In a tournament where most if the top finishers were all doing the same thing (throwing topwaters) it was Davy Hite that was doing something different to bury the competition and run away with the “Pride of Augusta” tournament on Clarks Hill Reservoir.  You could say he “mopped up” the competition.

1st – Davy Hite relied on his years of experience that comes with living within 40 minutes of the lake.  He decided that going for ‘down fish’ rather than surface feeding fish would be the answer to this tournament.  They key was a Buckeye Pro Jig made by the same company that makes the Spot Remover.  Important factor was the large diameter living rubber skirt of the just that makes it look like a softball falling though the water.  He fished his jog on main lake shoals and points on days 1-3 and then on day 4 he switched to a Storm Wild Eye Swim Shad in a shad hues.

2nd – Kenyon Hill lived and died by the topwater by making milk runs from point to point with a Cotton Cordell Pencil Popper and Heddon Zara Spook .  He had a huge bag the first day but could never match that though the next 3 days.  He just made 10-15 casts at each spot and knew if he kept moving, he would find fish feeding on herring and catch them, it was just the lack of big bites that held him back.

3rd – Jason Quinn rotated between a Cotton Cordell Pencil Popperand a brown 1/2oz Tru-Tungsten Jig for when the fish were not chasing herring.  He also weighed a couple fish on a Gambler Super Stud soft jerkbait.  Quinn mainly focused on the blueback herring spawn on main lake shoals as well.

4th – Kevin Wirth fished a lot like Quinn except he carolina-rigged a Gulp! Sinking Minnow instead of a jig for his down fish.  80% of the fish were caught on a Super Spook topwater in a Lake Fork Shad color.  He mainly targeted main lake points but he did into some main pockets as well.

5th – Randy Howell actually got better as the tournament went on, which he attributes to just getting the timing down and hitting the right points at the correct times for prime activity of the herring & bass.    He also fished a Pencil Popper, but he would wait until fish started to crash before he would even make a cast.  He also caught 4 keepers on a 3/4oz Hawg Caller 3-blade spinnerbait in a blueback herring color.

I only wish we had topwater action like this in MN, sometimes on the Mississippi River, but that is about it.

Rich
www.richlindgren.com
basstournament.blogspot.com

Guntersville ended up being the most under whelming of the 4 Elite Series tournaments so far, but it still produced quality bags.  I guess I just expected more bags that would get anglers into the Busch Shootout.  Ike was the only to crack the Top 10 for the season, he is likely to get bumped at Clarks Hill or Champlain for sure.

1st: Mike Iaconelli – Ike fished about 50/50 deep vs. shallow.  Day 1 & 4 were predominantly sight fishing and the rest of the time was spent targeting pre & post spawn fish.  He used a finesse type presentation for the shallow fish using the a Berkley Beast & Gulp Noodle both with Tru-Tungsten Tungsten Sinkers .  He used a nail in the tail of the noodle to give it a reverse fall.   His deeper fish he targeted with chartreuse/blue back Frenzy & Rapala DT6 crankbaits.

2nd: Alton Jones – Alton Jones made it close, but he lost his biggest bite each of the 4 days and weighed two dead fish. He finished just 2 ounces behind Iaconelli, & like Ike, he had both deep fish and spawning fish.

Nearly all the deep fish he weighed bit a spinnerbait. “I was fishing it real slow on the outside edge of the hydrilla – anywhere from 7 to 15 feet deep. “That Booyah Spinnerbait (white with a single, gold willow-leaf blade) was definitely my main deal, but I had to mix it up with some spawning fish,” he added. “I wasn’t sight-fishing though. I was casting a Yum Dinger (green pumpkin) in good spawning areas where the water was a little too deep to see them.   He also lost a 7lb+ the last day on a Fat Free Shad .  It really seems like this was Jone’s tournament to lose.

3rd: Steve Kennedy – Kennedy focused exclusively on sight-fish, and for the most part, they were males.  Kennedy targeted mostly sandy spots along main lake points and main creeks.  The males ranged from 2.5 – 4.5 lbs, most of them likely guarding fry rather than spawning.  The baits of choice were a watermelon/green pumpkin laminate Smallie Beaver and a green pumpkin Kinami Flash .

