GREENVILLE, S.C. (March 24, 2011) – Bass Fishing pro Jason Christie of Park Hill, Okla., crossed the stage Thursday with a five-bass limit weighing 22 pounds, 4 ounces to lead day one of the FLW Tour bass fishing event on Lake Hartwell. Christie holds a 5-ounce lead over Mike Reynolds of Modesto, Calif., who caught five bass weighing 21-15 in a tournament featuring 155 anglers from all across the country and Canada.
“I started on a little stretch that I was hoping to get two or three fish off of,” said Christie, who has won more than $359,000 in FLW Outdoors competition. “I made one pass and had 18 or 19 pounds. I didn’t know how the day was going to shake out, so I decided to leave and go fish other stuff. I’d fish new water and go to other stuff where I thought I could catch one. I didn’t catch a lot of fish today, but I caught good fish.”
Christie said he caught “about a dozen” keepers during the course of the day.
“It’s hard to tell when you’ve got all good (fish),” Christie said.
Christie said the warm weather trend has the fish moving up into shallow water and nearly every pocket holds pairs of fish preparing for the spawn. He said he was catching “spawners” but wasn’t visually targeting them. Instead, he’s fishing slightly dirty water and using BOOYAH brand baits to provoke a reaction strike.
“I don’t think they’re conducive to being caught while you’re looking at them right now,” Christie said. “Some guys are going to catch them and there is probably going to be somebody come in with 25 pounds he caught while looking at them. But they’re too interested in each other. You just have to get them on a reaction strike on a bait and I can do that better fishing than I can looking at them.”
Chevy pro Jimmy Houston of Cookson, Okla., who finished the day in fifth place, also used BOOYAH spinnerbaits and jigs for reaction bites to fill his limit.
“The only time I saw them was when I put them in the boat,” Houston said.
Houston said fishing during practice was solid but the bite seems to have slowed with the cold front that has approached Lake Hartwell.
“We’re going to have to slow down and fish a lot differently than we did in practice,” Houston said. “I think it will get a lot more difficult for me. I don’t think the guys who are sight fishing are going to have many more fish come in, and those stringers might deteriorate a little bit.
“I’ve got fish but I don’t think they’re going to bite very well,” Houston added.
Rounding out the top 10 pros after day one on Lake Hartwell are:
3rd: David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., five bass, 20-0
4th: Joe Thomas, Milford, Ohio, five bass, 19-10
5th: Jimmy Houston, Cookson, Okla., five bass, 19-3
6th: Tom Monsoor, La Crosse, Wis., five bass, 18-9
7th: Justin Lucas, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 18-2
7th: Larry Nixon, Bee Branch, Ark., five bass, 18-2
9th: Dan Morehead, Paducah, Ky., five bass, 17-8
10th: Randy Macabee Jr., Bakersfield, Calif., five bass, 17-5
Thomas caught the Big Bass weighing 6-10 in the pro division to win $500.
Overall there were 713 bass weighing 1,703 pounds, 9 ounces caught by 152 pros Thursday. The catch included 124 five-bass limits.
Pros are competing for a top award of up to $125,000 this week plus valuable points in the hope of qualifying for the Forrest Wood Cup. This year’s Cup will be in Hot Springs, Ark., Aug. 11-14 on Lake Ouachitawhere pros will compete for a top prize of $600,000 – the sport’s biggest award. Pro anglers are also vying for the 2011 FLW Tour Angler of the Year that will be determined by the most points accumulated over the six Tour Majors with the winner receiving $100,000 for their accomplishment.
Keith Honeycutt of Temple, Texas, leads the Co-angler Division with five bass weighing 16-13 followed by J.R. Wright of Truckee, Calif., in second place with five bass weighing 16-3.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers are:
3rd: Jade Keeton, Florence, Ala., five bass, 14-2
4th: Moo Bae, West Friendship, Mo., five bass, 13-15
5th: Andy Scholz, Reno, Nev., five bass, 13-7
6th: Mike Helton, Jeffersonville, Ind., five bass, 13-3
6th: Spencer Shuffield, Bismarck, Ark., five bass, 13-3
8th: Chad Pipkens, Holt, Mich., five bass, 12-13
9th: Doug Caldwell, Kane, Pa., five bass, 12-12
10th: Patrick Bone, Cleveland, Ga., five bass, 12-9
Scholz caught the Big Bass weighing 5-6 in the co-angler division to win $250.
Overall there were 428 bass weighing 752 pounds, 1 ounce caught by 135 co-anglers Thursday. The catch included 36 five-bass limits.
Co-anglers are fishing for a top award of $25,000 this week plus valuable points that could help them qualify for the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup.The FLW Tour Co-angler of the Year will be determined by the most points accumulated over the six Tour Majors and the winner will receive a new Ranger 198VX with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.
Anglers will take off from Portman Shoals Marina located at 1629 Marina Rd. in Anderson, S.C. at 7:30 each morning. Friday’s weigh-in will be held at Portman Shoals Marina beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday’s final weigh-in will be held at the Carolina First Center located at One Exposition Drive in Greenville beginning at 4 p.m.