As The BASS ZONE’s “On the Water” coverage conveyed during the midday broadcast, there seemed to be few anglers just running the bank. Instead, most anglers would focus on a particular stretch of bank, or one key spot, drop their Power Poles and fish for a while. After fishing the spot for an abbreviated period, they would pick up and move.

In most cases today, the fishing action was akin to the “run and gun”…but it was for bedding bass instead.

The only hiccup the anglers we spoke with during the day reported was that the overnight temperatures pushed the larger females off the banks. Thus, if you had drawn a later flight you had a key bonus as primetime was sure to occur later in the afternoon.

When the Elites last visited Smith Mountain in 2007, the fish had largely settled into an early summer pattern where deepwater tactics and the home-field advantage where huge factors in then-rookie Casey Ashley’s trip to the winner’s circle. 

This week, however, the sight fishermen seemingly have the advantage - although it’s impossible to discount the pre-spawn bite from coming to bear at some point this week. Case in point, is how the top two slots on the Day One leader board shook out.

Kelly “The Osprey” Jordon, who may have the maddest sight-fishing skills on tour, brought a limit to the scales weighing 20 pounds, 9 ounces to start the week, but Dean Rojas, who’s not necessarily known for his bed-fishing prowess, ended the first day in second place with an impressive 18-pound, 7-ounce stringer of bass.

Matthew Sphar was in third after bringing in five bass weighing 17 pounds and 13 ounces, while Matt Herren settled into the fourth-place slot with 17 pounds, 11 ounces.

Three and a half pounds back from the lead in fifth was Derek Remitz with 16 pounds, 15 ounces, and Jeff Reynolds rounded out the Super Six with a tournament limit weighing 16 pounds and 7 ounces. 

Jordon isn’t Looking at Everything
Kelly Jordon has the well-earned nickname, “The Osprey” as a result of his bed-fishing prowess. He admitted to seeing a 30-pound limit on the beds, but it wasn’t today. “Monday was just crazy,” he allowed. “The colder nights have the big ones pushed off the bank, but they’re still out there.”

“Water fluctuation during the week may have hurt,” Kelly explained, “But the biggest thing was the chilly nights the last two days have brought. I think these fish are used to (the water fluctuating. I saw a lot of empty beds today that had fish on them earlier in the week.”

Kelly isn’t looking at everything he’s catching and he wouldn’t divulge anything about his secondary pattern; however, he did allow that the giants from earlier in the week aren’t visible – but they’re close at hand. 

“I’ve been seeing them all week, so they’re nearby,” he said. “There should be some moving in tomorrow, and I hope I’m wrong, but I bet that the big move won’t be until Saturday.”

As the tournament wears on, Kelly commented that boat traffic might hurt the sight bite – but he’s not concerned. “Who really knows,” he questioned. “If it stirs the water up a little bit, that will be okay. It kind of makes them harder for everyone else to see, and I kind of like that.”

Rojas is Looking, and Looking
Dean Rojas is better known as a frog fisherman, but he can sight fish alongside the best in the business. With only six keeper bites all day, he spent the bulk of his time on the water looking – which could be problematic for anyone else hoping to have a shot a winning this week. 

“I had everything by 9:00 this morning,” he said. “All my fish were ready to go, so the early boat draw was a definite plus today.”

The key, Rojas explained, was in finding solitude on the water. “I’m not fishing around where a lot of the guys are, so not having a lot of company helped me,” he said. “There aren’t a lot of (big fish) up there, so if there would have been anyone else that found them I would’ve had to scramble.”

While some in the field commented that the cold nights drove their fish off the bank, Dean commented that it had no effect on his beds. “Every single one of them were locked on just like they were in practice.”

“I just tried to find areas that there weren’t a lot of guys looking at, which I believe actually hurt the bed fish more than the weather – all the boat traffic.”

Dean doesn’t have a definite starting spot, but he is confident that he’s on the winning program. “I’ll have another pretty decent limit tomorrow,” he said. “If everything goes well, and if the nights continue to get warmer, they’re in position for the weekend to just be incredible.”

Sphar Started Slow
Matt Sphar knows what it takes to perform well at Smith Mountain. In three tournaments at the Virginia impoundment, his finishes have faired significantly better with each return trip. The morning of his fourth trip started very slowly, he revealed. 

“It started out pretty bad because all of the fish that I intended to catch early weren’t anywhere to be found,” he said. “I pretty much just had to start fishing.”

The slight cold front overnight may have hurt his primary beds. “I tried to figure out where they would have moved off to as a result of the cold night,” Sphar explained. “I pretty much forgot about trying to look at them and just fished.”

Matt pointed out that he did go back to his early-morning beds, and found that they’d reloaded. “There were a couple of big ones sitting there, but I couldn’t get them to bite,”
he said. “Hopefully they’re still there in the morning.”

Sphar pointed out that while he will revisit some of his beds from practice, he’s not locked on bed fishing as being the only option. “I’m just going to go grind it out and hope for some big bites,” he said. “I lost a couple of good bites today, so I know that I’m around them. I really have to just keep an open mind. I feel like I’m going to have to fish new water every day to have a chance this week.”

Herren Out of Fish…For Now
Though Matt Herren is an Elite Series rookie, he’s cut his chops through the FLW Tour and Series. The Rookie of the Year points leader confessed that in order to be in contention on the opening day he pounded his primary spots. 

“I’m pretty much out of fish,” he said. “There’s a lot of males swimming around, but all of them together wouldn’t be much (weight).”

While he may be out of sizable keepers, Herren explained that he has an alternate plan that will produce while waiting for other females to migrate to the shallows. “I can catch them in the mornings on a swimbait,” he allowed. “I have to cover a lot of water to do it, but at the same time I’m looking for fish. 

Herren explained that it was more the overnight chill that narrowed his sight fishing program. “They fluctuated the water a little bit this week, and I think that’s got them sort of squirrelly,” he opined. “Honestly, I think (the bed-fishing) was better on Monday that it was today.”

While Thursday was less than he’d hoped for, Herren pointed out that the weekend is going to be terrific. “I’m hoping that with the warmer night there’ll be some more that move up,” he said. “If nothing else, I’m just going to go out and go fishing tomorrow and hope for the best.”

Remitz Back on Track
After a phenomenal rookie season that saw him win his first Elite Series event ever, Derek Remitz hasn’t yet returned to the ’07 form that earned him Rookie of the Year honors. This week, he’s poised to get back to his normal stature. 

“I finally decided to catch them, so things are back to normal,” he exclaimed. “I didn’t have to look at them at, although I did spend until 11:00 looking.”

At 11:01, Remitz explained that he didn’t have a keeper in the live well so he simply folded up his sight-fishing shop and went down the bank instead. “I caught everything I weighed in an hour,” he said. “I just went down a stretch of bank and they were firing.”

Due to equipment problems earlier in the week, Remitz was forced to ride with fellow pros Brad Hallman and Terry Scroggins to finish out his practice period. What he saw helped him define what he didn’t want to do come derby day. “Bed fishing just isn’t my cup of tea,” he relayed.

“Fortunately I found some stuff that looked right, but just needed some wind blowing on it. The wind blew a little today, so everything worked out.”

Derek spent some time looking after he secured his limit, but quipped that wind is going to be required to keep the momentum. “I was able to find a few more areas like I fished today, so hopefully I can duplicate (the pattern) tomorrow,” he said. “I would at least like to have 12 or 13 pounds, but I really need a little wind.”

DAY ONE STANDINGS