4th: Kevin VanDam – Kevin VanDam was basically committed to his deep hydrilla fish. He tried some new things on the final day in a gamble to win, but they didn’t work. “I was mainly slow-rolling a 3/4-ounce spinnerbait around grass on ledges,” he said. “I was fishing on the outside edge – the deep side. “I’d slow-roll it, then try to shake it a lot and twitch it. I was trying to make it look like a wounded shad. You couldn’t just reel it straight.”   KVD’s spinnerbait of choice was a Strike King Premier Pro Model in a blue shad.  He also credits his Biosonix for activating shad with triggered more neutral fish into biting, you can find Biosonix units at Basspro.com.

5th: Gerald Swindle – Gerald Swindle fished deeper water all tournament. “I was slow-rolling a 1/2-ounce War Eagle Spinnerbait in main-river milfoil beds in 3 to 6 feet of water,” he said. The pattern also centered on the shad spawn.” He also noted that if a fish missed his spinnerbait, he’d fire back right away with a Lucky Craft LVR D-7 lipless crank.  He also used a new G-String low stretch mono that was developed for Berkley, it will be launched at ICAST show.

On to Clarks Hill….
Rich
www.richlindgren.com
basstournament.blogspot.com

Randy Howell joins KVD & Alton Jones as Elite Series anglers that were disqualified for breaking info and assistance rules.  The strange part about Randy Howell’s DQ is that it happened 2 weeks after the conclusion of the event.  His AOY points were taken away & he is return the $10,000 for making the Top 50.  The statement from BASS does not reveal much about the infraction.  It is a shame that all these guys were DQ’d, but all three rebounded nicely at Guntersville by all making the Top 50 (Jones & KVD are in the Top 12 and Howell placed 38th).

Michael Iaconelli leads after 3 days at the “Big G”, this is first Top 12 of the year and is going to make up some serious ground on AOY leader Greg Hackney (43rd), but Dean Rojas is sitting in 12th just under 6lbs behind Ike.  Rojas should be on the top of the BASS AOY standings after this event, he has made the Top 12 in every Elite Series event this year, quite an amazing feat.  Sounds like there are many patterns and baits working.

Rich
www.richlindgren.com
basstournament.blogspot.com

Since Day 1 at Beaver Lake was kind of a snoozer, no huge bags and not many stars at the top, I thought we could look at the Busch Shootout Contenders.  Jeffrey Thomas leads at Beaver with 16.5lbs., after reading his story, I do not like his chances to hold on.  In Beaver Lake’s defense, its hard to compare to Amistad, Santee Cooper, Lake Murray and the rest of the hawg fests we have had in the last few months.  It is going to take more than a few meanmouth bass to raise eyebrows this year

Place Name                      Body Of Water               Day lbs-Ozs
————————————————————————

     1 Preston Clark             Santee Cooper Reservoir,      1   39-06         
     2 Ishama Monroe             Lake Amistad, Texas           3   34-01         
     3 Aaron Martens             Santee Cooper Reservoir,      4   32-10         
     4 Mike Wurm                 Santee Cooper Reservoir,      3   32-04         
     5 Kevin Wirth               Santee Cooper Reservoir,      2   31-15         
     6 Jimmy Mize                Lake Amistad, Texas           2   31-14         
     7 Ken Cook                  Lake Amistad, Texas           1   31-10         
     8 Fred Roumbanis            Lake Amistad, Texas           4   28-01         
     9 Greg Hackney              Lake Sam Rayburn, Texas       1   22-02         
    10 Mark Tyler                Lake Sam Rayburn, Texas       3   21-13         
    11 Greg Hackney              Lake Sam Rayburn, Texas       4   20-08         
    12 Takahiro Omori            Lake Sam Rayburn, Texas       2   20-06        

I think the guys in 8th place and up are pretty safe bet to plan their fall around the shootout dates, where they will fish for a $100,000.  Its also important to note the Preston Clark has already secured a spot with his first day limit at the Classic at Toho.  I am not sure how that is handled, but I am guessing that will leave another spot for the guy that finished in 13th.  I am guessing 9-12th places will be displaced by the Guntersville & Clark Hills Elite Series stops.

Should be fun to follow throughout the rest of the year,
Rich
www.richlindgren.com
basstournament.blogspot.com

The most recent stop on the Bassmasters Elite Series goes down in the record books and Preston Clark lays claim to the all-time 4 day total for a BASS event, 105-15.  Sounds like he casught almost all his fish on a pumpkinseed Zoom Critter Craw.  That is just plain awesome.  BassFan.com tells us how he did it.  Hopefully it does not get broke at Guntersville at the end of the month.  If not, its probably safe until next spring when the Elite Series swings through these lakes again…

Speaking of wraps….  If you have not had a chance to see Mike Reynolds uniquely wrapped boat yet, here it is.

