Posted  June 26th, 2008  6:25 pm CST

Kevin Wirth Takes the Day One Lead, Stone Less Than a Pound Behind

Story by Brent Conway - Photos by Mark Jeffreys and Matt Pangrac

Hendersonville, TN – Stop number nine of the 2008 Elite Series, originally scheduled to be on the Mighty Mississippi in Ft. Madison, IA, wound up at Old Hickory Lake just outside Nashville, TN due to severe flooding in the Midwest. No one complained about the move, given the obscurity the fishery presented; however, after practice everyone was vocal about one thing – small fish.

It sounded like a broken record during The BASS ZONE’s pre-tournament report, where everyone echoed the fact that getting numbers was easy, but getting to stretch beyond the required 14-inch minimum was tough. 

Though BASS has a certain amount of history at the Cumberland River impoundment, it’s been since 2000 that BASS has visited, and only a handful of the current 107-angler field were at that MegaBucks event. Most agreed, however, that despite the lack of fish size, the last-minute announcement evened the playing field as everyone had the same information and the same amount of practice time prior to the start of the tournament. 

While Old Hickory is a close cousin of the most recently visited venues – Wheeler and Kentucky Lakes - and affords a similar river-styled set up with ledges and an abundance of shallow shoreline cover, from the perspective of an eye-popping weight producer they couldn’t be further apart. 

“Struggle” is the word that best describes the day’s fishing. Granted, the fishing was good – the quality is what the struggle was all about. This tournament will come do to four key bites – or one four-pounder each day. In a tournament were most everyone suggested that 15 pounds a day would be enough, Kevin Wirth crossed the scales Thursday to set the pace with 17-2, anchored by the day’s big bass of 6-4. 

In second place was Marty Stone who brought five fish to the scales going 16-5. Skeet Reese ended the first period in third place with a five-fish limit weighing 15-9, and Dustin Wilks ended the opening period in fourth place with 15-4. 

Kevin Langill ended the day in fifth with 15-3 to get his week started, and Bill Lowen rounded out the Super Six with five bass weighing 14-13. Ben Matsubu was the guy standing in 50th with three fish for 8-13 - proof positive that a five-fish limit everyday this week will go a long way.

Wirth Grinds into the Lead
Kevin Wirth is certainly no stranger to Old Hickory. As such, he was very pleased with his day’s performance. “I just kept pegging away and got fortunate to catch the big fish,” he said.” I had one that would just barely keep, and I was able to cull it out with the big fish. It was just a really fortunate day for me.”

Wirth, without tipping his hand as to where he’s at on the lake or what he’s doing while there, did say that he’s fishing away from his normal comfort zone. “I like what I’m doing,” he said, “but I’ve never had to catch them at the depth that I’m catching them at this time of the year. It’s a real unusual deal for me, but its working.” 

“I’m not entirely comfortable with (with how I’m fishing),” Wirth cautioned, “even though I enjoy doing it. Like I said, I just kept pegging away at it all day.”

Picking up a keeper here and there throughout the day to get an 11-pound limit in the boat, Wirth explained that shortly after 2:30 he boxed his big fish, which was the last bite he had. “As soon as I put him in the boat, I came on in,” he said, then explaining that he stayed busy until he headed to the ramp before 3:00. 

With, like most in the field, didn’t have a consistent bite going from practice, and as a result didn’t have any preconceived ideas on how his day would go. “I didn’t have anything in mind in terms of what I would catch today,” he said. “I had no number – nothing. Just went from one fish to the next. I was just hoping for the best, that’s all.”

“Like I said, I like what I’m doing and where I’m fishing,” Wirth added, “but I have no idea if I can repeat it tomorrow. I’m just going to go out like I did today and go fishing for one bite at a time.”

Stone Liking His Start
Marty Stone has been at the game long enough to know that fishing is often times up or down. With more downs in the recent past that he would prefer, his start this week has him feeling that he may be starting to head up. “It feels good to be in this position,” he said. “It was just a special day all the way around, and to think that between Wheeler and Kentucky lakes the biggest fish I was able to catch was a 4-4. Come to Old Hickory, and I catch a 5-9…what can you say?”

Stone revealed that he moved around throughout the day, but never backed off and caught everything he could on the spots he fish – though he revealed that he has some reserves that he didn’t touch. “I’m catching them a way that I really enjoy,” he said. “I’ve been working on it for a couple of years, so it really made it special. I had to move around a lot, but the real key is to just luck into the right bite.”

Stone estimates that he caught 12 or 13 keepers today, and was shocked at his ultimate success given the practice that he – and most everyone else – had. “I’m not going to stand around and lie to anyone because I never would have dreamed that I was around that kind of fish,” he said. “The biggest fish that I caught in three days of practice was a three pounder.”

In terms of fishing Friday, Stone intends to string another stellar performance to that of his opening round. The trick will be in getting the keepers to cooperate. “They are either going to bite or not,” he said. “I really want a good finish. Great runs are started by a great day, so I would really like to think that I could go out and catch another eight or nine pounds tomorrow.”

