FLW Tour Lake Champlain Open Day 3: Wolak Rises to Top With Smallmouth and Largemouth

Wolak’s 19-pound, 13-ounce stringer pushes him into the lead

17.Sep.2011 by Brett Carlson

Dave needed both types of bass to take the lead.
(Photo: Brett Carlson FLW)

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The calm winds experienced on day three of the Walmart FLW Tour event on Lake Champlain allowed the pros to efficiently bounce around from spot to spot. This was advantageous to those chasing mixed bags – in particular David Wolak and Daryl Biron. While Wolak overtook the lead from Gary Yamamoto, Byron sacked a 20-pound stringer to join what looks like a three-horse race.
Like he has each of the first two days, Wolak started on his smallmouth honeyhole and cobbled together a 16-pound limit. Wolak described it as a spot with moving water that has a deep depression that runs 18 to 21 feet deep. To catch those smallies, he uses a drop shot with Jackall Super Cross Tail Shad and occasionally a jig. Today he spent approximately two hours smallie fishing before heading north to Missisquoi Bay to target largemouths.
“Today I weighed in four largemouths and one smallmouth,” said Wolak, the North Carolina pro who is originally from Pennsylvania. “I grew up mixing like this and I really have a knack for it. I caught two of the largemouths up in Missisquoi and two in another area.”

FLW Tour Lake Champlain Open Day 2: Wolak and Yamamoto Share Lead

Wolak, Yamamoto each tally 41 pounds, 12 ounces

16.Sep.2011 by Brett Carlson

FLW PRESS RELEASE



Gary still in charge but shares lead with Wolak.
(Photos: Brett Carlson FLW)



PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – After two days of Walmart FLW Tour competition, there’s a tie at the top of the leaderboard. Gary Yamamoto still has the official lead thanks to his tiebreaking 24-4 stringer from day one. But David Wolak has the momentum. While Yamamoto sacked 17-8, Wolak caught 19-4 in what was a blustery day two on Lake Champlain.

With several top-10 finishes on Champlain, Wolak appears extremely confident. As he continues to employ his mixed-bag strategy, he has one thing on his mind – adapting to the changing conditions.

“My whole practice is focused on finding semi-protected areas for the different weather conditions we could have,” he explained. “I’m not just committed to one spot. Today I fished entirely new areas because of the conditions and I also wanted to let another spot reload.”

Wolak’s day-two limit consisted of three smallmouths and two largemouths. He fishes for the smallmouths first and then dedicates his afternoons for the greenies. This has earned him the nickname “mixmaster” on Tour.

FLW EverStart Northern Lake Erie (Eastern portion) Day 2: Constabile Takes Command of Erie.

By Luigi De Rose

"Gaspare is the MAN!" explains outdoor writer and former Niagara resident, Lonnie King. Today Gaspare didn't disappoint with another 22-11 pound limit, vaulting him into the lead. His two day total of 44-13 is good enough for first but just barely. Lawrence Mazur, of nearby Lancaster New York, stunned the crowd with a whopping 24-03 bag today, lifting him into second. His two day creel is 44-07, just 6 ounces shy of the Gaspare. Even more impressive was his co-angler, Nicolas Supik, who's day 2 bag weighed 24-03. That's almost 50 pounds of smallmouth from one boat! Most people who have such a banner day wish they were in a tournament, luckily for Lawence and Nicolas they were.

In third place is John Voyles, Petersburg In, with a 20-08 bag today. Yesterday, he also had a 20 pound plus day and sits just off the lead. First day co-leader Simon Frost, St. Catherines, On slipped a bit. He managed 18-14 and fell to fourth. Another solid angler who did untypically poor on day 1, Mike Desforges roared into fifth place on the back of a 20-12 bag of smallmouth.

The rest of the top ten looks like this:
6  CHRIS JOHNSTON  PETERBOROUGH, ON  37-07  
7  JOHN MURRAY  PHOENIX, AZ  37-04  
8  BARRY PRINGLE  WELLAND, ON  36-12  
9  BRAD BRODNICKI  AMHERST, NY   36-06  
10  BOB IZUMI  MILTON, ON  36-06  

Six of the top 10 are from Ontario and all can do well. Note that Bob Izumi was the winner at the last EverStart on Lake Ontario. Bob is eight pounds off the lead so it looks like it he'll not win but you never know. Once thing is clear, Izumi will be leading the Northern EverStart point race by the end of this tournament.

This will be a game of ounces so expect a very close tournament.
Be back soon.

Bassmaster Elite Diamond Drive Arkansas River Day 2: Mid Day Up-Date

Reports from Bassmaster.com
This is an unofficial leader board based on what bassmaster's writers have witnessed. Remember, this a river with many anglers using locks to reach distant areas. One delay and a top weight can be zeroed if the angler arrives late to the ramp. Locks are always a gamble especially if a barge wants to finish work quickly on a Friday afternoon before everyone leaves for the weekend. Barge traffic always get preference before tournament boats. Hopefully, no one will falter due to busy locks. 

1:15 p.m.

