AnglersChannel

Gagliardi Hoping To Move Up On Lake Champlain In Final Regular Season Flw Tournament

Gagliardi finished second in the 2009 FLW Tour Major on the large natural, freshwater lake bordered by New York, Vermont and the Canadian Province of Quebec, and was second again in the FLW Series Eastern Division tournament in 2010.

The 2009 Tour event was held in early July and the 2010 Series event was held in late August, but Gagliardi anticipates the fish will be a little further along in their normal seasonal patterns this year because of the mild weather in that region in winter and spring.

“The fish started spawning a little bit sooner so there might not be that many fish left on the beds. But, I am sure there will still be some spawners,” said the Prosperity, S.C., pro who was the FLW Tour's Angler of the Year in 2006. “When we were there in July before I caught a few on the beds and also up shallow fishing a jerkbait. I also caught some on a swim bait and topwater.”

While he will rely on what has produced for him in the past, he said he will check out some other tactics.

“I may throw a drop shot a little bit, drag a Carolina rig some and a football jig – whatever seems to be working shallow.”

Gagliardi said he will start out practice next week concentrating on smallmouth bass and will check out his confidence areas where he has caught fish before.

“I'll probably practice in that area the first day and then depending on how that goes I may actually spend a day or so fishing for largemouth bass which I don't usually do on Lake Champlain.”

However, he noted that it seems like he spends a lot of time doing different things, but usually ends up fishing the same places that have produced for him before.

“I will fish some areas I have not fished before and if I don't find anything I'll fall back on those areas where I fished in the past and did pretty well. It's a pretty consistent lake. They use the same places on the lake and you can fish the same pattern the next year. It's more predictable than most places we go to.”

Gagliardi is coming off his worst season in more than 10 years, having finished 88^th in the points in 2011. But so far this season he is back in a familiar groove among the leaders on the Tour, currently ranked 12^th in the AOY standings heading into the final tournament of the year on Lake Champlain, thanks to two top 10 finishes – 5^th at Lake Hartwell March 8 and 6^th at Table Rock March 29.

“This season is going pretty good considering last year which was not up to my standards,” Gagliardi said, adding that he is looking forward to competing again this year on Georgia's Lake Lanier in the Forrest Wood Cup in hopes of ridding himself of the bad taste left from finishing far down in the pack in last year's championship on the same lake.

“I had a really good pre-practice there last year. It was not great, but I was catching fish and then in the tournament I was not getting bites,” he said. “I like fishing that time of year (early August) on lakes like that so I am looking forward to going back.”

“Last year it was just one of those tournaments where I happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and did not get the bites I needed.”

FLW Tour Major

Jun 28 – Jul 1, 2012

Lake Champlain

Dock Street Landing

www.flwoutdoors.com

by AnglersChannel

Digh Hoping Bream Bed Bite Pays Off Saturday In N.c. Bfl On High Rock Lake

For that reason, plus the cost of gas which becomes a factor, Digh has not pre-practiced on the lake for the North Carolina BFL tournament on the lake this Saturday.

“I'll go Friday and practice and try to put something together and then just go fishing on Saturday,” said Digh who trails Matt Lowe by three points and leader David Pless by 11 points with only Saturday's tournament left before the two-day super tournament on High Rock in September.

“It's almost 100 miles up there and back from my home, and with gas prices as high as they are it is almost not affordable to go back and forth. If you don't win you don't make a whole lot,” he said.

As for the points race, Digh admits he is somewhat between a rock and a hard place, with the two anglers ahead of him pretty hard to beat and some strong anglers right behind him. But he has had a solid year so far, finishing 13^th on Lake Norman March 3, then 24^th at Kerr Lake March 31 before rebounding with a 3^rd place finish on Lake Wylie May 5.

“It's going to be a struggle,” he said. “It's going to take a big bag of fish. It's been taking big bags over there all summer, even in the early spring. It's been taking 19-20 pounds in tournaments.”

And, he noted, High Rock is kind of unusual this year.

“They had a fish kill over there last year. It seemed to hurt the fishing some for the quantity of fish, but not the quality. There are some really good quality fish coming out of that lake.”

