Chick good to Ike
Category: Tournament
Jun 11th, 2014 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Jun 11th, 2014 at 12:00 AM
Groups of pros fishing the deep ledges pretty much sums up what you would’ve witness on the water today at BASSfest at Chickamauga Lake out of Dayton, TN. Separating himself from the pack after Day 1 is former Bassmaster Classic champ and Rapala pro Mike Iaconelli.
Iaconelli brought in 25 pounds, 12 ounces in what turned into a slugfest today. All of the Top 10 anglers brought in limits weighing more than 20 pounds.
In second is the always dangerous Nitro pro Edwin Evers with (24-3).
Rounding out the Top 5 are in third Mercury pro Tommy Biffle (24-1). In fourth is Yamaha pro Takahiro Omori (22-15). Holding down fifth is Plano pro Kevin VanDam with (22-9).
Little comeback for Ike.
“I feel good today,” said Iaconelli. “I’ve been making a little comeback since the slow start at the beginning of the year.
“It is amazing how many bass are in this lake. Big bass and big schools. The key is firing them up. I’m fortunate, I fired a school up for about an hour today. It’s feast or famine out there.”
Slow start for Evers.
“It ended up being a lot of fun today,” said Evers. “It was nerve racking earlier. It took a long time this morning before I had my first bite. The water started rolling and the fish started biting.”
Bass in grass for Biffle.
“I’m catching them around the grass,” said Biffle. “Catching them in the grass and just outside of the grass. I’m not getting a lot of bites, but I’m getting good bites.
“Everybody is sharing water. You try a different technique or a different bait and try to get bigger bites. We’ll see if it holds up over the next few days.”
Omori didn’t struggle today.
“I normally struggle on this type of fishery,” said Omori. “They showed up for me today. Good quality fish. I hope I can keep catching them.”
VanDam digs the Tennessee River reservoirs.
“The Tennessee River system is one of my favorites,” said VanDam. “The grass has made a difference here. The lake is so fertile. It is kind of tough right now. You need to find the bigger fish. You need to get them for four days. Chickamauga fishes small this time of the year.”
Bassmaster announced that VanDam surpassed the 10,000-pound total for his career weight with the organization.