In the ’08 event, in which Texas pro Todd Faircloth went on to win by the narrowest of margins against rookie Clark Reehm, weather conditions forced the cancellation of first tournament day. Faircloth went on to mine nearly 77 pounds of bass from Amistad’s gin-clear waters, so it’s safe to assume that – like each two trips preceding 2007 – the century mark would have fallen.

As a result of heavy upstream rains, and a dam break in Mexico, Amistad is a completely different lake this year. The “magic tree,” that Faircloth cited as the reason for his victory, is currently in 50 feet of water, and miles of buck brush that would normally serve as shallow-water guarantees this time of the year, are 20 feet off the bank. 

As a result of the near-10 feet of additional water, the bass are scattered. Add to that the fact that the weather is unstable at best. Anglers at launch this morning were greeting with heavy winds, rain, and 40-degree air temperatures – conditions that tested the metal of each contestant. 

Those that The BASS ZONE spoke with during the official practice period speculated that this wouldn’t be the “normal” Amistad tournament. In fact, most said that unlike past events here, 100 pounds of bass would likely not be required to claim victory.

Michael “Ike” Iaconelli must not have gotten that memo as he’s on pace to blow past 100 pounds. Ike sent a clear message to those who had poor mouthed their practice period by placing a five-fish limit onto the scales weighing 27 pounds and 9 ounces to claim Day One honors.

Two behinds behind Ike in second place to start the week was veteran pro Gary Klein with five fishing going 25 pounds and 4 ounces. Alton Jones ended the day only four ounces behind Klein in third, with five that went 24 even.

Fourth place on the first day of the 2009 regular season was Matt Reed, who placed 23 pounds and 2 ounces onto the scales, and John Murray ended his opening day in fifth place with 22 pounds and 1 ounce.

Rounding out the Super Six was 2007 Classic champion Boyd Duckett with 21 pounds and 10 ounces. After a day, the projected cut weight to fish the weekend hovers at around 27 pounds, though at this point, with weather looking to stabilize, anything is possible.

Iaconelli Fishing From the Gut
Mike Iaconelli is red hot right now, and has been “in the zone” since June of ’08, but hot streak or not, he’s always dialed in at Amistad. Although he reportedly had “one of the worst” practices of his career, he relied on what little insight it had given him. 

“I just had a gut feeling, based on the weather and a couple of the bites that I got, what I might try to do today and expand on what I’d found,” he said. “It was the correct hunch, and it paid off.”

Ike explained that he only had two quality bites during three days of practice – and both came doing the same thing. Based on his experience at Amistad, he knew that the weather was going to play right into his hands and make the pattern he’d discovered even stronger.

“I only caught seven keepers all day today, but the ones that bit were quality,” he said. “I caught one little fish early and decided to keep it, but it died so I could’ve had a couple of more pounds if I could have culled that one.”

He’s dialed in to a solid pattern, and has plenty of fishable water; however, he pointed out the the two big bites are what made his day. “I’m fishing a pattern and have a couple of areas that I’m able to duplicate it in,” he explained. 

“Honestly though, if you take away the two big bites that I had my bag would’ve only weighed 11 or 12 pounds.”

Ike’s big fish of the day, a 12-pound, 13-ounce donkey, was the second biggest fish of his life (the other, a 14-pound bruiser, also at Amistad), but his biggest in competition. He explained that it was the fight of a lifetime – at the end of which he felt like he’d just run a marathon.

“She bit at the end of a long cast, and I knew that it was a big one as soon as I set the hook,” he said. “She never jumped, but spent probably two minutes under the boat, and then she just gave up. As I saw her coming up, I almost died.”

Despite the day’s big bass and heavyweight stringer, Ike knows that in this game, you can go from hero to zero in a flash. “I’m a realist,” he said. “Coming in to the morning I was worried that I would leave here without a check. I know now, based on my day that I’m at least going to get a check and some valuable points. 

“That’s the mindset that I’m fishing with right now. I just need to keep fishing smart, and the rest will take care of itself.”

Klein Out Deep
Like Iaconelli, veteran pro, Gary Klein, is consistent at Amistad. With the day’s second-heaviest stringer, he’s off to his best start in three tries at the south Texas fishery. “I only caught eight or nine keepers today,” he said. “I don’t want to say that I backed off any – I’m just not catching a lot of fish.”

To amass the kind of weight he brought in Thursday in fewer than 10 bites, it’s clear that Klein is dialed in once again. “I’m just fishing the way that I always fish (Amistad),” he explained.

“I’m covering a lot of water and burning a bunch of gas, but I’ll pick up one here and one there. They just all happened to be big fish today.”

Fishing a deep jig, Klein explained that he’s not able to sit on one spot and fish a school. “The lake is fishing really, really weird,” he pointed out. “They’re not all bunched up, so I can’t catch more than maybe two from any one spot.” 

Klein surmises that the fish he’s catching are all post-spawn. “That makes me think that I’ve got more fish coming out to me,” he said. “You can run into the pockets and see all the little two-pound fish you want to see, so I’ve done everything I can to keep from going in there and trying to catch those fish.”

