“I had my first keeper by 6 o’clock and I had three by around 7 am,” stated Campbell. “Then it got really, really slow but I managed to scratch out another two.”
“I think it will take a little bit bigger sack than 8.93 to win this thing,” Campbell continued. “I didn’t do what I should have been doing earlier today, but it all worked out. I think I am going to go out and try to get some bigger fish tomorrow.”
Sitting in second a mere 0.34 ounces behind Campbell is Centre, Alabama’s Lisa Johnson. Johnson’s five-bass limit gave her 8.59 pounds for day one.
“I caught three this morning, then it slowed way down, and then it picked back up and with about an hour to go,” Johnson stated, “when I picked those last two up.”
“It was junk fishing at its finest,” Johnson said with a laugh. “This morning I caught fish in grass and this afternoon it was on wood, so tomorrow I will probably do more junk fishing, but I’ve got to find where they are at --- whether it be grass or wood.”
Most anglers felt it would take around a 12-pound bag on Friday to win this event. Campbell’s lead is a very slim lead at best as less than three pounds separate the top eleven anglers on the pro side.
Following Campbell and Johnson in the 2011 LBAA Old Hickory “Super Seven” was Pam Martin-Wells of Bainbridge, Georgia with 8.40 and Foristell, Missouri’s Lynda Gessner with 8.38 pounds. In fifth was Judith Hart of Greenville, Texas with 7.92. Sixth place today belongs to Pelham, Alabama’s Kim Bain-Moore with 7.56 and Murchison, Texas resident Pam Ridgle with 7.41 pounds of bass follows Bain-Moore in seventh.
Mt. Juliet, Tennessee’s Laura Prosser brought a 3.49-pound bass to the scales, giving her big bass for the day in the pro division.
Sarah Davis from Livingston, Louisiana brought her three-fish limit to scales today in the co-angler division, and those three bass weighed in at 6.05 pounds. Davis holds a slim 0.62-ounce lead over second place Jan Bruner.
Bruner who resides in Cedar Hill, Texas only brought two bass to the scales that weighed 5.43 pounds, but one weighed in at 4.66 pounds, which gave her the co-angler division big bass for the day.
Lebanon, Tennessee’s Diana Montgomery sits in third on the co-angler side with 5.23 and Kim Martin from Clayton, Indiana is in fourth with 5.14. Fifth place belongs to Cassie Hall of Alabaster, Alabama with 5.11 pounds. Holding down sixth and seventh, respectively, is Martha Goodfellow of Simpsonville, South Carolina with 4.55 and Diana Uebelhack of Mt. Vernon, Illinois with 4.25 pounds of bass.
Angler of the Year races will be decided in both divisions as the LBAA event at Old Hickory concludes on Friday.
This week’s 2011 LBAA Old Hickory ProAm event closes out on Friday, August 26th, and on Saturday, August 27th, the LBAA will host the 2011 LBAA Old Hickory Homesafe Charity Tournament. The proceeds from this charity team tournament will go towards helping Homesafe assist more women and children who find themselves in difficult situations. Entry fee is $100 per team and the tournament will pay out a guaranteed $1,000 first place cash prize. There will be an additional $200 cash prize going to the highest finishing team with a female team member and an additional $200 cash prize that will to the highest finishing team with a child age 12 or under as a team member. At the conclusion of Saturday’s weigh-in, there will also be a raffle of items donated by national and local organizations. The proceeds of this raffle will add more support to the Homesafe organization.
Both the conclusion of the LBAA ProAm event and LBAA Old Hickory Homesafe charity tournament will launch at “safe light” and weigh-in at 2:00 p.m. All launches and weigh-ins will take place at Flipper’s (Bull Creek Ramp). Flipper’s Bait and Tackle is located at 200 Odoms Bend Road, Gallatin, TN. 37066. Phone 1-615-452-7719.
Sponsors of the 2011 Lady Bass Anglers Association Tour are: Wilkins Brothers Outdoors, Pro Tournament Scales, Todali Tackle, Dawn Outdoors, Red Dirt Bait Company, FINS Superlines, Rayjus Outdoors, Reactions Innovations, Kick `n Bass, Castaway Graphite Rods, Vickie’s Threadworks, Necessity Jigs, West Kentucky LED, SureLife, Arkansas Tournament Fishing (ATF), Fleck’s Hand Poured Baits, Ray Barga and Associates Inc., Nite Owl Productions, and River Runner Baits.
Also sponsoring the LBAA Old Hickory event is Santone Lures, North Texas Marine, Buffalo P’s BBQ, and Flipper’s Bait and Tackle.
The LBAA 2011 Contingency Programs are Phoenix First Flight, Skeeter Real Money, the Legend Advantage Program, BassCat Quest, and Triton Gold.