FISHING: Conditions stymie anglers in 1st round

ROGERS - This is the 12th year the FLW Wal-Mart Open has been held on Beaver Lake, but nobody on the FLW Tour has ever seen the lake in this condition.

A combination of high, muddy water and cold, windy weather frustrated most of the 400 anglersin the field, but three discovered patterns that producedfive-fish limits weighing at least 14 pounds.

Mark Pack of Mineola, Texas, led the pro division after the first round with five bass that weighed 14 pounds, 13 ounces, followed by Jason Reyes of Humble, Texas, and Joel Richardson of Kernersville, N.C., who both caught fivebass that weighed 14 pounds.

Pack is known for sight fishing in the spring, but he said he mined a different pattern Thursday, using a crankbait and a worm in depths of 2 feet.

“No sight fishing here,” Pack said. “You’d have to have X-ray vision to do it on this lake.”

Pack held up his thumb, which was scraped raw, and said he and his co-angler partner, Donald Tross, caught about 60 bass Thursday, including 30 keepers. He said he’s confident his pattern will last the entire tournament.

“It’s real strong,” Pack said. “I can run just about anywhere to it. There are some others who are doing what I’m doing, but I don’t know if they’re staying with it long enough. I think it will hold up four days. It’s not like a sightfishing deal where they run out.”

Reyes said he combined a set of finesse and power fishing techniques to catch his fish in the middle and lower parts of the lake. He said he caught a limit by 9 a.m. and returned to the middle part of the lake, where he started culling his small fish.

“The deeper fish are coming from the lower end,” Reyes said. “On the last day of practice, I found a stretch of bank and caught a 4-pounder. I went in there today late and caught abig one, too.”

The lower part of the lake is clear, Reyes said, but the middle section is muddy. He said the variety actually helps him, and his pattern will strengthen with sunny weather.

“Where I come from in Texas, we have some lakes that are offcolored, so fishing the clear and muddy, I’m used to it,” Reyes said. “I figure it’ll take about 22 pounds to make the cut. It usually gets tougher the last two days because of the pressure, but with conditions warming after this front, it could get better.”

Richardson said he is very confident. The conditions are identical to those on his homelakes of Buggs Island and Kerr Reservoir, so Beaver Lake is suited to his strengths.

“I love this lake when it’s high, the higher the better,” Richardson said. “The shad are spawning, it’s all coming together. This lake is probably going to produce some of the biggest catches it will produce all year, right now. I feel like I’m at home on this lake. It’s my favorite one on the tour.”

Greg Bohannan of Rogers was the only Arkansan in the top 10 after Thursday. He ended the day in fourth place with five bass that weighed 13-12. Larry Nixon of Bee Branch ended the day tied for 17th with five thatweighed 11-15.

Leading the co-angler division was Brett Winborn of Alma with 11 pounds, 12 ounces, followed by Jared Taliaferro of Rogers with 11-11, Ty Hester of Russellville, Ala., with 11-2, Scotty Villines of Ponca with 10-1 and Mike Drain of Purcell, Okla., with 9-10.

The entire field will fish today, and then the field will cut to the 10 pros and co-anglers with the heaviest combined two-day weights. They will begin Saturday with zero weight.

The top co-angler on Saturday will win $40,000. The pro with the heaviest combined twoday weight on Sunday will win $200,000.