Although the weather has begun to heat up, Digh said he believes Saturday's tournament will be won shallow.

“It's about time for them to get offshore, and that could happen this weekend, but the deep fishing is usually better after the Fourth of July. We've just had a couple of hot days, but it's been a really cool spring so I don't look for them to be out there yet.”

Digh said he believes the best bet will be to fish shallow with bream beds playing a major factor.

“I think it will be won flipping something small like a Beaver Bait or a Brush Hog, possibly a jig. You can do really well there this time of year swimming a jig. There are a lot of mayflies hatching out and the bream will be up on the banks, so I think there will be a topwater and a jig bite fishing around the bream beds. That is what I am hoping for.”

Walmart Bass Fishing League - North Carolina Division

Sat, Jun 23, 2012

High Rock Lake

Tamarac Marina

www.flwoutdoors.com

by AnglersChannel

Better Decision Making Boosts Robinson Into Top 10 In Elite Aoy Standings

“I got into bass fishing probably in the seventh grade. A couple of my buddies from school knew a lot about it because their dads got them into it, so we started hanging out and fishing together,” said the Bassmaster Elite Series Angler from Lyman, S.C.

“I saved up my money and bought an old ski boat with a walk-through windshield. I used an Igloo cooler as a live well and built a deck on the front and bought a trolling motor. My buddies and I would put all the lakes around in a hat and pull one out and that's where we'd go fishing on a Saturday. We'd go and stay on the lake from daylight to dark.”

By the time he was a sophomore or junior in high school Robinson had already tasted tournament fishing and found he really liked the competitive aspect of the sport.

“It lit a fire under my feet,” he said. He joined a local club and began fishing tournaments.

Seven years ago he fished the Bassmaster Southern Opens and did well enough to qualify for the Elite Series and he's fished the Elites for the past six years, finally qualifying this past year for the Bassmaster Classic held Feb. 24-26 on the Red River at Shreveport-Bossier City, La. He finished a respectable 29th in his first BASS championship.

So far the 2012 season is his best ever in Elite Series Competition. He started off by finishing 20th on the St. Johns River in Florida in mid-March, then 34th on Lake Okeechobee in late March. His record dipped to 64th on Bull Shoals Lake in April, but he bounced back with a 14th place finish on Douglas Lake in Tennessee in May. Robinson capped his season so far with a third place finish last week on Toledo Bend, which moved him into 9th place in the Angler of the Year points race. Just 52 points behind AOY leader Brent Chapman.

“I think the reason I am doing so much better this year is that I have built up a lot of confidence year after year. And when your confidence starts to build, you make better decisions on the water. The final result is better finishes all around, so I'd say my success is mainly due to better decision making,” he said.

Although he has never fished the Mississippi River near Lacrosse, Wis., where the Elite Series heads next weekend, Robinson figures he has as good a chance as anybody in the field since no Bassmaster events have been held in the area for years.

“I'm always excited about going to a new place where BASS has not been for a while,” he said. “Nobody has any good contacts built up so it kind of levels the playing field.”

Although the fishery is far north of most traditional BASS tournament sites, Robinson said from what he has been able to learn it is a really good bass fishery.

“The weights are up pretty high in tournaments held in that part of the Mississippi River,” he said. The only fly in the ointment is the recent heavy rains in the area that has brought the river up several feet, but Robinson said by tournament time he thinks the water level will be back down to a good fishable level.

“It's going to be typical river fishing and that plays into my style of fishing,” he said. “That section of the river has a huge amount of backwaters to fish, with a lot of submergent vegetation, a lot of lily pads and a lot of wood, so there is a lot of cover for fish to live in.”

With all that flat water off the main river channel, he said, the anglers can spread out and not have to fish on top of each other.

“I consider myself a shallow water fisherman and a jig is probably my best lure, so I think that technique suits the river,” he said.

Bassmaster Elite Series

Jun 21-24, 2012

Mississippi River near LaCrosse, WI

Copeland Park

www.bassmaster.com

by AnglersChannel

Long Looking For Hungry Fish On Ledges In Flw Tour Major On Kentucky Lake

That is the problem FLW pro Brent Long of Cornelius, N.C., found this week on Kentucky Lake while practicing for the FLW Tour Major this Thursday through Saturday.

