WASHINGTON (June 16, 2007) - Chris Baumgardner of Gastonia, N.C., caught a five-bass limit weighing 16 pounds, 7 ounces Saturday to capture the lead in a top-10 field that includes some of the greatest anglers in the world. Baumgardner now holds a 1-pound edge over his closest competitor, David Dudley of Lynchburg, Va., heading into the final day of competition in the FLW Tour bass fishing tournament on the Potomac River. If he holds on for the win, Baumgardner will pocket $125,000.
"It's getting tougher every day," said Baumgardner, who has amassed more than $295,000 in career earnings in FLW Outdoors events. "One place I had is completely gone. I'm down to one spot, more or less."
Baumgardner said the tides are beginning to play a major role in the tournament as they shift later every day. He said anglers are running out of time to catch quality fish as the tournament day progresses.
Baumgardner concentrated on a milfoil flat south of Smallwood State Park and is using 1/2- and 3/8-ounce chatterbaits to land the majority of his bass. He said he alternated between chartreuse/white, black and blue and brown/green pumpkin baits, with no particular preference to any color.
"It's just a matter of getting in there and getting the right bites," Baumgardner said. "I know I'm in the right place, and I know it has the right size of fish, but it's getting tougher. I just have to have confidence and stay with it if I'm not getting the bites."
Dudley, who surpassed Denny Brauer with this top-10 finish to claim the fourth spot on the all-time leading money winner's list with more than $2.3 million, caught five fish weighing 15 pounds, 7 ounces to advance to the final day of competition as the No. 2 seed.
Dudley concentrated on a stretch of water that ranged four to five miles on either side of Smallwood State Park on both sides of the river. Dudley said he mixed his techniques all three days of competition and would continue to do the same on the final day. He added he would need at least 17 pounds at weigh-in to pull off the victory, but wouldn't make any predictions.
"Do I feel good about tomorrow?" Dudley asked rhetorically. "Yes. I caught a lot of fish today. But you'll never hear me say, 'I'm going to win or I'm going to go out and catch a big bag.' You know how people do. But not me. Negatory, Big Cat. I'm never going to say that. Never. You don't even know if you're going to breathe 30 seconds from now."
Rounding out the top 10 pros are Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Fla. (five bass, 12-15); Ken Wick of Star, Idaho (five bass, 12-13); Jerry Williams of Conway, Ark. (five bass, 11-15); Mark Davis of Mount Ida, Ark. (five bass, 11-9); Jack Wade of Knoxville, Tenn. (five bass, 10-14); Sandy Melvin of Boca Grande, Fla. (five bass, 10-4); Shad Schenck of Waynetown, Ind. (five bass, 8-13) and Ray Scheide of Russellville, Ark. (five bass, 7-12). Overall there were 50 bass weighing 118 pounds, 13 ounces caught in the Pro Division Saturday. The catch included 10 five-bass limits.
Bob Blosser of Lodi, Wis., won the Co-angler Division and $25,000 Saturday with a five-bass limit weighing 13 pounds, 5 ounces followed by Kevin Koone of Greenbrier, Ark., in second place with five bass weighing 10-7 worth $10,000.
Blosser opened the tournament in 19th place Thursday with five bass weighing 12-15 while fishing with pro George Jeane Jr. of Evans, La. On Friday he jumped into seventh place on the strength of a five-bass catch weighing 12-2 while fishing with Jason Reyes of Humble, Texas. He wrapped up his win while fishing with Williams.
"I just had a feeling this morning that this was going to be my day," said Blosser, who notched his second FLW Tour top-10 finish and first victory. "The first spot we pulled up to, on about my third cast, I caught a 2 ½-pounder and I thought, 'Cool.'"
Blosser's winning pattern consisted of a 3/8-ounce custom swimming jig made by a friend in La Crosse, Wis., and a slow retrieve. Blosser used a black and blue jig in practice and switched to a white color to try to coax more bites.
"The white was a little better bite, so I switched to chartreuse and they just started eating it," Blosser said. "So I called up my friend and he next-day aired me a bunch of them."
Blosser rigged the jig with a chartreuse trailer and reeled the jig slowly across the top of grass. When the jig touched the grass, Blosser snapped the tip lightly to jump the jig off the grass.
Blosser culled his last fish of the day at 12:30 p.m. and then realized he had released his next-to-smallest fish, not his smallest fish. Despite the mistake, Blosser held on to a 3-pound, 9-ounce lead for the win.
"I've been doing this for six years now, and I fish the FLW Series as a pro," Blosser said. "This is probably going to be my last go at the co-angling. I want to fish pro in either the Series or the Tour. I'm not getting any younger."
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers are Ken Keirsey of Owasso, Okla. (five bass, 9-12, $9,000); Marc Levesque of Waterbury, Conn. (five bass, 9-3, $8,000); James Dudley of Lynchburg, Va. (three bass, 7-6, $7,000); David Hudson of Jasper, Ala. (two bass, 3-7, $6,000); Mark Myers of Cedar Falls, Iowa (two bass, 2-15, $5,000); Moo Bae of West Friendship, Md. (two bass, 2-13, $4,000); Ken Murphy of Meridian, Miss. (no bass, $3,000) and Mark Spearly of Bellefonte, Pa. (no bass, $2,000).
Overall there were 29 bass weighing 59 pounds, 4 ounces caught in the Co-angler Division Saturday. The catch included four five-bass limits.
Anglers will take off at 6:30 Sunday morning from Anacostia Park located at 1900 Anacostia Drive SE in Washington, D.C., followed by a 4 p.m. weigh-in at the DC Armory located at 2001 E. Capitol St. in Washington, D.C., next to RFK Stadium. For convenience, visitors are encouraged to take Metro. For details on Metro service to the DC Armory, visit www.wmata.com