Place	Angler	Fish	Day Two	Total
1	Denny Brauer	5	12-01	26-11
2	Kevin VanDam	5	9-08	22-04
3	Takahiro Omori	4	11-00	21-05
4	Aaron Martens	5	10-04	20-12
5	Gerald Swindle	5	12-00	20-04
6	Randy Howell	5	9-06	18-12
7	Brent Chapman	4	8-12	18-05
8	Todd Faircloth	4	11-00	18-00
9	Greg Vinson	3	7-00	17-06
10	Ish Monroe	2	2-12	17-04
11	Mark Davis	3	8-08	17-02
12	Jason Williamson	2	6-00	17-00

FLW Tour on Red River Day 2: John Cox Still Rocks

Florida pro takes FLW Tour Red River lead into second day, Lauer takes co-angler lead

20.May.2011
by Patrick Baker
FLW Press Release

SHREVEPORT/BOSSIER CITY, La.  He had to run the gauntlet to do it, but Debary, Fla., pro John Cox was able to access his Red River sweet spot again Friday, where he caught another five-bass limit weighing 14 pounds to hang on to the Walmart FLW Tour lead on day two with a total weight of 28-10.
“Today I had to get on my spot pretty quick,” he said, adding that he barely made it to the lock on time this morning to enter Pool 4 downstream before making yet another long haul to his backwater area that is only accessible through a narrow, shallow culvert.
In order to make it through this seemingly impassable tunnel underpass, he is fishing in a relatively small aluminum boat with a light outboard engine. He has even taken a few batteries out of the boat to lighten the load and is relying on only one to start the engine and run his trolling motor.
“Everybody else is going like 60, 70 (mph), and we’re going about 30,” he said with a laugh. “Then the takeoff after the lock has just been crazy ? about 10 boats wide.”
In other words, Cox is getting left in their wakes. But eventually he made it to the culvert, and then the real work began, including trying to blast his way through the tunnel with little water for the propeller to grab and then using a 2-by-4 to push the boat the rest of the way out.
“Today (the water) was super low … we were just fighting our way in there,” he said. “The boat bottomed out. We really only fished a couple hours. Then it took us 45 minutes to get out.”
But they were a productive couple of hours, and Cox was able to get a good limit fishing the conditions, which was rapidly falling water. Yesterday Cox relied on flipping to bag his limit, and today he found success with a swimbait and ChatterBait.

Bassmaster Elite Pride of Georgia West Point Lake: Day 2

Edwin Evers Still Leading as Standings Flip Flop
West Point Lake - LaGrange, GA,
May 5 - 8, 2011
By Luigi De Rose

Working on the lead early on Friday.
(Photo: James Overstreet BASS)

Edwin Evers still in command of the Elite tournament on West Point Lake in Georgia. Landing a very respectable 15-03 limit, Edwin has kept on top of the leader board for the second day. Most of the Bassmaster Elite field didn't fair as well as Edwin. Many who did very well on Day 1 struggled. The name of the game is always consistency but here on stingy West Point it really is a deal breaker.

Notable slips were Stephen Kennedy who was expected to win and looked like he would with a first day limit of 22 pounds. But on Friday, he was only able to net 10-14 which was good enough for fifth. David Walker who entered Day 2 in second fell to ninth with a small catch of 9-13. Considering Walker had engine trouble it is amazing he didn't fall completely out of the top 20. He might be the secret threat at this tournament. Dustin Wilks had a 7 pound difference in his catch today compare to yesterday but that was because he nail the tournament's largest bass of 7-08 on Day 1. Without that giant bass he wouldn't be sitting in sixith place.  

Others who has a disappointing second day were: Bobby Lane 18th, Dave Wolack 26th, Ben Parker 35th, and Boyd Duckett who dropped from 6th to 49th. He only managed 1-13.

Not everyone stunk on West Point today. KVD roared into second with the tournament's best catch so far with 23-10. Kevin is only ounces off the lead. This is a post spawn tournament and a tough one at that, both factors play into Van Dam's style of fishing. Another strong showing was from Ish Monroe who is sitting in third on the back of a 21 pound limit.  He is another who does well during the post spawn, his most recent success was last year with a top 5 finish at the FLW Lake Ouachita tournament. Again, he is another angler who does well at covering tremendous amounts of water hunting for active fish.  Others who did well today were Alton Jones17-11, Andy Montgomery 17-11, Nate Wellman 16-11 and Ott DeFoe with 17-02.

FLW Tour Lake Chickamauga Day 2: Pirch Jumps to Top

Arizona's Clifford Pirch take a slim lead over Shinichi Fukae

Day 2 Leader.
(Photo: Rob Newell FLW)

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – Clifford Pirch of Payson, Ariz., caught a five-bass limit weighing 20 pounds, 6 ounces Friday to capture the lead on day two of the Walmart FLW Tour on Lake Chickamauga presented by National Guard. His two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 43 pounds, 11 ounces gives him a slim 3-ounce lead heading into the third day of the tournament. There were 154 pros and 154 co-anglers from across the United States and Canada that started the tournament. The top 20 will fish day three and the top 10 will compete for the title on day four.

“I had a slower start today,” Pirch said. “I did get a couple sight fishing this morning. But by midday I started to get on them a little bit and had a couple of good passes where I was able to get a limit and then cull and got some momentum. It ended up working out real well.

“I had a great end to the day,” Pirch added. “It wasn’t action all day long, but it worked out well.

Pirch said he caught about a dozen keepers throughout the course of the day and relied on Typhoon polarized optics to help him spot bedding bass. He said he targeted those bass with a Roboworm creature bait.

“There’s a lot of fish in this lake and it’s a fun place to fish,” Pirch said. “There’s a lot of big ones. Hopefully I can go out and do it again tomorrow.”

Pirch said Friday’s rain hampered his sight fishing a bit, but other than making the fishermen uncomfortable the weather didn’t play a major role in the fishing.

“It didn’t change the fishing much,” Pirch said. “I’m hoping we won’t have too much muddy water (Saturday). Either way, I’ll try to roll with it and find some clean water and try to catch them just fishing.”

Rounding out the top 20 pros that will fish another day on Lake Chickamauga are: