Thursday’s launch was delayed for three hours and seven minutes due to fog, making the chase for the $100,000.00 first-place prize even more frenzied. Each of the 100 pros in the field know that Dardanelle’s 12- to 14-pound daily requirement, difficult to achieve under optimum conditions, will be all the more difficult to achieve given the conditions this week promises to bring. 

As The BASS ZONE reported in our preview of this week’s tournament, when the ‘09 schedule was released, the Diamond Drive appeared to be a likely bed-fishing bonanza given the abundance of shallow grass and wood-lined banks Dardanelle offers. 

However, pros quickly realized that the abundant grass and baitfish the river-lake has historically offered her anglers were both in short supply. In their absence, so to were keeper-sized bass as the multiple single-fish bags anglers carried to the stage proved.

“Survival” was the word we heard most often after Wednesday’s final practice round where most agreed that each day of this event was going to be a grind. Multiply the “grind” factor by about 12 after the day was shortened by three hours, and it’s clear to see that after Amistad, reality has set in.

Kansas pro Brent Chapman, who obviously ignored the distraction of a late launch and post-practice poor mouthing, jumped out as the Day One leader thanks to his 19-pound, 7-ounce bag . Barely a pound-and-a-half behind Chapman in second place was Mark Menendez with a five-bass tournament limit weighing 17 pounds, 12 ounces.

Mr. Consistent himself, Alton Jones, ended the first day in third place with a healthy limit of Dardanelle bass weighing 17 pounds and 5 ounces, and Matt Herren ended the day in fourth by placing a 17-pound, 1-ounce limit on the scales.

Fifth-place belonged to Fred “Boom Boom” Roumbanis, who brought a tournament limit in weighing 16 pounds, 12 ounces, and Cliff Pace rounded out the Super Six with 16 pounds, 11 ounces.

Kevin Short and John Murray ended the first day tied in Friday’s 50-angler “cut” spot with 9 pounds, 6 ounces – putting the cut line at around 21 pounds come Friday. Knowing that Thursday was the most favorable day to “get it done,” look for Friday’s fishing to bring some surprises, as a four-pounder will go a long, long way this week.

Chapman Puts Primary Plan in the Drawer
Sometimes when you fish by the seat of your pants, great things happen. Such is the case with Brent Chapman’s Day One performance. He explained that he’d found a crankbait bite during practice, which had produced a “few keepers,” midway through the first morning – and hoped to finish his limit in a flipping spot down lake.

To his surprise, the isolated bite he’d unearthed in practice had blossomed into a near-fury of three-pounders, making his primary cranking pattern a solid back up plan. “I didn’t have a very good practice at all,” Chapman said. “I wasn’t able to find anything very productive at all. I found one little spot that I thought I might be able to get a few flipping fish, but it turned out to just be incredible.”

Chapman was able to put over a dozen keepers in the boat on a Terminator jig throughout the day, showing signs that his area is replenishing. “I kept telling my partner that I hated to keep catching them, but it goes to show you how many fish are in there,” he revealed. “I feel like if I can dig a 12-pound bag out of there tomorrow, I feel like I’ll be in good shape.”

Brent suggested that perhaps his area turned on thanks to about six inches of additional water since Tuesday; however, it’s that unpredictability that Dardanelle has which creates a little concern. “That’s one scary thing about Dardanelle though,” he allowed. 

“We might come out here tomorrow morning and find that it’s fallen six inches, so you just never know.” 

For Friday, Chapman plans to spend all his time flipping with the goal of making a strong run through Sunday. “I’m a little apprehensive about this rain, but I’m also really excited to get back out there and have fun,” he said. 

“I’m really looking forward to being able to spend a full day in there tomorrow and just see what might turn up.” 

Aluminum Pays Off For Menendez
Thursday’s fog delay created additional problems for Mark Menedez beyond the three hours of lost fishing time. He’s enlisted an aluminum G3 with a 90-hp Yamaha to access the super-shallow backwaters he targeting, thus there was no “go faster” button to make up for lost time. 

“It was just hard to get around because I can’t go very far, very fast,” he said. “Once I was able to get into where I was going – after beating and banging my back there – it took a little while to get things going.”

Mark explained, however, that once he was able figured out what his fish were doing he was able to get bites with ease – then Lady Luck came calling. “I got really lucky when I caught my six-pounder,” he said.

“I flipped to a three-pounder that I saw on the bank, but my bait fell just a little short of the target. The six-pounder picked it up, and let me tell you, when things like that happen it’s just a good day.”

