Posted -  July 10th, 2008 8:45pm CST

Twenty Pounds Needed to Crack the Top Ten

Story by Dru Smith - Photos by  Matt Pangrac

Trenton, MI – Day one of the Chevy Open at the Detroit River is in the books. The Wal-Mart FLW Tour returned to the smallmouth rich waters of Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair to wrap up the 2008 season. The final event will pay $150,000.00 for first with an additional $50,000.00 available for qualified Ranger Boat owners.

The lack of wind opened the doors for those anglers wanting to run the big water of Lake Erie. However, practice reports revealed the bite was better on the much smaller Lake St. Clair. With the majority of the field heading toward St. Clair, 174 limits visited the stage on Thursday. 

Vic Vatalaro’s 21-11 was the best of the day, followed by local big-stick, Bryan Coates just two ounces back. Hailing from the smallmouth rich state of Minnesota, David McCrone put his knowledge and past Erie experiences to work and brought 21-06 pounds to the scales to take the third spot. Mike Hawkes ended the first day of competition in fourth, with a five bass limit weighing 20-12. Tied for fifth are Terry Baksay and Greg Vinson, who rounded out the top 6 with 20-10 limits. 

The projected cut line for the final two days originally thought to be about 36 pounds is now predicted to be closer to the 39 pound mark. With 40 anglers within four pounds of the lead, the Chevy Open is still up for grabs. 

The 200 FLW pros are fishing not only for a piece of the $1.5 million purse but also ever important points needed to earn post season rewards. The yearend points will determine the AOY as well as 40 spots in the Forrest L. Wood Cup Championship.

Andy Morgan entered the event with the lead in the Land O’ Lakes Angler of the Year race, but if the tournament ended after day one, Friday’s headlines would read, “Luke Clausen wins AOY.” Morgan stumbled on Thursday managing only 10-2. Glenn Browne, just 22 points back of Any Morgan, missed a chance to take control of the points race with a three fish sack on day one that weighed only 6-12. 

Clausen didn’t set a record on Thursday, but his 16-14 limit was good enough for 59th place , giving him a realistic chance to add an AOY trophy to his collection of awards that include the 2004 FLW Tour Championship and the 2006 Bassmaster Classic title.

In 2007, David McCrone threw his hat in the pro ring when the FLW stopped in Detroit and the Minnesota angler earned $4,000.00 for his 84th place finish. 2008 found McCrone once again battling the regular tour pros for a chance at the Chevy Open Title. With a day one total of 21-06, McCrone will start Friday in third place.

Like McCrone, Bryan Coates tested his skills against the pros last year. The Amherst, Ohio angler finished 28th in ’07 and with a day one limit this year of 21-09, Coates put himself in position (2nd) to contend for the ’08 Erie title.

All the money ($2,298) that John Devries has won fishing FLW events was earned on Lake Erie. The Stren series angler put 20 pounds in the boat on Thursday and will head into Friday in the number 11 spot almost assuring him a $10,000.00 payday.

Surprisingly, last year’s winner, Steve Clapper, isn’t atop the leader board. However, he put himself in contention to repeat with a limit of smallies the pushed the scales to 18-12, good enough for 18th. In fact, only 5 of the non-tour pros fishing this week broke into the top 20 on day one.

Vatalaro Visits St. Clair
After a disappointing finish in 2007 that saw the Ohio angler only bring one fish to the scales on day one, Vic Vatalaro reversed his direction and his fortune by heading to Lake St. Clair on Thursday. “I couldn’t get Lake Erie to the job, so I changed directions,” Vatalaro stated. “We had our limits by noon and I left them biting.”

Targeting small openings in the grass down in 18 to 20 feet of water, Vatalaro flipped a Mizmo tube to a tournament leading weight of 21 pounds, 11 ounces. “I have several spots marked on my GPS and I’m just moving from one to the other,” he said. “I’ll do the same thing tomorrow and hopefully catch them again. I believe this tournament can be won on St. Clair.” 

Coates Carves out a Big Limit
Bryan Coates has four previous FLW wins on Lake Erie, three from the BFL ranks and one Stren victory. On Thursday, the angler from Amherst ran over 70 miles to catch 10 keepers, the five best weighing 21-09, and will begin Friday just two ounces off the lead. “I had to work for them today,” he said. “I had about four hours to fish and the bite was a little off.”

Making a 90 minute run, Coates is worried about the wind. “I can’t wait to get back to the room and check the weather. I’ve got one spot, about the size of a football field that is holding these fish.” 

Using the popular Berkley Gulp products, Coates is guardedly optimistic about his chances. “There is still a lot of work to be done. The guys fishing St. Clair caught them good today, but I don’t know if there is enough big fish to last.”

McCrone Returns Home
Like his competitor Coates, David McCrone ran to the Sandusky area for his day one weight of 21-06. With a current address ending MN, McCrone slid under the radar focused on local anglers but he grew up fishing around the bay area near Sandusky. “The big ones live out there,” he said as he pointed to Erie while responding to the debate of Erie vs St. Clair. “I have never been on there (Lake St. Clair).”

Using a drop shot rig in water ranging from12 to 29 feet in depth, McCrone only caught seven keepers during the five hours he had to fish. “It was a struggle today, but if the fish bite like they did in practice, I will have a good chance.”

Hawkes Eyes Erie Win
Having split his practice time between the two bodies of water, Mike Hawkes found what he was looking for out in the big water. “After practice, I knew the better bite was on Erie,” he said. “I’ll keep going back as long as he weather doesn’t make it too dangerous.”

Hawkes ran about 32 miles to catch 10 keepers but a late bite helped his overall weight. “I had 20 pounds by 10:30. I stopped in the river on the way back in that added about 12 ounces to my limit.”

Baksay Back in Contention
Bucking the trend at lat year’s event, Terry Baksay boated nearly 40 pounds of fish from St. Clair to finish third. Thursday, he went back to the same area and caught 20 pounds, 10 ounces. “I had my limit while some guys were still blasting off,” he said. “I caught fish on my first, second, fourth and ninth cast.”

Although it seemed easy, Baksay revealed it was tougher than it looked. “I went three hours without a bite,” he said. “What I thought were my best three spots didn’t produce a fish today.”

Staying in 14 to 15 feet, Baksay had to move around to make this fish bite. “I would use the big motor and move about 100 yards away to another waypoint and then fish my way back through where I just came from. It seemed like you had to stir the water up in order to get the fish active.” 

Crediting the plentiful forage in St. Clair for the quality of fish, Baksay still isn’t sure the tournament can be won on the small lake. “You would bring a fish up and see a cloud of mayflies or perch coming out of its mouth. There are still big weights coming from Erie, but hopefully the fishing will stay consistent over here.”

Greg Does His Homework
Greg Vinson calls Alabama home and he didn’t have a lot of experience fishing the northern waters. “I did a ton of research on what these guys did last year and I took what I learned on Lake Champlain to decide what I would do here,” Greg revealed. “I learned a little more about what the fish want late in the day.”

Starting the tournament 61st in AOY points, Vinson set a goal to move up in the standings. I knew Lake St. Clair was the safe bet,” he said. “I wanted about 15 pounds a day, but I got on my first spot they (fish) bit good. I’ll expand a little tomorrow and hopefully find some more quality fish.”

The BASS ZONE caught up with the remaining anglers rounding out Thursday’s top 10 for their thoughts on the first day:

Tim McDonald
“There are two or three spots on St. Clair that aren’t community holes and they seem to be holding better fish. Keith (Monson) and I are sharing water and we both pulled off the fish once we had our limit.”

“I had my limit at 8:30 and left the fish alone. I think there are enough fish in there for that either one of us could win. The fish are coming to these spots so the bite should just get better.”

Michael Bennett
“I caught fish on minnows, gobies, leaches; it was awesome. I’m already in the championship and I just wanted to go out and have fun. St. Clair is more consistent and there are too many factors when you go out on Erie.”

Kim Stricker 
“That pattern is starting to play into this tournament. I didn’t get as many bites in practice, but the fish are coming to me.”

“The fish weren’t biting very well at first, so I switched baits and they started holding on better. I’m pretty confident.

Alvin Shaw
“I had a long to make and when I got there, local boats were on all the spots I wanted to fish. It forced me to fish a little deeper.”

“I went to St. Clair with idea of playing it safe since I’m 18th in the points. I caught some decent fish in practice, but I am surprised by my weight today.”

Notes:
Clausen in the Running
Luke Clausen needed to outpace AOY leader Andy Morgan by at least 46 places to win the title. After Thursday, Luke sat in 59th while Andy was languishing in 175th.
“Actually, I’m little disappointed,” he said. “I thought I would catch them a little better.”

When asked if his strategy would change on Friday, knowing that both Morgan and Browne stumbled, Clausen said that he didn’t have any plans to change his strategy. “I’m just going to go do the same thing that I did today. I had a couple days of practice where I had 20 pounds and I think that is pretty easy to do if you make the right decisions throughout the day. I’m going to go try and catch them tomorrow because I want to make the cut.”

Steve Kennedy
As reported earlier by The BASS ZONE, Alabama pro, Steve Kennedy, was among the competitors making a one event appearance on the FLW Tour this season. With FLW’s Detroit River event taking place on an off week for the Bassmaster Elite Series, Kennedy made the most of the opportunity and headed to Michigan. With a Day 1 weight of 14-14 Kennedy is tied for 95th place heading into cut day.

“It was a fun day. I got out there and had a limit in the first hour and only had one fish after that. I have one other place that I haven’t been to yet but I thought that I could get 20 pounds off of what I fished today. It didn’t quite work out that way so I went looking for bigger ones” Kennedy told The BZ. 

Not having to worry about FLW points, Kennedy approached the event with a different strategy. “I have heard so many of these guys talking about fishing conservatively and fishing for points. I didn’t need to do that so I just stayed on the big lake looking for big bites and only found six keepers.” 

THE TOP 100 AFTER DAY ONE