LEWISVILLE, Texas - Cindy Hill of Smyrna, Tenn., "played the wind" on Lewisville Lake to take control Friday at the season-opening bass fishing tournament of the Women's Bassmaster Tour.
Hill's two-day total of 24 pounds, 15 ounces pushed her up from fourth and ahead of Thursday leader Patti Campbell of Waxahachie, Texas, who struggled against Friday's wind boating two bass, short of the five-fish limit. Campbell's weight was 21-4.
Taking third place was one-time WBT winner Juanita Robinson of Highlands, Texas, whose 19-6 jumped her up 10 places. Fourth was Arkansas' Jan Heavener with 17-12, followed by Alabama's Kathy Womack with 17-6.
The field of 97 pros was cut to the top 20 for Saturday's finale. They're competing on Lewisville, just northwest of Dallas, for a top prize of $51,000 in cash and merchandise, including a Triton/Mercury boat rig.
The Lewisville event is proving to be a challenge to most anglers, due to an exiting storm front, bluebird skies and high winds. Hill, however, outwitted the wind, the main sticking point for most of the anglers.
"I'm playing the wind," said Hill, who estimated her largest fish was almost 4 pounds. "Whichever way the wind is blowing, I've got places I found in practice that are holding fish - good fish - north, south, east and west. Every morning I decide where I'm going once I see what the wind's going to do. It's been my key, having places to go when the wind gets up."
Campbell, a supervisor for an IT company, said wind hampered her Friday even more than it had Thursday.
"It was really hard to stay on my spot this morning," said Campbell. "I boated two keepers there, but it was so rough I couldn't even keep the trolling motor in the water, the waves were so high. So I went someplace else, but there was boat traffic there. I left and went back to my original spot, but I still couldn't work it. It made for a long day."
Robinson, who said she was fishing heavy cover, logged almost twice as much weight Friday as on Thursday, but she still characterized Friday as a "slow day."
"The water came up today and the fish seemed to move, and the wind wasn't a friend today," said Robinson, who weighed in 12-07 Friday. "I had to go to some water I (pre-fished) last week. I wasn't doing anything different today. It was a really slow day."
Again heading up the co-angler competition was Day 1 leader Denese Freeman of Lawton, Okla., who had a two-day total of 17-2. The April 10-12 event is her third time competing on Lewisville. She didn't place in the money at either the 2005 or 2006 WBT events, but she learned what worked.
Co-angler Kim Petrowski of Arlington, Texas, moved from third to second with 12-7. After coming up empty Friday, Bertha Cavakis of Amity, Ark., dropped from second to third with 10-12. Rounding out the top five co-anglers were Debbie Pegoli of Ohio with 7-13 and Elizabeth Sanders of Mississippi with 7-4.
Co-anglers are competing for a $25,500 first prize package, which includes a Skeeter/Yamaha boat rig.
For the final day of competition, contender boats will launch at 6:50 a.m. Saturday from the docks at Sneaky Pete's, 2 Eagle Point Road, Lewisville. The 3 p.m. weigh-in will be hosted by Academy Sports & Outdoors at the Lewisville store, 2428 South Stemmons Freeway, across from Vista Ridge Mall.
The launch and weigh-in are free and open to the public.