While the aluminum boat that Mark’s sporting this week has its place, Mark isn’t entertaining any illusions of making the switch from fiberglass. “I won’t be getting rid of my Skeeter anytime soon, but I’ve had a blast fishing out of that boat over the last few days,” he said. 

“It really has taken me back to my roots of fishing, and my G3 was the main factor in my success today because of where it allowed me to get, but whether I’ll use it tomorrow is going to be a game-time decision.” 

That decision will be based strictly on the weather. “I have two or three other places that I can get my big boat into in case the wind’s still blowing,” he said. “If we can get a reprieve on this east wind, I might go back to where I was today.”

Jones Called an Audible
The fog delay may not have wrecked a lot of game plans completely, but it surely banged most of them up pretty good – and Alton Jones wasn’t spared just because he’s won a Classic before. “I had to change my game plan, which was to go sight fishing all day,” he said. 

“These bed fish here are so skittish I didn’t think I could get five bites in the shortened day that we had, so I had to go to ‘plan b.’”

Jones’ “plan b” was a small area that he felt he could catch a limit from if he “kept his head down all day” wound up producing a “couple of limits” for in half that time. “I had an hour-and-a-half left, and I decided to go sight fishing,” he explained.

“I was just sure the best fish would have long since been picked over from other competitors.”

Just as he’d suspected, the first few beds Jones came across were bare – but the best fish he’d found in practice were still there. “I came to the three-and-a-half pounder from practice and saw her swim off, so I knew that she was still there,” he said. “

It took me about 20 minutes to catch her, so I went to the next one – a four-pounder – and caught her too.” 

With 60-degree water temperatures in the areas he’s fishing, Jones points to the weekend as the ultimate equalizer as temperatures promise to plummet. “Today I got more bites than I thought, but I think that’s because the water had come up,” he said. 

“The water temperatures won’t be affected much tomorrow, but Saturday and Sunday is going to be a different story.”

Herren Overran Himself in Practice
For Matt Herren, Dardanelle fishes a lot like his home waters. As such, during practice he didn’t focus so much on fishing, but he covered “a ton” of water instead. Maybe too much was his concern Wednesday night.

“I pretty much had to sit down last night and do a little soul searching to figure out what I was going to do,” he explained. “I had to take into account what was going on here there an everywhere and sort of piece it together.

Matt explained that he was as surprised as anyone at the 17 pounds he brought to the scales Thursday based on his practice. “I hadn’t spent any real time in the area I wound up fishing so I didn’t know the potential that it had,” he explained.

“I was pretty sure that it would be covered up with boats so I didn’t spend any real time in there – maybe 45 minutes. Low and behold, I never saw another boat today.”

The rising water, as much as anything, was the main factor in many anglers’ success Thursday Matt offered. “It’s been a grind all week with all the water that’s been sucked out of here,” he said. “As we were sitting there waiting during the fog delay, I started looking at the rocks on the bank and realized that (the water) was up.

“I thought of this one area that I had gotten bit in, but was just too shallow to really even move around. Luckily that hunch was right.”

The hunch that Matt referred to was that the fish he’d found were trying to spawn, and the additional water would draw them up to the bank. “Once I got dialed in on that little deal, everything started clicking,” he said.

“The thing that has me worried is the cooler temperatures, but the thing is that it’s going to be the same for everyone. I spent a lot of time today trying to understand what I was fishing, and I think I’ve been able to find a few more little deals that might help.”

Roumbanis Needs Quality
From practice, Fred Roumbanis knew that he was onto something special – so special, in fact, that the three-hour delay was easy to shake off. “I was a little stressed this morning because of the shortened day, but once the fog burned off I felt pretty good,” he said.

“I knew that my area would produce pretty quick, but I had no idea how quick they would fire. Two boats came in after me that were in the same flight, and probably didn’t even know that I already had fish in the boat – it was that fast.”

Sharing water can always be a difficult obstacle to overcome, but Fred pointed out that he’s confident that his bait selection will overcome the added pressure of his company.  “I’m throwing some signature stuff that no one else has,” he said. “Actually everything that I’m catching my fish on is a signature bait of some sort, which makes me feel pretty good.”

Fred explained that while he’s confident that he can catch a limit, he knows that he’s going to need that prized kicker in order to win. “I’m sure that I can catch five again tomorrow,” he said.

“Come Sunday, the guy who wins will be able to separate himself because of a couple of quality bites. I didn’t land my quality bite today, but I know that its there. I’ve just got to get them to the boat.”