Posted  June 28th, 2008  7:05 pm CST

Clunn Within Striking Distance, Howell in Third With One Day Left

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

Hendersonville, TN – It has been said time and time again this week that the fishing at stop number nine of the 2008 Elite Series on Old Hickory is brutally tough. 13-inch fish are abundant but quality keeper bites are scarce. 

Saturday was moving day for the Elite Series pros and the law of averages succumbed to the new law of “one good bite.” With less than three pounds separating 25th place from the 12th-place cut spot at the day’s start, it became all the more evident that one (or two) four-plus-pound bites would be the difference maker.

The building drama of the Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year race reached a whole new gear Saturday as Todd “Mr. Consistency” Faircloth inched closer to Kevin VanDam, who had snuck into the Saturday cut in 49th place. That left VanDam some working room but with his final weight resting at 27-15 Faircloth could make the race even closer after Sunday. 

Of course there’s still the matter of the $100,000 top prize to be settled, and so far it has been all about Kevin Wirth – who started and ended Saturday with a three-pound lead over second place. Normally, a three pound lead heading into Sunday offers some security but at Old Hickory this week there’s no guarantee as evidenced by the movement from fourth place down on Saturday. 

Though his weight slid Saturday, Kevin Wirth once again walked off the stage as the tournament’s leader for the third straight day with 44-13 overall. Wirth brought in his lightest bag of the week weighing 12-01 allowing the gap to be narrowed by two ounces. 

Weighing 12-03 on the day, Rick Clunn narrowed the gap with a three-day combined weight of 41-10. Randy Howell remained in third place for the second straight day with 37-01 overall to close out the third day after weighing a limit of five bass Saturday at 8-07. 

Moving into fourth place from the 16th-place position heading into Sunday’s final round was Dean Rojas, who brought 14-03 to the scales pushing his three-day combined total weight to 36-14 overall.

Fifth place went to the big mover of the day, Alton Jones, who rocketed up from the 25th spot with a five-bass limit weighing 15-11 giving the SKEETER pro and defending Classic champion a three-day combined total weight of 36-07. Less than a pound behind Jones to round out the Super Six was Bill Lowen, with 35-12 overall.

Wirth Stays on Top
For the third straight day, Kentucky pro Kevin Wirth remained atop the leader board at a very stingy Old Hickory Lake – and he has done so while still coming in early every afternoon. “I felt happy with what I had,” he said. “To be honest, I was happy with each keeper that I caught. I’m not getting in any hurry and just kept rotating through some stuff.”

Wirth explained that regardless of his limit being the lightest of the week so far, he’s happy with what he was able to do today given the company he had. “The type of water I’m fishing doesn’t respond well to a lot of boats,” he revealed. “It’s the weekend at Old Hickory and there are a lot of pleasure boats out and locals fishing, so I’m tickled to death with what I weighed.”

“All the spectators were just super,” Wirth added. “They all gave me plenty of room, for the most part. In fact, most of them would just anchor up and watch me, which was great.”

Wirth said the point of coming in early each day is, in part, to manage his limited supply of fish. “It has a lot to do with managing my fish, but it also has a lot to due with the long run I’m making,” he explained. “I don’t want to beat my stuff up, but at the same time I don’t want to take any chances and break down or lose a fish in the livewell.”

For the most part, Wirth explained that his limits are coming by 9:00 each morning from only three places – but he’s got one other spot that he has not been to since practice. “It was a little slower today, and I didn’t have as many bites,” he said. “Hopefully, the little area I’ve been saving has them just stacked up. 

“I know it’s got some good quality four-pounders – it doesn’t have any giants or anything, but I think it will be good.”

Wirth said that the spot he’s holding back hasn’t had pressure from anyone all week, and that his plans for tomorrow essentially revolve around it. “I’ve watched it everyday this week and haven’t seen another boat in there,” he said. “I will probably go into some of my other water to start because I feel like I’ll go to the stuff I’ve been saving for three bites.”