Mike was not able to land any large sponsorship dollars for his wrap, so he thought he would do something unique.  He used his own money to pay tribute to our armed forces.  He has the seals for the Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines displayed behind the text “THESE COLORS DON’T RUN!”  Pretty sweet deal and I think this is really cool.  Well done Mike!  When I was down at Amistad in Del Rio where there is an Air Force base, he was a fan favorite and I am sure this will continue on every stop on the Elite Series.  Mike’s most notable moment before this wrap was his win last year at Clark Hills Reservoir.

Way to go Mike,
Rich
www.richlindgren.com
basstournament.blogspot.com

When the smoked cleared at Santee Cooper this afternoon, Preston Clark had won the the tournament and set a new 4 day record of 115-15lbs.  This eclipse the old record, set by Dean Rojas by 3lbs-3oz.  It turns out that he was the only one that broke the record today, although Aaron Martens made a valiant charge with the heaviest bag of the day, 32-10.  I guess this means Clark’s kids will be going to college  Not sure on the details, I just watched the results of the weigh-in live on Bassmaster.com.

I really wish they could ad some video or audio to their real-time leaderboard weigh-ins.  You can watch and listen the the weigh-ins for all FLW events.  My Bassin’ Blog hit the 10,000 hit mark today, not too bad, only been up since Jan 4. (3 months)

Congrats Preston,
Rich
www.richlindgren.com
basstournament.blogspot.com

The wind and clouds hampered some anglers, but good weights were still brought in.  Hackney & Wurm had the only two limits over 30lbs today and Preston Clark stayed on pace for the Record.  Clark weighed a respectable 23-15 today, extending his lead to nearly 10lbs over Skeet Reese who moved to 2nd with 23-02.  Clark’s three day total sits at 92-10, which leaves a mere 16lbs from having the all-time 4 day BASS Record.  The top 3 anglers are all still on pace for the record and the entire Top 12 has a legitimate shot at it.  Steve Kennedy sits in 3rd with 83-0 and needs a managable 26lbs to reach Rojas’ record.  I think it is nearly a forgone conclusion that the record will fall on Sunday.  On a side note, Preston Clark plans to prepay his children’s college education if he takes home the first place $100,000 tomorrow.

 Angler                   Hometown              No./lbs-oz  Pts    Total $$$

1.  Preston Clark          Palatka, Fla.          15  92-10  315    $1,500.00
  Day 1: 5   39-06    Day 2: 5   29-05    Day 3: 5   23-15  
2.  Skeet Reese            Auburn, Calif.         15  83-01  295
  Day 1: 5   29-12    Day 2: 5   30-03    Day 3: 5   23-02  
3.  Steve Kennedy          Auburn, Ala.           15  83-00  290
  Day 1: 5   23-06    Day 2: 5   31-13    Day 3: 5   27-13  
4.  Kevin Wirth            Crestwood, Ky.         15  80-12  285    $1,000.00
  Day 1: 5   27-06    Day 2: 5   31-15    Day 3: 5   21-07  
5.  Terry Scroggins        Palatka, Fla.          15  79-14  280
  Day 1: 5   33-06    Day 2: 5   27-12    Day 3: 5   18-12  
6.  Greg Hackney           Gonzales, La.          15  78-07  276
  Day 1: 5   21-09    Day 2: 5   25-11    Day 3: 5   31-03  
7.  Kelly Jordon           Mineola, Texas         15  78-06  272      $500.00
  Day 1: 5   31-15    Day 2: 5   31-10    Day 3: 5   14-13  
8.  Dean Rojas             Lake Havasu, Ariz.     15  77-11  268
  Day 1: 5   25-09    Day 2: 5   31-11    Day 3: 5   20-07  
9.  John Crews             Salem, Va.             15  76-08  264
  Day 1: 5   29-09    Day 2: 5   29-04    Day 3: 5   17-11  
10. Aaron Martens          Leeds, Ala.            15  75-10  260      $500.00
  Day 1: 5   22-13    Day 2: 5   27-06    Day 3: 5   25-07  
11. Mike Wurm              Hot Springs, Ark.      15  74-05  257    $1,500.00
  Day 1: 5   14-06    Day 2: 5   27-11    Day 3: 5   32-04  
12. Bink Desaro            Boise, Idaho           14  72-04  254
  Day 1: 5   22-08    Day 2: 5   28-15    Day 3: 4   20-13  

Dean Rojas & Greg Hackney are distancing themselves nicely from the pack in the AOY Race, amazingly they have both made the Top 12 in all 3 Elite Series Events.  If this was a normal year with only 6 events, it would be hard for anyone to get back in, but with 11 events there is still a lot of time.

Good Luck Preston,
Rich
www.richlindgren.com
basstournament.blogspot.com

The pros thought it may get better and they were right.  There were 7 anglers topping the 30lb mark and the total field bested Thursday’s total by more than 450 lbs. 

Preston Clark continues to set the pace.  His 5 fish weighed a mortal 29-05, pushing his two day total to 68-11, giving his a 5-02 lead on Kelly Jordan.  Clark only needs about 20lbs per day in the final 2 days to break the record, not out of the question considering his first to limits.  In fact, 8 anglers are more than half way to Rojas’ record, and funny enough, Dean Rojas is one of them.  In fact, if more big fish keep coming to the banks, there is potential for someone outside the Top 10 to surge up and challenge the record.  Below you will see the Top 50 anglers, and “the Bachelor” Byron Velvick was the last guy in the cut.  Notice the cut here is about 5lbs heavier than that of the famed Amistad Tournament.

   Angler                   Hometown              No./lbs-oz  Pts   Total $$$

1.  Preston Clark          Palatka, Fla.          10  68-11  310    $1,500.00
  Day 1: 5   39-06    Day 2: 5   29-05  
2.  Kelly Jordon           Mineola, Texas         10  63-09  295      $500.00
  Day 1: 5   31-15    Day 2: 5   31-10  
3.  Terry Scroggins        Palatka, Fla.          10  61-02  290
  Day 1: 5   33-06    Day 2: 5   27-12  
4.  Skeet Reese            Auburn, Calif.         10  59-15  285
  Day 1: 5   29-12    Day 2: 5   30-03  
5.  Kevin Wirth            Crestwood, Ky.         10  59-05  280    $1,000.00
  Day 1: 5   27-06    Day 2: 5   31-15  
6.  John Crews             Salem, Va.             10  58-13  276
  Day 1: 5   29-09    Day 2: 5   29-04  
7.  Dean Rojas             Lake Havasu, Ariz.     10  57-04  272
  Day 1: 5   25-09    Day 2: 5   31-11  
8.  Steve Kennedy          Auburn, Ala.           10  55-03  268
  Day 1: 5   23-06    Day 2: 5   31-13  
9.  Jimmy Mize             Ben Lomond, Ark.       10  52-10  264
  Day 1: 5   27-08    Day 2: 5   25-02  
10. Bink Desaro            Boise, Idaho           10  51-07  260
  Day 1: 5   22-08    Day 2: 5   28-15  
11. Mark Menendez          Paducah, Ky.           10  50-11  257
  Day 1: 5   20-08    Day 2: 5   30-03  
12. Jeff Reynolds          Idabel, Okla.          10  50-08  254
  Day 1: 5   21-08    Day 2: 5   29-00  
13. Aaron Martens          Leeds, Ala.            10  50-03  251
  Day 1: 5   22-13    Day 2: 5   27-06  
14. Timmy Horton           Muscle Shoals, Ala.    10  49-07  246
  Day 1: 5   18-09    Day 2: 5   30-14  
14. Jason Quinn            York, S.C.             10  49-07  246
  Day 1: 5   23-08    Day 2: 5   25-15  
16. Todd Faircloth         Jasper, Texas          10  49-05  243
  Day 1: 5   24-10    Day 2: 5   24-11  
17. Takahiro Omori         Emory, Texas           10  49-02  241
  Day 1: 5   21-07    Day 2: 5   27-11  
18. Russ Lane              Prattville, Ala.       10  48-07  239
  Day 1: 5   23-00    Day 2: 5   25-07  
19. Michael Iaconelli      Runnemede, N.J.        10  48-04  237
  Day 1: 5   20-06    Day 2: 5   27-14  
20. Bradley Hallman        Norman, Okla.          10  47-04  234
  Day 1: 5   32-05    Day 2: 5   14-15  
20. Greg Hackney           Gonzales, La.          10  47-04  234
  Day 1: 5   21-09    Day 2: 5   25-11  
22. Zell Rowland           Montgomery, Texas      10  46-11  231
  Day 1: 5   22-12    Day 2: 5   23-15  
23. Randy Howell           Springville, Ala.      10  46-08  229
  Day 1: 5   19-09    Day 2: 5   26-15  
24. John Murray            Phoenix, Ariz.         10  46-05  227
  Day 1: 5   26-02    Day 2: 5   20-03  
25. Mark Rogers            Naples, Fla.           10  46-00  225
  Day 1: 5   20-11    Day 2: 5   25-05  
26. Denny Brauer           Camdenton, Mo.         10  43-13  223
  Day 1: 5   26-06    Day 2: 5   17-07  
27. William Smith, Jr      Somerset, Ky.          10  43-12  221
  Day 1: 5   22-02    Day 2: 5   21-10  
28. Bernie Schultz         Gainesville, Fla.      10  43-02  219
  Day 1: 5   21-01    Day 2: 5   22-01  
29. Lee Bailey             Boaz, Ala.             10  42-09  217
  Day 1: 5   17-02    Day 2: 5   25-07  
30. Ishama Monroe          Hughson, Calif.        10  42-06  215
  Day 1: 5   16-10    Day 2: 5   25-12  
31. Dave Wolak             Warrior Run, Pa.       10  42-04  213
  Day 1: 5   19-06    Day 2: 5   22-14  
32. Mike Wurm              Hot Springs, Ark.      10  42-01  210
  Day 1: 5   14-06    Day 2: 5   27-11  
32. Kevin Langill          Terrell, N.C.          10  42-01  210
  Day 1: 5   21-06    Day 2: 5   20-11  
34. Brent Chapman          Lake Quivira, Kan.     10  42-00  207
  Day 1: 5   18-09    Day 2: 5   23-07  
35. Vince Hurtado          Waterford, Calif.      10  41-15  205
  Day 1: 5   16-14    Day 2: 5   25-01  
36. Robert Hamilton Jr     Nashville, Tenn.       10  41-05  203
  Day 1: 5   21-07    Day 2: 5   19-14  
37. Gary Klein             Weatherford, Texas     10  41-04  201
  Day 1: 5   21-08    Day 2: 5   19-12  
38. Paul Elias             Laurel, Miss.          10  41-03  199
  Day 1: 5   22-09    Day 2: 5   18-10  
39. Bradley Stringer       Huntington, Texas      10  40-14  195
  Day 1: 5   27-11    Day 2: 5   13-03  
39. Shaw E Grigsby, Jr     Gainesville, Fla.      10  40-14  195
  Day 1: 5   16-10    Day 2: 5   24-04  
39. Jarrett Edwards        Page, Ariz.            10  40-14  195
  Day 1: 5   17-15    Day 2: 5   22-15  
42. Bill Lowen             North Bend, Ohio       10  40-11  191
  Day 1: 5   23-09    Day 2: 5   17-02  
43. Scott Rook             Little Rock, Ark.      10  40-04  189
  Day 1: 5   26-05    Day 2: 5   13-15  
44. Mark Tyler             Scottsdale, Ariz.      10  40-03  187
  Day 1: 5   23-03    Day 2: 5   17-00  
45. Peter E Thliveros      Jacksonville, Fla.     10  40-00  185
  Day 1: 5   27-01    Day 2: 5   12-15  
46. Gerald Swindle         Hayden, Ala.           10  39-15  183
  Day 1: 5   23-15    Day 2: 5   16-00  
47. Darrin Schwenkbeck     Silver Spring, Md.     10  39-14  181
  Day 1: 5   21-11    Day 2: 5   18-03  
48. Kurt Dove              Warrenton, Va.         10  39-10  179
  Day 1: 5   17-07    Day 2: 5   22-03  
49. Kotaro Kiriyama        Moody, Ala.            10  39-07  176
  Day 1: 5   20-12    Day 2: 5   18-11  
49. Byron Velvick          Boulder City, Nev.     10  39-07  176
  Day 1: 5   19-14    Day 2: 5   19-09  

Makes me excited for BassCenter,
Rich
www.richlindgren.com
basstournament.blogspot.com