CHARLES COUNTY, Md. (June 15, 2007) - Jack Wade of Knoxville, Tenn., caught a five-bass limit weighing 16 pounds, 14 ounces Friday to capture the lead in the FLW Tour bass fishing tournament on the Potomac River with a two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 37-13. He now holds a 1-pound lead in the tournament featuring 200 pros and 200 co-anglers representing 37 states, Australia and Japan.
"I fished hard, and I fished an area that I didn't fish yesterday," said Wade, who has two top-10 finishes on the FLW Tour. "The way the tides affect the areas I'm in is really key, and I tried fishing the high tide on a grass bed and it didn't work."
Wade returned to a spot where he caught four fish that weighed nearly 17 pounds on the first day of competition, but the fish weren't there Friday.
"I didn't have a keeper at 10:30," Wade said. "I was waiting out on the water for the tides to do something, and finally I went to a secondary area I had and caught a keeper. My fish today came out of areas that I didn't even touch yesterday." Wade said he was flipping a 3/8-ounce jig around wood and soft plastic baits in grass. He also threw a frog in hopes of capitalizing on a topwater bite. However, his keeper fish fell to the jig.
Wade plans to play the tides again Saturday in a spot where he knows quality fish are holding, although he expects to catch a few 2-pounders in the area.
"You never know when that one 2-pounder is going to be the one to get you over that hump," Wade said. "Who knows what's going to happen tomorrow. I'm just going to go out and catch as many fish as I can."
Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Fla., advanced to the final round of 10 pros in the No. 2 spot with a two-day total of 10 bass weighing 36-13.
Rounding out the top five pros who will continue competition Saturday and Sunday are Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Ark. (10 bass, 36-10); Sandy Melvin of Boca Grande, Fla. (10 bass, 35-5); and Ray Scheide of Russellville, Ark. (10 bass, 35-4). Also clearing the top-10 cut weight of 33 pounds, 3 ounces and adding to this already power-packed top-10 field are Ken Wick of Star, Idaho; Jerry Williams of Conway, Ark.; Chris Baumgardner of Gastonia, N.C.; David Dudley of Lynchburg, Va.; and Shad Schenk of Waynetown, Ind.
Baumgardner earned the day's $750 Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 7-pound, 6-ounce bass. He also won an extra $1,000 for having the biggest bass of the tournament.
Overall there were 776 bass weighing 2,104 pounds caught by 188 pros Friday. The catch included 108 five-bass limits.
Ken Murphy of Meridian, Miss., leads the Co-angler Division with an opening-round total of nine bass weighing 30 pounds, 2 ounces, followed by Moo Bae of West Friendship, Md., in second place with 10 bass weighing 28-0.
"I didn't get as many keeper bites today," said Murphy, who has amassed eight top-10 finishes in FLW Outdoors events. "I caught probably 10 or 12 short fish today. I just kept my head down and stuck to the presentation I have confidence in, and it worked out."
Murphy's confidence technique is fishing a Senko. While other anglers may be throwing the same bait during the tournament, Murphy said he's chosen a different color and is weighting it differently than other anglers. Murphy also relied on a shaky-head finesse worm outside of grass edges. Murphy said the Senko and the shaky-head worm each produced two of his four keepers.
While Murphy is no stranger to top-10 finishes, he said he is thrilled to be leading the field going into the final day of competition and is looking forward to a shot at his first FLW Tour win.
"It would be awesome," Murphy said. "That's my ultimate goal right now. If I can get that behind me, it would surely be a milestone."
Rounding out the top five co-anglers are James Dudley of Lynchburg, Va. (nine bass, 26-11); David Hudson of Jasper, Ala. (10 bass, 26-5) and Mark Levesque of Waterbury, Conn. (nine bass, 25-5).
Also clearing the top-10 cut weight of 24 pounds, 3 ounces in the Co-angler Division are Mark Myers of Cedar Falls, Iowa; Bob Blosser of Lodi, Wis.; Ken Kiersey of Owasso, Okla.; Kevin Koone of Greenbrier, Ark.; and Mark Spearly of Bellefonte, Penn. Rob Genter of Tidioute, Penn., earned $500 for the day's Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 5-pound, 12-ounce bass he caught while fishing with pro Tom Mann Jr. of Buford, Ga.
Overall there were 454 bass weighing 1,149 pounds, 13 ounces caught by 169 co-anglers Friday. The catch included 26 five-bass limits.
Co-anglers are fishing for a top award of $25,000 this week.