The edge that Wirth might have this week, may have something to do with the fact that every night since Wednesday, Wirth has stopped at Hooters and eaten a double order of Snow Crab legs.  Wirth credits the lucky legs for a little extra confidence on the water. 

Clunn Gains a Little
Rick Clunn started the week out with a solid stringer, and has remained consistent all week, which is something he credits to the summer being his time to shine. Still, with a day left and a three-pound gap to fill, Clunn knows that he has his work cut out. “I don’t have any regrets, but I am losing a little more fish than I would like to lose,” he said.

“Today was the day that I worried about because I don’t think you can win a tournament until the last day, but I know that you can certainly lose it. I was able to make up a little ground, so tomorrow I’m going to let it all hang out.”

Clunn explained Friday that the water he’s fishing is a creek channel that requires one-way in and out. Until yesterday he hadn’t seen another competitor fishing, but Saturday he had company. “I had to play defense for the first time today,” he said. “I’m going to have to talk with him (Ray Sedgwick) tonight to see why he came in there. 

“I don’t know if he caught them in there, but he was working my second-best stretch. He said from the stage that he had run out of fish and was working new water, so I definitely don’t think it was intentional.”

Aside from the minor glitch in his solo effort, Clunn explained that the tournament has set up perfectly for him – no prior knowledge, even playing field, and a super-tough fishery. “If I had my way, they would all be this way,” he said. 

“You know, it wasn’t that many years ago that we wouldn’t know where the lakes would be until after we’d already sent in our entry fees. The lakes would be immediately off limits at that point, but you can’t do it that way anymore. I realize that.” 

For the final day, Clunn isn’t changing anything and plans to swing for the fences in an effort to make up the three pounds required. “I’m going to just try and be as efficient as I can tomorrow,” he said. “I’ve lost at least one three pounder everyday, so hopefully I can keep them on and make up the ground I need.”

Howell Hoping for a Little More Luck
The luck factor has been critical for Randy Howell this week, and for the second straight day, things went his way; however, he pointed out that it was simply because he kept his head down and covered water trying to make his first Top 12 of the year. “It was tough today, but I figured that it would be that way,” he said.

“I didn’t get to fish my best water today because there was a local already set up fishing there, and wouldn’t let me onto the spot. I took it as a sign that I wasn’t supposed to be in there.”

As the clouds rolled in during the mid-morning, Howell – in full scramble mode – opted to take advantage of the low-light conditions. “I went up shallow really just to see if I could catch five keepers up there,” he allowed. “I took my Vertical Lures JigX Swimming Jig and ran it through the grass and managed to pick up four keepers doing that.”

After spending three hours in the shallow-water grass, Howell explained that he pretty much junk-fished the remainder of the day to finish out his limit – catching a total of six keepers on the day. “I left the grass and went out to a little cranking point and managed to pick up two more keepers,” he said. 

“I culled out one of my little ones, and then pretty much did everything under the sun to try and cull again but never did.”

Howell revealed Friday that he quit fishing a key ledge too soon opting instead to run into a creek to finish out his limit. The same was true again today with the grass bite, but he allowed that it won’t be that way tomorrow. “I probably should’ve stayed in the grass a little longer, but once the sun popped out I didn’t have any confidence in it,” he revealed. 

“Tomorrow, I might try the grass all day. To be honest though, I don’t have a clue. I just knew that I had to have a limit today to get into the Top 12. Tomorrow, I’m not going to worry about a limit because I’m going to need everything I can to try and win.”

Rojas Has Kermit Unleashed
Dean Rojas spent the first two days of the tournament in relative obscurity. Sure, he has been near the top of the leader board since the start, but didn’t make a move until Saturday – now he’s hopeful that the mojo can continue for the final round. “The first day, I didn’t really know how much I needed to catch,” he said.

“The particular pattern I’m on, I know how important it is to manage my fish. Today, I went into some water I’d been saving and really sort of let ‘em have it.”

