The region experienced sporadic heavy rain throughout the day Wednesday, but Gagliardi persevered and found a productive pattern. Two hundred pros and 200 co-anglers are competing for first-place awards of $100,000 and $20,000, respectively.
The basin’s water level is several feet higher as compared to this time last year when the FLW Tour first visited the Morgan City area. A water-level change of several feet may not make a significant difference in many fisheries, but on the flat swamplands comprising the Atchafalaya Basin, a slight increase in water level can flood thousands of additional acres allowing bass to disperse in newly flooded vegetation.
“It feels pretty good to be in this position right now,” said Gagliardi, who has fished the FLW Tour as a co-angler and pro since 1999. “I had a pretty rough tournament here last season and ended up 101st after placing 45th on opening day. I definitely don’t want a repeat of that performance this year.”
With a solid pattern at hand and no other boats in his productive area, it looks as though Gagliardi is well on his way to the second top-10 finish of his career, the first coming on Lake Okeechobee in 2002. He caught all of his bass, including a 5-pounder, on a 1/4-ounce, black and blue jig that he was flipping to sparse grass in a canal where he believes bass have congregated to spawn.
“All of the bass were either on a cypress tree or a laydown in areas where the grass was thin,” he said. “There is a slime coat over most of the water though, which makes it hard to fish.”
Rounding out the top five pros were Tom Monsoor or La Crosse, Wis. (five bass, 16 pounds, 6 ounces), Cody Bird of Granbury, Texas (five bass, 15 pounds, 3 ounces), 7 UP pro Shad Schenck of Waynetown, Ind. (five bass, 14 pounds, 10 ounces), and Fred Roumbanis of Auburn, Calif. (five bass, 14 pounds, 8 ounces).
Just 14 ounces separate the next five pros, so every ounce will count Thursday as anglers strive to make the top-10 cut.
Land O’Lakes angler Judy Israel of Clewiston, Fla., leads the Co-angler Division with four bass weighing 8 pounds, 12 ounces that she caught while fishing with pro Tony Defilippo of Lake Ann, Mich., who landed five bass weighing 12 pounds, 3 ounces to finish the day in 25th place.
Israel is the leading female money winner in FLW Tour history and the first woman to crack the top 10 in FLW Tour competition (ninth place, Jan. 29, 1999, Lake Okeechobee, Fla.). She caught her bass Wednesday by flipping a 1/4-ounce, black and blue Gambler craw.
Leon Williams of Fairdale, Ky. (three bass, 7 pounds, 13 ounces), Ken Murphy of Meridian, Miss. (three bass, 6 pounds, 15 ounces), Terry Chapman of Cornelius, N.C. (three bass, 6 pounds, 14 ounces), and Kevin Langill of Gastonia, N.C. (two bass, 6 pounds, 11 ounces) rounded out the top five co-anglers.
One pound, 4 ounces separate the next five co-anglers.
A total of 603 bass weighing 1,447 pounds, 4 ounces were caught Wednesday, and 100 percent of the fish were weighed in alive. Thirty-seven pros and 104 co-anglers turned in zeros, and just 37 limits were caught. Despite vastly different conditions, these numbers are similar to last year’s catch when 620 bass, including 43 limits, crossed the stage on opening day. Last year’s leading weight on opening day was 17 pounds, 2 ounces, just 1 ounce heavier than Gagliardi’s catch.
Mark Pack of Mineola, Texas, won the pro Snickers Big Bass award with an impressive 8-pound largemouth worth $750. Ron Clifton of Rainbow City, Ala., collected the co-angler Snickers Big Bass award of $500 with a 5-pound, 11-ounce bass.
The four-day tournament is the second of seven FLW Tour events that culminate with the $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship and Outdoor Show in Birmingham, Ala., Aug. 11-14, where the winning pro earns the sport’s largest cash award, $500,000, and fishing fans are treated to hundreds of displays featuring special offers on everything from crankbaits to bass boats.
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