“The fish out on the ledges seem to be biting later in the day for me. When I am catching them is after tournament hours so the ones I've found so far won't do me any good,” he said. “So, I am mixing it up, fishing some shallow and some out deep and hoping for the best.”

Long said he had heard some guys have found concentrations of bass out deep and be believes the tournament will be won out on the ledges.

“There are schools of fish out there – I just have not found them yet,” said Long who is a strong shallow water power fishing angler. “I like fishing shallow dirty water, flipping and pitching jigs, but so far I am catching a few shallow and a few out deep on the ledges.”

Long said the lake is about a foot lower than normal summer pool, but it has come up a little as a result of recent rains, but that does not seem to have had much effect on the fish.

“I've always done good on Kentucky Lake and it is one of my favorite lakes to fish,” he said. “I just don't feel as comfortable after two days of practice as I normally am here.”

He has fished several major tournaments on the lake in the past and done well. In his first FLW major on Kentucky Lake last June he finished 31^st and took home a check for $9,930.

This is his fifth year fishing the FLW Majors and he has two tournament wins with total FLW earnings of $365,251. His wins came in June 2010 on Lake Guntersville and this past April on Table Rock in Missouri.

He has 11 top 10 places in FLW competitions and he earned a check in one other FLW Major this year, finishing in 50^th place on the Potomac River a month ago. So far, he has pocketed $134,810 in 2012.

His career really took off in 2010 when he qualified for his second Bassmaster Classic through the Bassmaster Federation, made the BFL All American – and won that first FLW Tour event on Lake Guntersville.

Now Long pretty much confines his tournament fishing to the FLW Majors.

“I have twin stepdaughters who will be 14 years old in about two weeks and they play a lot of sports, so I spend a lot of time with them when I am home,” said Long who is a general contractor.

Although the remodeling side of his business is doing well, Long is not building many houses in this down economy, so he'd love to earn a good check on Kentucky Lake this week – if he can just find a way to get those fish on the deep ledges to bite at the right time.

FLW Tour Major

Jun 7-10, 2012

Kentucky-Barkley Lakes

Kentucky Dam Marina

www.flwoutdoors.com

by AnglersChannel

June 2 Lake Wateree Bfl

Seventy-one anglers fished the June 2 FLW BFL at Lake Wateree, and local boy Steve Phillips came out on top of them all. The Lugoff native brought a 5-fish limit to the scales that weighed 17-01, easily giving him the win. Phillips won over $3000 for his efforts. Phillips, who is known on Lake Wateree as a big fan of Rapala's DD-22, used that very lure to win the tournament.

Scott Peavy, also of Lugoff, finished a distant 2nd place, weighing in 13-13 and taking home over $1500. Peavy squeaked by Greensboro, NC angler Mark Inman, who brought 13-07 pounds of fish to the weigh-in.

Rick McLean of Dalzell finished in 4th place with a limit that weighed 12-14 and earned him $707. Sumter angler Roby Kelley caught 12-08, taking 5th place and winning $606.

Two anglers, Derrick Compton of Columbus, NC and Carl Smith of Lugoff, finished in the money with only 3 fish. Compton's trio weighed 11-08 and put him in 7th place. Smith's 3 chunks weighed 9-15, good for 13th place.

While Phillips won the angler division in dominating fashion, DJ McEachern dominated the co-angler division, winning by almost 4 full pounds and earning over $1500. McEachern, who fished the Carolina Angler's Team Trail event on Lake Wateree the previous week, said he spent most of that day pitching docks but failing to get anything going until he abandoned that strategey for throwing a shaky-head rig. The change helped him and his teammate to a top 20 finish in the CATT event, and McEachern came to this tournament ready to throw shaky-heads all day. "I wouldn't have won today if I had not fished the CATT tournament last week," McEachern said.

McEachern shows off his winning stringer

Vernie Haltiwanger of Lexington took 2nd place with 9-05, winning $757. He was followed by Jerry Lineberger of Lincolnton, NC who bagged 4 fish weighing 8-14.

