Chris Bowes, the B.A.S.S. senior tournament manager, has seen thousands of anglers cross the weigh-in stage in Bass Pro Shops Open events. He’s been working the Bassmaster Opens since 2005. Bowes nearly experienced a new personal record at Lake Norman Thursday.
With 203 boats in the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Eastern Open, there was a total of 406 pro and co-anglers, and 385 of them caught at least one bass. And each angler with at least one bass came to the scales. The weigh-in lasted 3 hours, 25 minutes.
“My record is 389 at (Florida’s) Lake Okeechobee one year,” Bowes said. “This one was close.”
Between the pros, with 5-bass limits, and the co-anglers, with 3-bass limits, 1,367 bass were put on the scales Thursday. Lake Norman is holding true to form. At the anglers’ meeting Wednesday, David Williams of Newton, N.C., predicted it would take about 12 pounds a day to make the Top 12 cut for Saturday’s final. He was sticking with that prediction after Day 1.
“A pound could make the difference between 20 and 30 places,” said Williams before the tournament started. “There’s going to be a lot of 8-, 9-, 10-pound bags. You’ve got to get one good bite to get above that 10-pound mark. That’s the breaking point.”
Williams, who recently won the FLW Tour event at Alabama’s Smith Lake, topped the breaking point with an 11 ½-pound limit that put him in a tie for 25th place.
“I’m right about where I need to be,” said Williams Thursday. “If I can upgrade just a little, I’ll be in good shape to make the 12 cut.”
Indeed, in 12th place on Day 1 was Cole Blythe of Charlotte, N.C., with 12-6. Double that number and you have the likely Top 12 cut weight after Day 2, which is right at Williams’ predicted 24 pounds.
Consistency is extremely rare on Lake Norman. The 14-inch-plus spotted bass are plentiful, but it’s those “big bites” that make the difference in the standings.
“Four-pounders are like gold,” Williams said.
A few big bites, like third-place James Moynagh’s 6-pound, 4-ounce largemouth, are what determined the leaders on Day 1. First-place Patrick Walters had a 5-7 largemouth in his bag of 15-12. Second-place Cody Pike had a 4-pounder in his bag of 15-6.
“That’s going to happen,” said Shane Lineberger of Lincolnton, N.C., an accomplished Lake Norman pro, who finished in 99th place with 8-10. “Somebody is going to catch a big bag the first day, and they’re going to catch 9 or 10 pounds the second day. That’s the nature of this place. Very rarely do you see anybody catch back-to-back-to-back big bags. I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
As for Williams’ prediction that one pound could make the difference in 20 to 30 places, that’s exactly what happened. Jon Englund of Farwell, Minn., is in 54th place with 9-15; Brian Latimer of Belton, S.C., and Freddy Palmer of Estill Springs, Tenn., are tied for 85th place with 9-0. There’s a cluster at 8 pounds as well. Derek Hudnall of Baton Rouge, La., and Corey Neece of Bristol, Tenn., tied for 87th at 8-15; Steven Priest of New Lexington, Ohio, and Scott Siller of Milwaukee, Wis., are tied for 119th at 8-0.
One big bass makes all the difference at Lake Norman, where 4-pounders are like gold.