25 fish throughout the day, including 20 keepers. Hall targeted certain weedlines he had found and was throwing reaction baits to provoke strikes. Hall said he switched to fishing ledges in the afternoon when the action slowed down.
Hall said his slim lead wouldn't make him alter his plan of attack going into the second day of competition.
"I'm going to do the same thing tomorrow," Hall said. "The pattern I have is kind of a slow pattern, and you have to grind it out to see if it will work. I hope I can get some fish early and maybe find some new stuff for the third day."
Eric McFarland of Meridian, Idaho, trails Hall in the No. 2 spot with five bass weighing 14-14.
Rounding out the top five pros are Ronald Hobbs Jr. of Graham, Wash. (five bass, 14-12); R.J. Bennett of Roseville, Calif. (five bass, 14-7) and David Kromm of Kennewick, Wash. (five bass, 14-01).
Cameron Smith of Dana Point, Calif., earned the day's $329 Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 5-pound, 8-ounce bass he caught. Overall there were 535 bass weighing 998 pounds, 1 ounce caught by 119 pros Wednesday. The catch included 89 five-bass limits.
James Cadell of Escalon, Calif., leads the Co-angler Division with five bass weighing 14-11 followed by Gary Haraguchi of Brentwood, Calif., in second place with five bass weighing 11-7.
Cadell caught his bass while fishing with pro Brandon Craner of Filer, Idaho, who is currently in 20th place with five bass weighing 11-02.
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Mike Iloski of Escondido, Calif. (five bass, 10-14); Jason Bryan of Spokane, Wash. (five bass, 10-11) and Team National Guard co-angler Justin Lucas of Folsom, Calif. (five bass, 10-8).
Cadell earned $212 for the Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 4-pound, 9-ounce bass he caught.
Overall there were 350 bass weighing 554 pounds, 14 ounces caught by 114 co-anglers Wednesday. The catch included 29 five-bass limits.
Co-anglers are competing this week for a top award of $25,000. Like the pros, the top 30 co-anglers from both FLW Series divisions after four qualifying events are complete will advance to the East-West Fish-Off for a shot at qualifying for the Forrest Wood Cup.
Anglers will take off at 6:30 each morning from Columbia Point Marina located at 660 Columbia Point Drive in Richland, Wash. Thursday and Friday's weigh-in will be held at the marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday's weigh-in will be held at the Walmart store located at 2801 Duportail Street in Richland beginning at 4 p.m. Children will also be treated to a Family Fun Zone prior to Saturday's weigh-in from noon to 4 p.m. at Walmart. Activities in the Family Fun Zone include a trout pond, a Ranger boat simulator and assorted fishing-themed games. All activities are free and open to the public.
In FLW Series competition, pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day, with pros supplying the boat, controlling boat movement and competing against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back deck against other co-anglers. The entire field competes for the first three days, and co-angler competition concludes on day three with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated three-day weight. The top 10 professionals continue competition on day four, and the winner is determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from all four days.