Posted -  June 19th, 2008 7:00pm CST

Dudley in Second, Morgan in Third After Day One

Story by Dan O'Sullivan - Photos by  Matt Pangrac

Knoxville, TN – The fifth stop on the Wal-Mart FLW Tour at Ft. Loudoun – Tellico was predicted to be a grind. Anglers were discussing the fact that areas of the lakes more resembled a Wal-Mart parking lot than it did a body of water. Competitors reported practice periods spent waiting in line to get on a specific piece of structure as the bass population of the East Tennessee reservoirs had moved to their offshore haunts.

As the pre tournament meetings were drawing to a close on Wednesday, The BASS ZONE talked to several competitors who said that Tellico and cleared up considerably as well as remained cooler than Ft. Loudoun. While the cooler water in summer might be an advantage, the clarity can make for conditions not conducive to catching bass, so, much of the field gathered in Ft. Loudoun’s stained water.

What that led to was that anglers with the earlier blastoff numbers were treated to the prime pieces of structure to start the day. Meanwhile, the rest of the Tour competitors would be forced to mill around looking for a chance to sneak onto structure for a few casts on prime real estate.

In short, fishing was expected to be tough, and the lake was feeling extreme pressure. But, there’s an old adage in professional bass fishing that will usually hold true, and that is that no matter how tough things get; someone is going to catch them. This is the Wal Mart FLW Tour, and among their ranks are anglers who stand amongst the best in the world, and they got after things on day one.

Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla. led the charge on the first day by battling the conditions in pursuit of a 20-pound, 11-ounce limit of Ft. Loudon – Tellico lakes bass. His big sack gave Martin, who has won twice on the FLW Tour, the first round lead over the FLW Tour’s all time leading money winner.

Lynchburg, Va. Pro David Dudley, who currently ranks 11th in the Land o’ Lakes Angler of the Year race jumped from the starting gate with a flurry at Ft. Loudon – Tellico. His 20-pound, 2-ounce performance on day one put him in position to add nicely to his more than $2.1 million in FLW earnings.

Current Land o’ Lakes Angler of the Year points leader, Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., smashed 19 pounds, 7 ounces to grab hold of third place. His early performance puts him in position to take total command of the points race as many of his closest competitors stumbled out of the gate in Tennessee.

In 4th place after the opening round was Rockwood, Tenn. pro Craig Powers, who has won four times in FLW competition and has earned more than $739,000 in the process. Powers sacked 17 pounds, 10 ounces to place ahead of Del Rio, Tex. pro Jerry Green, who has had six top 10 performances in FLW competition. Powers’ 17-pound, 0-ounce performance was good enough to place in 5th, ahead of Brandon Coulter.

Coulter, a resident of Knoxville used his home water advantage to catch 16 pounds, 7 ounces to round out the top 6. By doing so, Coulter put himself in position to make his second top 10 this season; he finished 8th at Alabama’s Lewis Smith Lake.

Martin: Flying High
A member of the National Guard team, Martin was a part of a group that flew on a C-135 Refueling plane on Wednesday’s off day, and the experience left him flying high. “We flew out over the Gulf of Mexico and refueled F-22 Raptor’s,” he reported. “It was an awesome experience, and it got me all pumped up to start fishing today.”

Like many of the other pros, Martin said that he had a so-so practice and felt that the weights were going to be relatively low. “I thought that I would have a big lead today with what I caught,” sad the National Guard pro. “But it looks like they (his competitors) caught them better than we thought, and I’m going to have to push a little to make the cut now.”

Martin reported that he is fishing shallow, both on and off the bank. “I started tight to the bank this morning, and caught a couple of decent largemouth early; but those were bonus fish,” he said. “In the afternoon I stayed shallow, but moved off of the bank to offshore stuff trying to target what little current they were generating, and was able to get some more quality fish.” 

He said that he stayed in Ft. Loudoun, but ran multiple spots today to get his final bag, saying that the traffic necessitates keeping moving. “You can’t sit in one place too long, people will see where you are fishing and move in,” he explained. “I caught 10 keepers today but hit a lot of spots to do so.”

“I think I need a little more than 10 pounds tomorrow to make the cut, so I will start on the bank and cover the water I need to get in; I will be smart about it though, I don’t want to waste any fish.”