Rojas revealed that throughout the day, in addition to back-up water he had been holding back, he also expanded the areas he’s been fishing. “I found some more stuff this afternoon that I’m really excited about,” he said, and added that a key to the week for him has been getting everything to the boat. 

“My execution has been perfect so far this week,” he said. “My fish are coming off of everything you can imagine, and they’re just eating it. I really don’t think that anyone has been throwing at these fish, either that or I’m reaching fish that no one else can get to.”

Full of confidence over his frog bite, the Spro pro explained that everything is going according to plan. “I just know that there’s no one that can work (a frog) like I do, and that there’s no one who can put it in the places I can,” Rojas explained. “That gives me a lot of confidence.” 

“I’m excited about having another chance to do well,” Rojas added, “so hopefully I can get a few big bites and maybe get lucky and pull inside the top five in the AOY points.” 

Jones Junks into Contention
Alton Jones couldn’t say enough good things about Old Hickory on Saturday. However, the first two days of the tournament might have been a little different. “What can I say,” he commented. “For the first two days of the tournament I would hit my stuff and catch 13-and-three-quarter-inch fish.

“Today I go there and catch a three pounder off of it, so that got the day off to a good start because it was my second keeper.”

With two solid keepers in the box, Jones decided to run back over some of his areas from Thursday hoping the big ones had moved up there, too. “The first fish I catch in there was a solid two pounder,” he said. “The next one I caught was a four-pounder, and I was able to finish out my limit there.”

Jones explained that more than anything else he believes the appearance of big fish on his shallow-water spots was due to the fact that no one else had fished the area. “There hasn’t been anyone on me all week,” he said. “There’s another tournament boat that’s fishing the same creek as me, but he’s way on down from where I’ve been fishing. I think that has a lot to do with it – there’s not any pressure on them.”

Jones explained that he’s not running any particular pattern – just whatever is working best at the moment. “Whatever looks like I need to throw on that spot is what I’ll use,” he said. “I’m throwing lots of different baits thinking that eventually you’ll find something they want to eat and you’ll get a bite.”

Sunday, Alton plans to be open to possibility. “I’ll go try the creek tomorrow, but if it doesn’t work out I’m willing to make a 60-mile run to another spot where I haven’t fished yet,” he said. “Maybe there are a couple of four pounders in that group too. One of my keys is going to be having the courage the run new water.”

Lowen has Ace Turn to Joker
Bill Lowen has, throughout his Elite Series career, tried to find water that reminds him of his home waters in Ohio. This week at Old Hickory, he’s found it and has managed to be a contender; however, Saturday the bite was off and he slipped down to sixth as a result. “Today was a lot different that it has been,” he said.

“The fish were biting a lot different. About 10 or 12 times today I would go to button up and my whole worm would be gone. Yesterday that wouldn’t have happened.”

Lowen revealed that patience – as much as anything – was the key to managing to bring five keepers to the scales. “It took me a little while to in tune with them,” he said. “I would have to let them swim off with it before I’d set the hook, unfortunately, the two best fish I had on today came unbuttoned.”

Lowen has been, for the first two days, consistent fishing a remote spot reminiscent of his home waters; however, knowing that he needed to gamble he opted to abandon his primary water and head to his “ace in the hole” which turned out to be a joker. “My spot that I’d been saving, that I thought would be my ace in the hole, had Dean Rojas and Kevin Wirth on it,” he said. 

“I went on past them up the creek and managed to only catch two little keepers, so it is what it is.”

Bill explained that finding two other tournament competitors fishing the spot he thought he’d been saving was tough to swallow, but that he’s over it and intents to go out a final time and swing for the fences. “I’m going to go back to where I fished for the first couple of days and beat it for all it’s worth,” he said. 

“This is a game of decisions, and you might say that leaving my best water was a bad decision, but I’m still in the Top 12 and will be fishing Sunday. So I’m going to give it all I can and hope for the best.”

DAY THREE STANDINGS.

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