The tournament's biggest fish came from co-angler Bobby Littlejohn of Spartanburg. Littlejohn caught the fish in weeds on a 12-inch plastic worm and finished in 2nd place with only 2 fish, the anchor being a 6-02.

Littlejohn with the big bass of the day.

The SC Division of the BFL will make its next stop at Clarks Hill in the fall.

by AnglersChannel

Herlong Would Love To See The Sun Shine Bright For Saturday's Sc Bfl On Lake Wateree

A good, sunny and hot day would be the ticket for the way Herlong wants to fish in the Walmart Bass Fishing League South Carolina Division tournament on Lake Wateree Saturday.

“Typically, after the spawn, the hotter the weather the better the fish bite. A good, hot, sunny – or even partly cloudy – day they will try to get in the shade somewhere, under docks or whatever. That just makes it easier to find the fish for someone who likes to fish shallow,” said Herlong.

“Sunshine puts them in the shade and when they find shade I can find shade,” said the Prosperity, S.C., angler who is a co-leader in the S.C. Division points race with Hank Cherry of Maiden, N.C. “It puts them in the brush, under docks, and that that makes it easier to pinpoint them. When it is a cloudy day they sort of roam around, they don't get under the docks or relate to structure as well.”

That wisdom holds true for the shallow fish, said Herlong who has been a force in local South Carolina tournaments for decades.

“It may not affect the deep fish as bad, but I normally don't fish deep,” he said.

Cherry and Herlong are ranked 1 and 2, in a tie for the points lead in the South Carolina Division with 572 points each. Cherry has won $3,723 this year so far to Herlong's $1,653.

They have similar records in the three tournaments held to date. Cherry finished second in the Lake Murray tournament Feb. 25 while Herlong, who lives near the lake, finished 18^th. On March 17 Cherry finished 6^th and Herlong 7^th on Lake Wylie. Then at Santee Cooper April 14 Herlong was 6th while Cherry finished 23rd.

Herlong has practiced on Lake Wateree several times over the last week or two with mixed success. His best day came last week when he boated a 5-pounder, two 4-pounders and a 3-pounder.

“I am going Friday to see what is happening. It is supposed to be cloudy and that is a minus for me, but I hope the clouds are gone and the sun is shining on Saturday,” said Herlong who predicted it will take about 18 pounds to win Saturday's BFL on Wateree.

“If somebody gets on some good deep fish it might take more than that,” he added.

As for the weather, he has plenty of experience over the years dealing with whatever Mother Nature throws at him in a tournament, so he is prepared to adjust.

“You can't control the weather. It's going to do what it wants so you just have to try to fish around it,” he said.

Walmart Bass Fishing League (BFL) - South Carolina Division

Sat, Jun 2, 2012

Lake Wateree

Clearwater Cove Marina

www.flwoutdoors.com

by AnglersChannel

Couch Hoping Fish Turn On In Time For Berry's Team Tournament Trail Classic

The problem is, he said, although he caught several nice bags of fish in tournaments off the area last year it has not produced all year long this tournament season.

“It's been like a dead sea so far this year,” said the Buckhead, Ga., angler, who has been a force in local tournaments for decades.

“Last week they started biting there a little bit,” said Couch. “This morning I got just one bite in one narrow little strip there, but they are still dead in the best stretch.”

Couch said he plans to keep checking the area until the tournament.

“I know the fish are going to be there and they have to start biting sometime. They can't be dead forever,” he said. “I know it is going to get better. I just hope it gets better by next week.”

He said it will probably take 31 to 33 pounds to win the championship which will start Saturday, June 2, on Lake Oconee and finish Sunday, June 3, on Lake Sinclair.

“My opinion right now is that the biggest sack of fish will come from Oconee and the smaller sack will come from Sinclair,” he said. “Somebody who does pretty good on both lakes will probably win it.”

Couch said he believes most of the fish will be caught shallow, although there are some fish being caught deep on both lakes.

“I think the ones who do best will catch a few fish on topwater early and the spend the rest of the day flipping docks or dragging points with a Carolina rig.”

