After the previous two events where 20-pound bags of bass came with ease, reports from this week’s practice left many wondering if there were 20 pounds collectively within a 20-mile radius of the launch site. Poor mouthing doesn’t begin to do justice to early reports; however, as Harold Allen reported in Thursday morning’s On the Water coverage, many had begun to quietly adjust their speculation of the week.

Anglers this week will be permitted to lock through twice in either direction and with clearer water (and “clearer water” this week is relative) at a premium it would stand to reason that locking is a viable strategy. However, with an estimated hour required to pass through each lock, fishing time is a factor that some weren’t willing to gamble given the scarcity of keeper bites.

As with any tournament though, the ultimate truth is revealed when the scales open for business. This week won’t be a blow-out, but it’s certainly not going to be a bust by a long stretch. But as anglers begin streaming through the weigh-in line the phrase of “It’s not just bad…” was once again repeatedly overheard.

On Thursday, a limit of five bass, regardless of their size, was pure gold, but even in the absence of a five-bass limit, there was still hope. Those anglers who caught three or four bass on Thursday still have a realistic chance at securing a Top 50 berth and get to work the weekend shift.

When the last bass was weighed, less than 25 anglers had cracked the 10 pound mark. Similar to many of the anglers’ pre-tournament predictions, the Top 50 cut currently sits at 6-4, a position held by Davy Hite. Out of the 98 competitors, nine failed to come to the scales with a keeper and 20 anglers brought a lone bass to the scales. 

Randy Howell went a long way towards ensuring he’ll be around on Sunday, by coaxing five keeper bass weighing 16-4 into taking a boat ride, hanging nearly two pounds on his closest competitor in the process.
Takahiro Omori ended the day in second place with five bass totaling 14-10, and Matt Herren was in third at the end of the day with a limit weighing 14-9.

Fourth place belong to Billy Mccaghren Thursday, who brought 13-1 to the weigh-in stage, and pundit’s pick, Tommy Biffle, ended the day in tied with Mccaghren producing a limit weighing 13-1.

Shaw Grigsby rounded out the Super Six thanks to his five bass that weighed 12-8.

Howell Goes Skinny 
Day One leader, Randy Howell, isn’t ashamed to say that the day’s results weren’t at all what he was expecting after the practice that he’d had. “I was just like everybody else coming into the day,” he said. “Right up until I caught that first keeper of the morning, I’d only had a couple of bites and the only thing I was thinking about was the points.

“After I caught that first keeper, I turned to my Marshall and said, ‘Now I’ve got one point.’ That’s really how I was thinking.” 

Howell explained that the only productive water he’d found in practice was from one little group of bushes, but unfortunately several competitors had found the same water. Forced to get in line, he explained that as they got to the end of the row and continued on, he turned back and changed baits. “I downsized to a smaller version of what I was flipping,” he said. 

“I don’t know if it mattered or not, but I caught two more keepers out of the same bush on back-to-back flips.”

Of the two fish, Randy pointed out that one was a two-pounder while the other was a three-pounder. “Then I was excited,” he said. “That was probably 8:30, and then I started thinking that I might have a chance. I started working those bushes over and over and just ground on them all day.”

Howell said that the only way he could remain focused was to essentially block everyone else out. “I knew that everyone else would be pounding it and that I was going to have to not pay attention to everyone else around me fishing,” he said. 

“It was hard, but I just figured that if I kept grinding it out I might be able to make it work. I usually run and gun, so this is really one of the first times that I’ve just sat still and fished that slow all day. I’ve just never been that good a sitting in one place and going that long between bites…particularly in six-inches of water.”

Randy explained that he’s catching his fish in “the shallowest water I’ve ever fished in my life. It’s six- or seven-inches at the most. I don’t know how they cover their backs it’s so shallow.”

Howell pointed out that the only explanation he has is that there is a small depression amid the bushes that the bass are able to burrow into. “You’ll be picking every limb apart, and can see the bullet weight come out of the water every time you pick it up, and all of a sudden you’ll hang one,” he explained. “I never would have believed that a four-pounder could hide in water that shallow.”

Howell had a 3-15 and a 4-5 as the anchors to an impressive opening-round sack, but sharing water with Matt Herren and several others that are high on the leader board, he’s not entirely sure if it can be repeated. “Matt came in and caught a four-pounder off of one side of the bush that I had just caught the three-pounder from,” he said. 

“I saw him lose another big fish in there, so there’s some bigger fish that are in there. Whether they will be there tomorrow or not I don’t know. This kind of fishing has so much luck in timing because there were several other guys that fished those same bushes and didn’t get bit.”

Tak Only Caught 5 
For the first four tournaments of the season, Takahiro Omori was a non-factor; however, coming down the stretch, the 2004 Classic Champion has been a contender each week. Don’t look now, but he’s in the hunt again – but with limited possibilities. 

“I only caught five keepers all day,” he explained. “It was the best day that I’ve in four days of practice, so I’m really excited by it.”

Tak spent the day inside a small backwater area in Pool 19 with approximately 25 other competitor boats (including Randy Howell and Matt Herren) making laps around key stretches of water. “I’m running about 20 miles to get to my spot,” he said. “We’re all in the same area, but we’re fishing specific stuff.”

After catching his first four keepers, Tak decided to just go outside the area to look for new stuff given the overcrowding his area was receiving. “I caught one other fish outside that area,” he said. “It was not an easy day like some people might think.”

Spending much of the day flipping into and around the same shallow areas, Tak explained that while it was a grind he’s pleased with the day’s outcome. “I’m really happy with catching five keepers today,” he said. “I only lost one three-pounder, which I wish didn’t happen, but I’m really happy with catching five.”

