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Day one of the 2019 Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods started off with high hopes and dreams of a great first day. It also started off with the ribbon cutting for the 2019 Classic Expo. The fans were not to be disappointed. As we watched live as the anglers faced the changing conditions on the river system, some of us were glued to the coverage, while others tried their best to take in everything that B.A.S.S. had to over us the fans.
Cliff Pirch set the stage early by weighing in the first double digit bag and an impressive 16 pounds 11 ounces. Roy Hawk came in and knocked Cliff into second with and equally impressive bag limit of 17 pounds 11 ounces, but the big bag of the day went to home town boy Ott DeFoe, who brought in a limit weighing 20 pounds. He also took over the big bass of the day with a largemouth weighing a whopping 6 pounds even. The predictions of a big first day bag were true.
Brandon Palaniuk Came in with high hopes and brought 3 bass to the scale weighing 8 pounds 3 ounces. He was “not sure what happened today.” He thought with the water being higher and warmer that it would “push them up shallow.” He just said he had to go back and see if he can figure it out. He wasn’t sure if he needed to stay where he “caught my 3 and grind it out or change it up and do something differently.”
Wesley Strader’s day didn’t go as good he had planned, but it didn’t go bad. He said he “just never got a good bite today.” The “river came up and the stuff I was fishing got real muddy.” He said he was going to have to “regroup and do it again tomorrow.” He had expected to catch a couple on his first stop, but didn’t catch anything, staying more local to the launch. But tomorrow he plans to change it up and probably make a longer run.
Roy Hawk had an impressive 17 pounds 11 ounces for day one ended up in 2nd place heading into day 2. Using a square bill crankbait, he took advantage of the morning bite, fishing shallow structure. He only burnt a half a tank of gas for the day. The wind really made the day difficult for boat control. He plans on going out and taking advantage of the morning bite and then changing up as he needs the rest of the day.
Anglers are competitive but love to have fun as well. The big story was Jacob Wheeler who finished the day sitting in 5th place with 14 pounds 11 ounces and the giant teddy bear. “We had 6 guys get in on it (friendly competition), myself, Mark Daniels Jr., Edwin Evers, Casey Ashley, Adrian Avena, and Jesse Wiggins,” the angler who came in with the smallest bag, “has to take him with him on day number 2.” So technically, as per the rules, Edwin should have him on the boat for day 2.”