RICHMOND, Va. – The James River showed out on Thursday. After 154 of the top professional bass-fishing anglers in the world launched this morning at the Toyota Stop 5 on the James River Presented by PowerStop Brakes, 153 of those pros returned to the weigh-in scale this afternoon with a five-bass limit. And the lone pro that didn’t catch a limit still managed to bring four bass to the scale.
After the final fish had been tallied, Green Lane, Pennsylvania, pro Grae Buck, who has two Top-25 finishes already this season, jumped out to the early lead with a five-bass limit weighing 21 pounds, 3 ounces. He’ll bring a slim 4-ounce lead into Day 2 over Brookeland, Texas’, Dakota Ebare, who weighed a limit totaling 20-15. Chris Groh of Spring Grove, Illinois, sits just 8 ounces behind Ebare in third place with five bass for 20-7. Weights are stacked – just over 5 pounds separates first place from 20th – and with three days left in the competition it is still anyone’s event.
“I found two different areas (in practice) that had fish in it, but I never caught quality like this by any means,” Buck said. “Once I finally settled in today I got to see what was actually there and I caught them pretty consistently.”
Buck said that he caught around 15 keepers on Thursday, with a nice 6-pound, 6-ouncer coming right around noon.
“The tide definitely played a role in where I was starting and where I was fishing at,” Buck said. “I’m hoping I can go out there again and catch a bunch of fish. I got that big one in the afternoon. I had to go looking for it – it wasn’t in the same spot where I caught a limit. Hopefully I can get another big one like that tomorrow. Those big bites really go far.”
Buck mentioned that there were numerous other competitors fishing in the same areas.
“There are a lot of people fishing there, but hopefully we can all work around the area together and catch them,” he said.
Although second-place pro Ebare is much more used to fishing in southern states like Texas and Louisiana, he said that he felt comfortable with how the James River was setting up for him.
“It felt a little like home in how it sets up,” Ebare said. “The tide swings are much bigger here than they are in Louisiana, but once I figured out where I needed to be and how the fish were setting up, I settled in and knew exactly what to look for. I was at the right place at the right time today and was able to start running the tide, which is the key to all tidal waters. It doesn’t matter what you are doing as much as where you’re doing it.
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