Dudley: Mums the Word
With so many people standing around after he weighed-in, and with the amount of traffic in his areas, Dudley was very tight lipped about what he released to the media. “There are 175 boats fishing in Ft. Loudoun, and I am one of them,” the Castrol pro said. “I can’t tell you too much about what I am doing, but will say that you can catch fish both off shore and shallow.”

What Dudley did say was that he did not fish on all of his areas today, and that he has more fish to go to as the tournament progresses. “I fished on are today, and it was on a ledge,” he said. “I have more like it that I am saving for the rest of the week, I did catch one cull fish later in the day shallow, but that’s all I can say now.”

Dudley was boat number 24 today, but said that his late draw tomorrow won’t hurt him; “I’ve got plenty of water,” he said.

Morgan: Subtle, Real Subtle
Living an hour and a half from Ft. Loudoun, the current Angler of the Year Points leader has intimate knowledge of the lakebed, in part because he made some of the subtle hotspots on the lake. Morgan is known to make fish structure and plant them throughout the body of water, and pre-practice here was no different.

“I’ve got several subtle things that I ‘m fishing out there, some I new from before, some I found in practice, and some I made in pre-practice,” he reported. “I didn’t have to go to any of the new stuff today because I didn’t have to fight for water, normally it’s a crap shoot out there to get a place to fish.”

He said that his fish were evenly split both shallow and deep, but that even his shallow water wasn’t on the bank. “I didn’t fish shallower than seven feet today, and while I tried a little bit on the bank, there’s no point in staying there,” he said. “I stayed deep and will do so again tomorrow.”

He admits that fishing here has a defensive feel to it, “I probably should have stayed on some of the stuff a little harder today,” he said. “I will tomorrow if I get around t 10 pounds or so, I might sit on spots and catch a bunch of them.” 

I’d hate to be David (Dudley, who was leading when Morgan weighed-in) right now; everybody will be looking for him tomorrow. I practiced out of a different boat, so nobody knows where I’m at or where I’m going.”

Powers: Local Boy Does Good
Being on his home lake added a little bit of pressure to Powers’ mind as he entered this tournament. But by putting himself in position to make a top 10, he feels a sense of relief around the corner. “I’d love to make a top 10 here for a couple of reasons,” he said. “It would really be nice for all of the people here who have supported me all these years, my friends and family. But it would also make life a little easier heading into Erie (the last event of the year).”

Powers said that he fished deep most of the day, but felt like he stayed offshore too long. “I stayed out there until almost one o’clock trying to help my co-angler get his limit,” said the Tennessee pro. “I can promise you this, there are some good fish shallow, and I will go to them sooner tomorrow; I’ve got to fish my strengths more, and I’m better shallow.”

Green: Slow Early, Better Late
A resident of Del Rio, Tex., Green said that he tried to fish shallow early, but it didn’t help his cause. “I started shallow, but caught nothing but little fish,” he said. “My bite has been better in the afternoon when they get to generating power, so I left the shallows at 10:00 and stayed out there the rest of the day.”

Green reported catching all of his fish off of one area that he stayed on the rest of the day. “We caught them all jigs, plastics and crankbaits on the same spot,” he reported. “The key was to keep them hooked once we got bit, and my new Power Tackle rods helped me do that.”

He said that he would camp out again tomorrow. “It’s better in the afternoon when they generate power, I will be there when they do.”

Coulter: Daughter Helped Him Catch Fish
Coulter, a resident of Knoxville, said that he caught his limit in six casts in the morning, and didn’t help himself after eight o’clock; he also caught all of his fish on a lure that his young daughter helped him make. “I call it the Kali Jig,” Coulter said. “She picked out all of the colors, and that is what I caught all of my fish on today; she’s pretty excited about it.”

Coulter said that his spot is a deep-water spot that he didn’t have to share today. “I stayed there and kind of guarded it until everyone left the area, so I kind of had it to myself today, he said he should tomorrow as well. “I was boat number 152 today, I was kind of surprised I got a spot to fish, so it will be nice to have an early number tomorrow.”

THE TOP 100 AFTER DAY ONE