MURRAY, Ky. – Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn., has 18 career top-10’s with FLW, but only one has come on Kentucky Lake – an eighth place finish in 2006. Moynagh has now put himself into strong contention to make it 19 after bringing the largest stringer of the day to the scales this afternoon. He is now leading a field of pros as they fish for a top cash award of up to $125,000 at the FLW Tour Major bass fishing tournament on Kentucky Lake.
Moynagh weighed in a five-bass limit on Friday weighing 21 pounds, 11 ounces to move to the top of the leaderboard after finishing day one in fifth place. After two days of fishing Moynagh has weighed in 10 bass totaling 40 pounds, 6 ounces, and now holds a 3 pound, 8 ounce lead over Straight Talk pro J.T. Kenney of Palm Bay, Fla., who caught five bass today weighing 18 pounds, 4 ounces. Kenney has weighed in 10 bass totaling 36 pounds, 14 ounces after his first two days.
“Today went quite well for me,” said Moynagh, who has career winnings of more than $1.1 million on the FLW Tour. “I was able to catch one of the bigger bags that I have ever caught as a pro. I actually caught more fish yesterday, but there were a lot of smaller ones in the mix. I avoided those areas today, and went to where I thought I could find the bigger bites.
“I had a good practice coming into this event,” Moynagh added. “I found a lot of fish, and I certainly feel like I won’t have a problem going out and catching fish here. It’s just getting the right bites that is the trick.”
Moynagh said that he had been fishing deep, and was avoiding making the long runs south to New Johnsonville or over to Lake Barkley as other anglers have been.
“I’ve been sticking to Kentucky Lake the whole time,” he continued. “I just don’t like the strategy of making the run down to New Johnsonville, especially considering where I’m sitting in the Angler of the Year points standings. I feel like it adds an extra bit of unnecessary gamble to the tournament when I figured that there are plenty of fish on the northern half of the lake. There are also a couple of tournaments going on down at that end of the lake this weekend, so if I were to make that long run there’s no telling how much competition I might have for the prime spots down there.
“I’ve been staying out on the ledges, throwing a ¾-ounce All Terrain Tackle football head jig,” Moynagh continued. “Today I was able to get one with a Carolina rig as well. The other nine bass that I have weighed in have come on the jig, though. I’ve got some other baits tied up too, so I feel like if I need to show the fish something a little different I can pick one of those up. I’m confident in my abilities, and I believe that I can make the proper adjustments and adapt if I need to.
“The gameplan for tomorrow will be to go out and catch a bigger bag than today,” Moynagh joked. “I’m really not going to throw any major wrinkles into what I’m doing. A good fisherman always needs to stay open to adjustments for the unknown and unexpected, you just have to react and deal with it. Today was very manageable as far as boat control, but a terrible wind would make things awfully hard for me. I really hope for a similar day tomorrow.”
Rounding out the top 20 pros that will fish tomorrow on Kentucky Lake are:
3rd: Kyle Mabrey, McCalla, Ala., 10 bass, 36-4
4th: Jacob Wheeler, Indianapolis, Ind., 10 bass, 35-9
5th: Ron Shuffield, Bismarck, Ark., 10 bass, 35-9
6th: Terry Bolton, Paducah, Ky., 10 bass, 35-2
7th: Chris Baumgardner, Gastonia, N.C., 10 bass, 35-1
8th: John Cox, Debary, Fla., 10 bass, 34-8
9th: Dave Lefebre, Erie, Pa., 10 bass, 33-15
10th: Jacob Powroznik, Prince George, Va., 10 bass, 33-8
11th: Rick Cotten, Guntersville, Ala., 10 bass, 32-14
12th: Andy Morgan, Dayton, Tenn., 10 bass, 32-10
13th: David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., 10 bass, 32-8
14th: Brent Long, Cornelius, N.C., 10 bass, 32-0
15th: Kevin Hawk, Guntersville, Ala., 10 bass, 31-15
16th: Clent Davis, Montevallo, Ala., 10 bass, 31-15
17th: Jay Yelas, Corvallis, Ore., 10 bass, 31-12
18th: Todd Hollowell, Fishers, Ind., 10 bass, 31-6
19th: Shane Long, Springfield, Mo., 10 bass, 31-3
20th: Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 10 bass, 31-0
Kenney and Gary Yamamoto tied for Friday’s big bass, each weighing in a 6 pound, 5 ounce bass on the pro side to split the $500 prize.
Overall there were 627 bass weighing 1,630 pounds, 15 ounces caught by pros Friday. The catch included 108 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 2012 Forrest Wood Cup. The top 35 anglers in the point standings from the six FLW Tour Major tournaments will qualify.
Casey Martin of New Market, Ala., continues to lead the Co-angler Division with 10 bass weighing 37-9 followed by Terrance Smith of Fishers, Ind., in second place with 10 bass weighing 30-9.
Rounding out the top 20 co-anglers are:
3rd: Brad Roberts, Faubush, Ky., 10 bass, 29-9
4th: Chad McClendon, North Richland, Texas, nine bass, 28-9
5th: Mark Myers, Cedar Falls, Iowa, eight bass, 28-8
6th: Mike Helton, Jeffersonville, Ind., 10 bass, 28-6
7th: Rob Hicks, Lula, Ga., 10 bass, 27-14
8th: Matt Krekovich, Granite City, Ill., 10 bass, 27-10
9th: Frank Divis Sr., Fayetteville, Ark., 10 bass, 27-10
10th: Richard Peek, Centre, Ala., 10 bass, 27-8
11th: Rick Bowen, Jackson, Tenn., 10 bass, 27-6
12th: Kurt Chelminiak, Delafield, Wis., 10 bass, 26-15
13th: Jeff Taylor, Olmstead, Ky., 10 bass, 26-15
14th: Leo Reiter, Greenup, Ill., 10 bass, 26-9
15th: Zac Cassill, Fairfax, Iowa, 10 bass, 26-8
16th: Bob Ebel, Concord, Calif., nine bass, 26-6
17th: Ken Keirsey, Owasso, Okla., 10 bass, 26-5
18th: Nick Hensley, Cumming, Ga., 10 bass, 25-13
19th: Alex Posey, Roswell, Ga., 10 bass, 25-11
20th: Josh Smith, Hamilton, Ohio, 10 bass, 25-10
Bowen caught Friday’s big bass weighing 6 pounds, 8 ounces in the co-angler division to win $250.
Overall there were 507 bass weighing 1,219 pounds, 11 ounces caught by co-anglers Friday. The catch included 68 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 2012 Forrest Wood Cup. The top 35 co-anglers in the point standings from the six FLW Tour Major tournaments will qualify.
Anglers will take off from Kentucky Dam Marina located at 466 Marina Drive in Gilbertsville at 6:30 a.m. each morning. Saturday and Sunday’s final weigh-ins will be held at the CFSB Center at Murray State University in Murray beginning at 4 p.m.