Tak won’t speculate on how tomorrow might unfold given how spotty his practice was, and the fact that anything can change on a river system. “We beat on them pretty good today, so I really don’t know what to expect tomorrow,” he said. “I’m pleased with my day today, and hope that tomorrow will be productive for me again.” 

Herren Stalking Shallow Water 
Though he may be a “rookie” as far as the Elite Series is concerned, Matt Herren is a haggard pro who made the switch from FLW. As such, he’s accustomed to high-pressure/low-weight events, but this week’s tournament has him at a loss for words. “It was kind of a tough day,” he sheepishly admitted. 

“I was fishing in a crowd, just trying to adjust and taking whatever this old river gave me.”

The fact that the bite is tough has been beat to death, but the question of how much tougher it can get as the week presses on remains. Herren pointed out that it’s going to get tougher, but the week has already presented the field with near-constant change, so adding angling pressure to the mix is no big deal. “The big thing is that we’ve already been in a constant stage of change since we got here,” he said.

“The night before we got here the area had five inches of rain, and I don’t know what we got last night,” but he knows firsthand the effects of the overnight rains in his best areas. “I had some areas that I thought I could fish that were as muddy as could be this morning,” Herren said. “Right now we’re pretty limited on what we can do, so it’s just a matter of hanging on and hoping for the best.”

Matt pointed out that with the added pressure the few “fishable” areas will receive, weights will suffer as the week wears on. “It’s going to get worse and worse,” he lamented. “There’s one little area that I was in today really took a pounding.”

Herren pointed out that his style wouldn’t normally be conducive to fishing in a crowd, but this week options are few. “It’s not like we’ve got a lot of choices,” he pointed out. “You can’t go off and fish a drop or something. The key is to be as subtle and quiet as you can and try and figure it out a little each day.”

The Purple Bandit Rides on the River 
“I was really fortunate. After catching two keepers all week in practice, I’m just really blessed to have what I did.”

Billy explained that though his practice was anything but stellar, he felt like he was “doing the right thing, but I just needed to slow down.” And on the first day it’s just what he did. “I was just trying to look at as many places as I could,” he said. “Today I just went back to one little area where I’d actually caught a keeper, turned the trolling motor down on low, and picked it to pieces.”

The age-old question of “area versus pattern” always tends to creep into every bass fishing conversation. Mccaghren was quick to point out that this week a good area wins. “For me at least, it’s an area,” he said. “I found that one little area that seemed to have plenty of fish in it, but I don’t really know for sure. I caught five and got out of there.”

However, Mccaghren pointed out that though he left the area somewhat un-pressured, he can’t be sure that someone else didn’t come in behind him. “I tried to look around and see if anyone else came in there with me,” he said. “We’re kind of all bunched up, and these guys tend to find everything. I’m hoping that no one got in there and it’ll have 15 more fish.”

The early boat draw that Billy had to start the event didn’t seem to matter. “I was fishing a bluff, so getting there early didn’t have any effect,” he said. “I just had to get there and wait for a fish or two to show up. I wasn’t lucky enough to catch a few fish early like a few of the other guys were.”

After catching a limit, Mccaghren explained that he went “looking at some other stuff” and caught one more fish that helped him. He added that his vast history on the Arkansas River helped him to “know what sort of stuff to look for. It’s not exactly the same, but I was able to figure out where they weren’t real quick and only focus on areas that should be holding fish.” 

The “knowing what to look for” part made practice a little easier for Billy than others in the field reported. “I actually looked on the main river a little for current fish,” he said. “Unlike back home, it seems like the better post-spawn fish are still back in the backs of sloughs. The biggest similarity between to two rivers is that they always relate to wood.” 

Though Billy has been able to pull from his extensive river knowledge, he pointed out that he hasn’t fished on a river system too many times that’s as muddy as the Mississippi is this week. “The thing about it is though, when you hit (a bass) on the head here, you better be ready to go to work,” he said.

“I mean they want to eat it, so I don’t think the mud has anything to do with it. It’s harder on the fishermen than them.”

Just like Matt Herren before him, Mccaghren explained that the fishing will only continue to get worse as a result of all the pressure. “I just think that we really hurt it a lot more than it’s used to today,” he said. “I don’t know how many fish are here, and river fish tend to reload, but I don’t think it can handle too many fish being taken out because of where most people are fishing. 

“I have very little back-up water, so I’m hoping that it holds up.”

Few Words…..Big Bag for Biffle 
Tommy Biffle has won on the Mississippi River before, but concedes that this isn’t the same river as it was back then. Still, you get a hint from the glimmer in his eye that he’s almost playing a little bit of a cat-and-mouse game with the rest of the field. “It’s just an old, dirty river, which is exactly what I like,” he said. 

“It’s going to be a really tough tournament, which is something else that I really like.”

Tommy pointed out that with as many competitors as there are piled into little back-water areas, odds are that the fishing will get exponentially harder. “When they beat those fish completely up you’re going to see the weights drop,” he said.

“I’ve got a couple of things working that nobody is fishing around that I’m saving.”

Tommy revealed that his strategy is to “help the guys in the community hole catch as many fish as possible” and then go to the water that he has in reserve. The key will be to catch a limit again Friday. “I just hope that I can catch five,” he said. “It’s tough, so I’m just going to see what happens.”

Biffle said that, if anything, he wants the sun to shine Friday as it did Thursday afternoon allowing him to cull a few times. “It will definitely help me,” he said. “It was cloudy this morning and it was pretty slow. After the sun came out, they started biting pretty good.

DAY ONE STANDINGS