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BASS Communications / Seigo Saito |
An accident that took place on the first day of the Genuity River Rumble could have marred this event and its memory for several years.
As it turned out, an unfortunate, almost freakish accident revealed the true nature of some of the anglers on the Bassmaster Elite Series.
The accident occurred on Day One of the River Rumble when the Marshal for Elite angler Derek Remitz, Jerry Van Sickle of Oelwein, Iowa, was thrown from the boat. Remitz was following a line of anglers into one of the backwater lakes in Pool 18 on the Mississippi River. Complete Story.... |
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Pair Of 4-Pounders Push Howell To Top On Day 1 |
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| BASS Comunnications / Seogo Saito |
There aren't many secrets among the three anglers who sat atop the standings after day 1 of the Mississippi River Bassmaster Elite Series in Iowa. They caught all of their fish within sight of each other.
Randy Howell (16-04), Takahiro Omori (14-10) and Matt Herren (14-09) were among about two dozen competitors who shared the same backwater area in Pool 19 (the launch pool). Their bags were at least a pound and a half bigger than anybody else in the 98-angler field. Read More |
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Howell grinds out lead on Mighty Mississippi |
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| BASS Comunnications / Seigo Saito |
FORT MADISON, Iowa — It has never been more apparent that the Bassmaster Elite Series is a game of adjustments than it was Thursday at the Genuity River Rumble.
Spoiled by the big-bass factories of Lake Guntersville and Kentucky Lake in the previous two tournaments, Elite anglers were hit with a dose of reality Thursday on the Mississippi River as many were forced to dig deep in their tackle boxes to grind out a limit. And many were unable to manage a limit on Day One.
Nonetheless, the mighty Mississippi holds a good population of bass, and those who made the right choices were able to capitalize. Turning around a practice that was alarmingly unproductive, Randy Howell laid claim to the lead with a 16-pound, 9-ounce limit, enough for an advantage of nearly 2 pounds over Takahiro Omori (14-9) of Emory, Texas. Read More |
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Randy Howell learned his lesson about laying off his fish on Day One the hard way, as a multitude of 20-pound bag crossed the Elite Series scales.
"I caught 21 pounds yesterday and I thought that was pretty good, but it wasn't," Howell said. "I was throwing back 4-pounders and they weren't getting any bigger, so I left two hours early. I live pretty close to the lake, but I never realized how good it actually is."
That Day One effort left him towards the middle of the pack, so he was determined to stick with his spot all day long on Friday. His plan worked to the tune of 26 pounds, 13 ounces and he jumped up to the top 20.
"I didn't leave the spot like I did yesterday," Howell said. "I thought I might have to fish a lot of spots today, but I got in one place and kept catching them so I stuck with it all day." Complete Story |
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5th: Howell Connected Late In Current |
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Howell spent nearly his whole day fishing the dam-crowd madness. He eventually left with about 12 pounds in his box and began to battle the winds back toward launch. As he rounded a bluff he saw the current "ripping" by and decided to crank a practice spot where he'd connected with quality smallmouths.
"I pulled up there and caught a 3 3/4-pound smallmouth," he said. "Then something happened that was a real blessing. I fished the area for 10 or 15 more minutes, left, and came back to it a little later. When I pulled back up I caught a 3 3/4-pound largemouth, a 3-pound largemouth and a 2 3/4-pound largemouth." Read More |
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(Read by Max McLean. Provided by The Listener's Audio Bible.)