Skeet Had the Right Timing
In the hunt for the Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year trophy, you have to have a little help in the form of good old-fashioned luck. Skeet Reese took an extra helping to start the week. “I was not a happy camper at 12:00 this afternoon,” Skeet revealed, explaining that he only had two small keepers in the box at the time.

“It worked out in the end though because I got the right bites at the right time.”

Skeet reported to The BASS ZONE that his practice didn’t really tell him much. He did, however, find a handful of ledges that were holding a little better quality. It was there that he focused the bulk of his day. “I worked in some of the better areas I’d found during practice,” he said. 

“I also worked some new water today, but I still couldn’t tell you what the deal is really. I’m fishing outside stuff, but it’s really just a matter of chunking and winding.”

Without anything of substance before lunch, Skeet intends to slow down and attempt to capitalize on the “great morning bite” that everyone has talked about. “I’ve noticed all week that the afternoon bite is way better for me,” he said. 

“I haven’t had any success in the morning so I guess that tomorrow I’m going to have to slow down, but there’s really no rhyme or reason to it. Timing is everything I suppose.”

Wilks Hopeful for Another Limit
About 9:00 I was wondering if I was going to catch one,” he said. “I was really like everyone else was after practice – just hoping that I could catch a limit. It took most of the day to do it, but I got the limit and then some.”

I never lost a fish, but I missed one that felt heavy,” he said. “It came off a spot that I caught a four-pounder on during practice. So I’ve got a pretty good deal going, but I’ve just got to make the most of it.”

Wilks had a limit in his first 10 bites, and estimates that over the course of the day he caught a total of around 13 fish – so quantity is also a struggle. To combat the quantity/quality issues, Dustin said he spent considerable time looking this afternoon. “I spent the last hour to hour-and-a-half just running around the lake looking for the same stuff,” he explained. 

“It’s really hard to find what I’m looking for, and I feel like I got really fortunate to find that.”

“I was thinking that eight pounds would be pretty good,” he said. “I feel like right now that if I can get another limit tomorrow, I’ll be okay for the weekend. I would really like a Top 12, but really I want to make the Classic more than anything.”

Langill Hoping for Wind
If you’re going to be pleasantly surprised, according to Kevin Langill it couldn’t happen at a better time than the first day of a tournament where you’re fishing for $100,000. “I thought it would be tougher than what it was,” Langill suggested. “I just had a lot of spots to hit over the day, so I just ran through all of them and picked up a fish here and a fish there.”

Langill revealed that he’s got seven different baits working, and that he’s “working” them for all he can. “I’m just junk fishing, and it’s just working out,” he said. “It’s kind of a weird deal to tell you the truth because I’m getting three-pounders from places that I could only catch 13-inchers on during practice.”

Langill was in one of the later flights Thursday, which will be reversed Friday. He’s not sure what, if any, impact the earlier fishing time will have. “I don’t know, I think it was just a matter of where I was at that time of the day as much as anything else,” he explained. “The later draw might have pushed me into a little different rotation, but I don’t think going out earlier tomorrow will change anything knowing what I know now.”

Looking only as far ahead as Friday, Langill is hopeful that the promise of rain will bring wind along with it. “The weather is the biggest variable right now,” he said. “It’s pretty windy today, and will be tomorrow. We never had that in practice, and it seemed like it helped.”

Lowen’s Sweet Home Ohio
Bill Lowen is a Ohio homeboy, and he’s quite proud of that fact – to the extent that everywhere he goes, he tries to find water that resembles the mighty Ohio River. “It was a pretty neat day,” he said. “I’m pretty much fishing just like I would at home, which always makes me a lot more relaxed.”

Lowen had his initial limit, a respectable eight pounds, by 10:00, and suggests that as much as anything it’s as a result of the way he’s fishing. “I think I’ve got a pretty neat little deal working,” he said. “There’s not a lot of other guys doing it – in fact I was all alone until today…in fact, I only saw one other boat towards the end of the day.”

Without giving anything away, Lowen revealed that he’s only fishing for quality – and they’re coming with pretty good consistency throughout the day. “With as tough as it’s been, I didn’t want to pound on them too much during practice,” he said. “I set the hook enough to know that I had found something pretty special and just left it at that.”

Lowen’s best hope is that he can keep the home-vibe strong enough to see Sunday. “I feel like I’m at home,” he said. “I just wish that I had 100 spots like I do at home. I’ve got three of my five spots left, so we’ll hope for the best.”

Notable:
Randy Howell - “I had something happen that I’ve never had before where I caught a good bass off of someone else's line. It was a really nice fish, and the way that it was swimming up to the boat the whole time I was thinking it was a catfish. I saw my line come up and it was all wrapped up in a big ball of line. I swung the fish into the boat, but wasn’t sure I had it hooked or not. I called Trip because I was pretty sure I couldn’t weigh it in. I guess that it was just someone who was shiner fishing or something and it got wrapped up. Either way, I saved the fish's life, so it was pretty cool.”

DAY ONE STANDINGS

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