Posted February 23rd, 2007  9:51pm CST

Howell Lurking in Second, Reese a Close Third

Story by Brent Conway and Dru Smith

Birmingham, AL – Whether the week’s warm up had anything to do with the quality of Friday’s bite or not pure speculation; however, the fact remains that almost everyone in the field had a limit today (46 our of 50 anglers), and no one drew a blank. Something else that’s speculative at this point is if it will be possible to win out with spotted bass only.

Obviously, the latter question can only be resolved during Sunday’s final weigh-in, and the weather, according to most in the field, is irrelevant at this point in the game. What does appear to be completely pertinent to the end game is where the angler calls home. It would seem, at least on day one, that if you’re from somewhere in Alabama you stood a good chance at seeing your name near the top, considering that 4 of the top 10 hail from Sweet Home.

Boyd Duckett, from Demopolis, AL, is fishing his first Classic – but don’t let that fool you. He spanked his closest competitor by almost two pounds weighing in 19-14 to open the show. Boyd’s big bag was anchored by an 8-2 monster, which was good for the first day’s Big Bass honors.

In second place on this first day was Randy Howell, another “local” from just up the road in Springville, AL. Randy brought five bass to the scales today weighing 17-15. Third place belonged to Skeet Reese, not from Alabama, whose five-fish limit of Coosa River Spotted bass weighed an impressive 17-8.

Timmy Horton, another “local” from Muscle Shoals, AL, came in with a mixed bag of spotted bass and largemouth weighing 17-5. Rounding out the top five was Terry “Big Show” Scroggins, of Palatka, FL, who brought in a mixed bag weighing 17-0.

The remainder of the Top 10 is as follows:

6. Tommy Biffle 5 16-11
7. Terry McWilliams 5 15-9
8. Ish Monroe 5 15-0
9. Gerald Swindle 5 14-10
10. Kevin Wirth 5 14-9

Duckett’s Big-Fish Fishing
Boyd Duckett qualified to fish in his first Classic and the Elite Series via the Northern Opens, where he proved a little consistency can go a long way. He’s hoping that his consistency continues to shine through. “I knew that I would have good limit today,” he said, “but I didn’t know exactly how good it might be.

“Anytime you can get an eight-pound kicker, it just comes down to living right.”

Boyd explained that he has several “big fish” areas that he targeted Friday. “I’m staying in my big fish areas exclusively right now,” he explained. “It’s the Classic, so I decided early on that I was just going to swing for the fences and try to hit a homerun.”

Duckett doesn’t plan on any changes for tomorrow, but concedes that if he only has five pounds by late Saturday afternoon, he has a back-up plan. “I’m committed to fishing my big fish spots, but I do have some places that I can go limit out in if I need to,” he said. 

“A small bag won’t help me win this thing, so my plan is to keep swinging. About the only thing I’m worried about right now is Sunday’s weather foredcast, because I don’t know what it’ll do to the fishing.”

Howell said that while he has a few places where he could get a largemouth bite, he never felt the need to leave for it Friday. “I never even went to any largemouth water today,” he said. “I feel very good about the area that I’m in and what I’m doing right now, so I don’t really feel pressured to go looking for a largemouth bite.

“I have a few other deals that I could go to, but this is what’s working best for me right now.”

Alabama Power generated water for the majority of the day Friday, and word is that they’ll do the same Saturday. The current is the clutch deal for Howell – without it, his bite slows to a crawl. “The bite is incredibly slow without current,” he said. 

“It would be a totally different deal if the water wasn’t moving, so aside from that, I’m not really worried about anything.”

Skeet Reese
Skeet Reese, like many anglers in the 50-man field, came down with a stomach bug that’s been passed around during the week. On top of that, coming into the first morning, he didn’t have a lot going on – so to say that he was pleased with the end result would be an understatement. “I’m shocked, to tell you the truth,” he said. 

“I seriously couldn’t have guessed that I would have this much today.”

Practice for Skeet had been “so-so,” and the only thing that he had going was his trolling motor when the day started. “I really didn’t have much going when I started this morning,” the California pro explained. “I just got in the current and put the trolling motor down.”

Saturday, while not a blank slate for Skeet, will be much the same – drop the trolling motor, hopefully catch a few, and learn some more. “It’s going to be more of the same for me Saturday,” he said. 

“I’m just going to drop the trolling motor and wing it from there. I did learn a few little things through the day that are going to help tomorrow, but I’m just going to go fishing and have fun.”

“Lay Lake isn’t a real big lake, which was my saving grace. I went up the river 10 miles, and then ran all the way down to the dam. I’m running a little pattern, so I bounced around quite a bit today.”

The weather forecasted for Sunday is changing by the hour – from the possibility of thunderstorms to light rain to heavy winds. Horton isn’t concerned whatever the case. “The weather won’t hurt me a bit,” he said. “In fact, a little bit more wind might even help me, to tell you truth.”

Terry Scroggins
Scroggins was smiling in the staging area prior to the weigh-in. It was clear from his grin that it had come together for him. “Things went real well for me today,” he said, “better than I could have hoped for actually. I never got the kicker fish that I was hoping for, but I’m not complaining.”

Scroggins admitted that the week’s warm up had helped to strengthen the bite he’s found. “The little warming trend that we’ve had really help my pattern mature,” he said. “I don’t think that it helped my spotted-bass pattern, but I know that it helped the largemouth bite better for me.”

Scroggins is on a solid pattern that’s not subject to the changes that Alabama Power might apply to river’s current. As a result, he doesn’t look for it to go away. “I really feel good about, and think I can go out there and catch them again,” he said. “Obviously you won’t really know till you go out and see what’s happening, but I feel good right now.”
 

Day One Standings

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