by Rob Newell
FLW PRESS RELEASE
It
has been a few years since the Walmart FLW Tour visited Lake Champlain, but it
did not take Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla., very long to reconnect with some
familiar history in the north end of the “Sixth Great Lake” and catch 22
pounds, 5 ounces of largemouths to take the day-one lead this time around.
 |
| Largemouth key for Martin. (FLW Photo) |
Martin’s
familiarity with the north end comes from his FLW Tour win in 2009 on
Champlain, when he tapped into an offshore largemouth bite for victory. Martin
is fishing the same areas again, but has changed his bait selection.
“It’s
a little different this time,” Martin says. “There is not as much grass
covering stuff up. As a result, I’m fishing some different baits than I did
last time.”
Martin
caught about 15 bass on the day, with his biggest weighing 5 pounds, 1 ounce.
He is fishing isolated cover out off the bank and believes the lower water
levels this year might be helping to usher the postspawn largemouths out his
way.
“There
are a lot of fish up there,” says Martin, who also won a Tour event on
Champlain in 2004. “It’s a great largemouth area because of the shallow
habitat. I have a lot of good memories from it, and maybe I can make some more
good memories this week.
On
day one, Morgan cracked 18 pounds, 2 ounces for 13th place, and Sprague fell
back into 38th with 16-02. With only 2 pounds separating the pair, plenty could
happen on day two, but Chris Johnston might end up complicating matters either
way.
Johnston
came into the event in eighth place in the standings with 864 points – 32
points back of Morgan. On day one, he busted 21-02 and sits in second place,
which could be a game changer if Morgan falls off and Johnston can maintain his
pace.
This
is unofficial, but if the tournament ended today, Morgan would have 1,084 AOY
points, and Johnston would have 1,063. In real life, if Johnston finishes
second in this tournament, Morgan would have to drop 22 spots in the standings
tomorrow into 35th place for Johnston to win AOY. If Morgan finishes 34th,
Johnston would have to win the Champlain tournament to overtake him. Of course,
this presupposes that none of the other contenders mounts a comeback.
“I’m
still on pins and needles,” says Morgan. “That was hard-fought to catch 18
pounds. I didn’t catch that many fish today. I got on one little deal for about
45 minutes and caught 3-pounders, and after that it went dead. I’m sticking
with largemouths, but from what I can tell from weigh-in that might not be the
best plan. I have one little area I’m saving, and if it fires tomorrow I’ll do fine,
and if it doesn’t I’ll struggle.”
While
Morgan might have some fish left in the tank, Johnston seems a good bet to stay
on track as well.
“Hopefully
I didn’t lean on them too hard,” says Johnston. “Going into this I knew I
needed a top 10, so I leaned on them pretty hard today. One of the places I’m
fishing I’m actually sight-fishing largemouths, and there are some big ones,
but they’re not easy to catch. There are some fish left for sure, and I’ve got
a few on beds that are out of the way, not big ones, but nice fish to start and
get the pressure off. I’m gonna try to lean on them pretty hard tomorrow until
I get 17 or 18 [pounds].”
Top
10 Pros
1.
Scott Martin – Clewiston, Fla. – 22-05 (5)
2.
Chris Johnston – Peterborough, Ontario – 21-02 (5)
3.
Alex Davis – Albertville, Ala. – 19-13 (5)
3.
David Dudley – Lynchburg, Va. – 19-13 (5)
5.
Blake Nick – Adger, Ala. – 19-03 (5)
6.
Jason Meninger – Gainesville, Ga. – 19-02 (5)
7.
Cody Meyer – Auburn, Calif. – 18-14 (5)
8.
Curtis Richardson – Belleville, Ontario – 18-12 (5)
9.
Mark Rose – West Memphis, Ark. – 18-09 (5)
10. Michael
Wooley – Collierville, Tenn. – 18-06 (5)
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