Couch teamed with George Goodman of Monticello, Ga., to win the Berry's Team Trail points championship in 2011. They were leading the 2012 points going into the final tournament last weekend on Lake Oconee, but slipped to second place when they weighed in 14 pounds and Matt Henry and Justin Kimmel weighed in a 20-plus pound limit to fish to claim the championship.

He fished a number of FLW Outdoors tournaments, winning more than $441,000, from the mid-90s until a few years ago when he went back to fishing local tournaments only.

“Sponsorship money ran slim when times got hard in this economy and I could not afford to fish without it,” he said.

The Berry’s Tournament Trail is somewhat unique in that all eight of the tournaments, plus the season-ending classic, are held on Oconee and Sinclair. Four regular season tournaments are held on Oconee and four are held on Sinclair, with anglers having to fish at least five tournaments to qualify for the classic, which means they have to fish both lakes at least once.

Berry's Team Tournament Trail Classic

Jun 2-3, 2012

Lake Oconee (Sugar Creek Marina)

Lake Sinclair (Little River Park)

www.berrysbass.com

Phone: 770-787-6179

by AnglersChannel

St. Jude Bass Classic Poised To Break Single-Year Fund-Raising Total For Hospital

The only fly in the ointment, said tournament director Rick Lesley, is low water levels in the 98,000-acre Corps of Engineers reservoir an hour south of Memphis, Tenn.

“That's got everybody wondering where they are going to fish. But there have been some small tournaments down there in the last few weeks where some 6- and 7-pound fish were caught, so the fish are still there. The low water just makes it a little tougher on everybody.”

For that reason, Lesley said, the tournament probably will be won fishing deep.

“I imagine a lot of people will be fishing points and ledges. It's a flood control reservoir and when they flooded it they blew up some old silos so there will be some deep water structure fishing going on.”

And, while that may limit some fishermen it is not a game-breaker, Lesley said.

“We had the same situation a couple of years ago and the winning team still caught over 25 pounds with a five-fish limit. Their fish came off a deep water island.”

Although Lesley has been involved with the St. Jude Bass Classic for about 20 years, this is his first time as tournament director.

“It is quite an honor,” he said. “You are raising money for the children of St. Jude's. This is probably the longest-running charity tournament there is and over the past 40 years we have raised more than $2 and a half million.”

The best year of the tournament it brought in $135,000 for the children's hospital, but Lesley said this year will exceed that.

“With a field of 250-plus we are hoping to top $150.000 this year. We are trying to expand the tournament to get more people involved. We want to include the whole family, not just Dad out there fishing,” he said.

With that goal in mind, tournament organizers have brought in some heavy hitters. Bass tournament legend and television show host Bill Dance will be a special guest at the awards ceremony. Bass pro Mark Rose, who has won more than $1.5 million in Bassmaster and FLW events, will emcee the weigh-in and awards. And Troy Landry, who appears on the History Channel's “Swamp People” show, will participate in the pre-tournament registration event on Saturday.

But the fishermen are the stars of the tournament, with teams coming from more than half a dozen states, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky and Missouri.

“We have probably 30 guys who travel up here from Louisiana every year. They come up and spend the whole week and fish the tournament. They have been doing that for probably the last 15 years,” Lesley said.

The St. Jude Bass Classic, which was started in 1971 by a group of volunteers from the Memphis Bass Club, is held each Memorial Day weekend to raise funds for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which this year is celebrating 50 years of finding cures and saving children.

First place in the tournament takes a hefty prize home: $1,500 Cash and two War Eagle boats, two outboard motors and two trailers. There will also be a drawing from the entered anglers and the winner will take home a new Nissan Frontier pickup truck and a War Eagle boat, Lesley said.

“There is still time to register,” he said. “Call me or go to the website and register. We will also have on-site registration the morning of the tournament.”

40th Annual St. Jude Bass Classic

Sun, May 27, 2012

Sardis Lake

Engineer Point Public Use Area

Call Rick Lesley at (901) 412-7683

www.stjude.org/bassclassic

by AnglersChannel