RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (Aug. 14, 2009) - Vic Vatalaro of Kent, Ohio, overcame what seemed to be a tough bite and crossed the weigh-in stage Friday with a five-bass limit weighing 9 pounds, 15 ounces to widen his lead in the FLW Series bass fishing tournament on Lake Dardanelle. With a three-day catch of 14 bass weighing 37-11, he holds a commanding 10-pound, 2-ounce lead over his closest competitor pro Ray Scheide of Dover, Ark., heading into the final day of competition.
"Tonight I'm going to go to the gas station for some of that good BP gas, get back to the house and have some of my grandmother's stuffed peppers ... those are my lucky peppers," said Vatalaro, who has won more than $524,000 in FLW Outdoors events.
Even though Vatalaro is sitting on what seems to be an insurmountable lead, he isn't overconfident going into the final day of competition.
"They don't always bite," Vatalaro said. "I mean, believe me, I worked hard today and caught five keepers and that's it."
The first two days of competition Vatalaro said he had focused his efforts on "10-foot zones" and was rotating around four of the zones to catch his fish. On Friday, Vatalaro shed more light on his technique.
"I'm fishing drains where the water is coming out," Vatalaro said. "It's almost the same deal as the Ohio River back home."
Vatalaro said he fished a Texas-rigged Berkley Finesse Worm with a 1/8-ounce weight and a 3-inch Berkley Chigger Craw on the back of a jig to catch his fish all three days of competition. He also had used a soft-plastic tube, but said it didn't produce Friday.
Vatalaro said he targeted drain areas that had current in four to 12 feet of water. Vatalaro said side-imaging electronics were vital to finding the underwater drains.
"It's kind of a neat deal," Vatalaro said. "I knew it was back there. I looked at the GPS and could see water back there, so I just went up to it, looked along the bank and then side-imaged it, and it's a pipe you can drive your boat through underwater. You can see it perfect. It's an open spot and you can see the concrete coming down and the concrete on the top. I mean, it's awesome."
Vatalaro said he thinks his pattern will hold up, but needs a little help to ensure victory.
"It didn't seem like they were pulling any current today," Vatalaro added. "I don't know what this place does on the weekends, but I do need a little bit of current to make things happen."
Scheide caught a three-day total of nine bass weighing 27-9 to advance to the final round as the No. 2 seed.
"I'm fishing some narrows, and I can tell if they're pulling current or not, and they weren't," said Scheide. "So I figured everybody would have a tough day. Even ledge fishermen ... it's a big deal when you're trying to fish drops. I thought I'd have a shot at sneaking in there with three quality bites."
Scheide said current is important in that it puts baitfish in vulnerable positions.
"It's like fast food, I guess," Scheide said. "If it's easy, most people are going to take advantage of it, and that's what bass do. They'll just roam on the flats and be real hard to catch, but as soon as that current starts rolling, the bait will funnel into those channel swings and onto those drops, and that's when those bass are going to eat.
"Anything can happen tomorrow," Scheide added. "I haven't really fished off-shore like I think you could catch a big bag. I've been fishing shallow all week. If (Vatalaro) looks catchable, I might start out shallow early and fish a lot of the drops that I know."
Rounding out the top 10 pros are pro Luke Clausen of Gainesville, Ga. (12 bass, 26-13); pro Jimmy Houston of Cookson, Okla. (eight bass, 26-8); pro Darrel Robertson of Jay, Okla. (11 bass, 26-4); Tommy Martin of Hemphill, Texas (11 bass, 25-14); Chad Prough of Chipley, Fla. (nine bass, 25-13); Kevin Snider of Elizabethtown, Ky. (eight bass, 25-7); Nate Wellman of Jenison, Mich. (10 bass, 24-8) and pro Dave Lefebre of Union City, Pa. (11 bass, 24-7).
David Cooke of Mooresville, N.C., earned the day's $430 Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 5-pound, 9-ounce bass.
Overall there were 197 bass weighing 450 pounds, 15 ounces caught by 96 pros Friday. The catch included five five-bass limits.
Alan Hults of Gautier, Miss., won the Co-angler Division and $23,000 Friday with a three-day total of 10 bass weighing 27 pounds even followed by co-angler Kevin Koone of Greenbrier, Ark., in second place with 12 bass weighing 24-10.
Hults caught three bass weighing 5-11 while fishing with pro O.T. Fears of Sallisaw, Okla., Wednesday and four bass weighing 16-14 while fishing with pro Ricky McLemore of Pine Bluff, Ark., Thursday. He wrapped up the win Friday with a three-bass catch weighing 4-7 while fishing with Clausen.
"My brother won the last tournament at Eufaula and some of the guys at work were picking at me and wanting to know if Chris was coming to this tournament," said Hults, who now has won more than $164,000 in FLW Outdoors events. "I told them no, and they told me I'd have a chance."
"We just like to fish and share a lot of information," Hults added.
Hults said he began the tournament "junk fishing" by fishing banks and caught fish on a trick worm, ribbon-tail worm and a Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw. The second day Hults said he fished a 10-inch Berkley Power Worm. On the third day of competition, Hults said he caught one fish on a Berkley PowerBait Chigger Craw and the other two keepers on a shaky-head rig. Hults credited his pro anglers with being a big factor in the win.
"Every one of the guys were around fish," Hults said. "You can't catch them if you're not around them, and we were lucky enough to be around them every day. Yesterday I had three five-pounders, and that's just unbelievable as much as everybody's been struggling."
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are Derek Yasinski of Senoia, Ga. (eight bass, 18-8); co-angler Pat Lay of Cleveland, Tenn. (five bass, 13-13) and Micah Frazier of Newnan, Ga. (five bass, 13-6).
Fred Wantland of Conway, Ark., earned $286 for the Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 3-pound, 15-ounce bass.
Overall there were 74 bass weighing 145 pounds, 1 ounce caught by 51 co-anglers Friday. The catch included no five-bass limits.