Fishing News - 10/28/00

        From BASS

Shaw Grigsby shines at Lowe's World Championship in Kentucky

Alton Jones surges to lead the fishing competition

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Oct. 28, 2000 -- With the type of consistency that pays off big in Lowe's World Championship Fishing, Shaw Grigsby of Gainesville, Florida turned in superstar-caliber performances in both fishing and boating competitions on Saturday to grab the second-round overall lead with a total of 74 points.

In the morning hours, Grigsby (competing for Team EAS) flipped a four-inch Strike King Flippin' Tube (black neon) to shoreline cover in Guist Creek Lake for the bulk of his six-pound, five -ounce limit for a two-day total of 7-7 that boosted him into third place behind Brent Chapman (second) and the angling leader, Alton Jones.

"I was fortunate to squeak out a limit, catching my last fish about five minutes before coming in," remarked Grigsby about the generally tough fishing conditions on this 300-acre impoundment.

However, the colder, blustery conditions didn't slow the BASSMASTER television show host down on the Taylorsville Lake boating course where he turned in the fastest time today - 1.3.46 minutes - in his Mercury-powered Triton, nearly matching his first-round effort of 1.3.37.  

Surging to the head of the pack in the fishing competition was Alton Jones of Waco, Texas, a Skeeter/Yamaha team member who took advantage of low weights and few limits to pull himself up from ninth place to first with a respectable eight-pound, nine-ounce limit. Adding to a mere 15-ounce catch from day one, Jones' jig pattern along steep rocky banks - plying water depths from eight to 12 feet with a 1/4-ounce Riverside jig and chunk combination (black/blue) - delivered up a 9-8 total and a tenuous hold on first place.

With Kansas pro, Brent Chapman of Team Kumho Tires just five ounces behind and the 14 inch-minimum size limit at Taylorsville tomorrow, the standings could change dramatically. And, judging from Grigsby's comments, Taylorsville is the one lake where he has a definite pattern that produced well in practice. His fishing program today on Guist Creek Lake was admittedly very haphazard, one he jokingly described as "slop fishing". 

The prospects for leader changes in the boating competition also seem likely with Team Ford Trucks' Gary Klein moving up to second place on the strength of a 1.3.73 minute run in a Triton/Mercury rig that duplicated his first-round effort exactly.

Less consistent was Skeet Reese of Cotati, California who led the first-round with a blistering 1.1.96-minute performance in a Champion/Mercury package, but fell well short of that mark today with a bloated 1.11.98-minute run. Reese's fall to ninth place in the boating may only be a momentary thing since his time today swelled with not one, but two five-second course penalties.  In his go-for-it style (despite a pre-race interview where he said he would be more "conservative"), Reese touched two buoys in putting down yet another very quick time. In Lowe's W.C.F. boating competition, however, contestants are able to throw out their lowest score. As a result, Reese will continue to be considered one of the strong favorites in tomorrow's final show-down.

         B.A.S.S. Web site: http://www.bassmaster.com.

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