Gary pointed out that his day went just as he’d planned, though he didn’t realize the kind of quality he was on. “I’ve fished this lake quite a bit over the years, so I’ve got a couple of little deals that always work,” he said. 

“I’m out deep, so I don’t think that anything will hurt it – if anything it should get a little bit better as the week goes on.”

Alton’s On To Something (Again)
Alton Jones, like Ike and Klein above him, is incredibly consistent at Amistad. Catching over 25 keepers through the day, he explained that he’s figured out something that will help him all week. “It was a good day,” he said. “Hopefully I have three more days to go.

It was definitely a day of adjustments for Jones. “Where I’d found some big fish in practice, everything today turned out to be just keepers,” he said. “I was finally able to catch a big fish around 11:00, and it dialed me into a really specific pattern.”

With a bag full of solid keepers, Alton explained that he was surprised he didn’t ever run across a giant Thursday; however, he explained that there’s still three days left to try for one. “I kept thinking that I would catch a big fish the way that I’m fishing,” he said. 

“Maybe later in the week I will, but to be honest, if I could repeat this every day this week I’ll be tickled to death.”

The conditions the anglers were faced with Thursday will change for the second round of competition. Alton is unfazed by the forecast. “I don’t really think a lack of cloud cover will hurt the way that I’m fishing at all,” he said. 

“I think if the clouds go away I’ll be able to go back and catch them the way that I was in practice. I’ve got a big area all by myself and I know that I’m around a lot of fish.”

Reed Surprised Himself
With all his pour mouthing about practice, Matt Reed surprised himself with his Day One performance. “This was a scary practice, I’ll tell you,” he said. “It was probably the toughest practice I’ve ever had here.

“I only had one little area that I felt good about, and thankfully I was able to go in there today and fish it right. They were there, that’s all I know.”

Outside his “one little area,” Reed explained that he was able to catch fish in a variety of places throughout the day. “Maybe I’ve put something together,” he said. “I would say the both my bait and the depth that I’m fishing are critical.”

Matt explained that the first two fish he hooked Thursday pulled off, and hopes that they don’t come back to haunt him. “I never got to look at either of them, but they had the right kind of feel,” he said. 

“I never lost another fish after that, and was able to catch a four-and-a-half and a seven on back-to-back casts. After that, I was ready to go fishing.”

Reed explained that he’s sharing water with VanDam, and hopes that they didn’t burn their fish up too bad. “The weather should not affect these fish,” he said. “I’m just hoping that we didn’t hurt (the area) too bad. That’s the only thing.”

Murray Finished Shallow
Unlike most in the field, John Murray wasn’t able to get anything going out deep, although he thought that he would be able to earlier in the day. “I started with a Carolina rig deep and wound up throwing a big swimbait up shallow,” he said.

“On clear water lakes when it’s early (in the year), you never start shallow. It’s always deep first then move up. I learned that a long time ago at Lake Mead.”

Usually, however, he likes to move shallow after he’s caught his limit. “That’s not how it worked out today,” he said. “I’m really blessed to have the kind of day that I wound up with, I’ll say that.”

Murray pointed out that the sheltered area he’s fishing isn’t affected by wind. The only thing he’s concerned with is it’s ability to replenish. “I had an eight-pounder in practice in this spot, and went back there today and caught about 18 pounds and left,” he said. 

“Hopefully there’s enough there to last a little bit longer.”

Duckett’s Working Two Deals
Boyd Duckett has put himself in the hunt once again, and he’s doing so with two distinctive patterns – one’s deep, and the other is shallow. “It’s a time consuming deal that requires multiple passes through the same area,” he said “I ran the same areas over and over. 

“On one pass you’d get a strike, on the next you’d get a follow, and finally on the third pass through you’ll get one that swallows it all the way to their gut.”

Duckett had four quality bites over the course of the day, but was only able to put two of them in the box. “It’s a real hit or miss deal, so I hope that I can get four more shots at some big fish tomorrow,” he said.

Aside from the swimbait bite, Duckett also has some deep fish. “I feel sure that I can go out there and get 15 pounds,” he said. “I’ll probably wind up throwing the swimbait all day though now that I’m in the hunt. You can’t win ‘em just trying to catch limits.”

Kriet Backed Off
Like Reed before him, Jeff Kriet was pleasantly surprised by his day’s results – not necessarily the weight he brought in, but how he caught them. “I caught them totally different that I’d planned to,” he said. “I started on some deep that I thought I could really crack them on and only caught one.”

After his first stop didn’t pan out, Jeff moved to a shallow-water stretch where he’d been catching “a ton” of keepers in during practice. “I got a lot of bites in there during practice – including some four-pounders – but I didn’t get a bite,” he explained.

“I moved back out to the drop and started getting bit on my jig,” he explained, pointing out that he’s sure it was the same school he’d found up shallow during practice. “I caught everyone of them on a jig, and really only fished two areas all day. I only caught eight keepers today.”

Tomorrow, Jeff explained that he intends to revisit his shallow areas – with the new twist he learned Thursday. “I’ve never been able to repeat in the same area the next day here,” he said. “Tomorrow, I’m just going to go to some new water and pull back out off the bank and see what happens.

“I’ve got 50 way points that I can hit and they all have the kind of water that I’m needing.”

DAY 1 STANDINGS