CHARLOTTE, N.C. — John Hunter and Vincent Timperio of Georgetown College took the Day 1 lead at the Bassmaster College Series Eastern Regional tournament on Lake Norman with 17-1. The local favorite team — University of North Carolina at Charlotte — is in second.
For practice on Lake Norman, collegiate anglers enjoyed a beautiful week of sunny skies and clear water filled with spawning bass. Those favorable sight fishing conditions changed drastically when heavy rains fell on Norman the night before the event.
The Day 1 morning included a mixture of cloudy skies and brief showers, but the damage had already been done. The rain raised the water level nearly 6 inches overnight and caused many areas to muddy, leaving anglers scrambling from bed to bed and straining to see any signs of bass.
Eventually, the morning clouds burned off, and the sun emerged. That’s when anglers began improving their weights. But Day 1 leaders Hunter and Timperio had already gotten out ahead of the field.
“We started off the morning sight fishing,” said Hunter. “Vincent picked off a couple of good fish, but the water was real dirty, so after that we just went to some areas where we knew there were beds. We just flipped around in that area and caught some.”
Hunter says they caught a couple of good fish “junk fishing,” as well — fishing riprap with crankbaits between spawning areas.
Timperio said the team found some good bass yesterday but couldn’t relocate them today.
“We’re mainly fishing in the backs of creeks — trying to find beds. If the water is too muddy, we’re flipping. To be honest, we’re running low on fish,” said Hunter. “We’re going to have to scramble and get something together tomorrow to try to win.”
Shane Lehew and Eric Self of University of North Carolina at Charlotte had no shortage of fish but an abundance of bad luck on Day 1. Even though they brought in 16-11, enough for second place, including the Carhartt Big Bass weighing 5-5, their day was far from perfect. In addition to suffering a day-ending mechanical issue, Lehew had mishaps with boating some big fish that still have the potential to give the team a big bag on Day 2.
“I had a 5-pounder all the way to the boat that came off,” said Lehew. “And [we found a fish on a bed weighing] between 6 and 7 that I got to bite twice. When she bit it the third time, I set the hook, and it blew out the bait. I ended up snagging it in the chin.”
Lehew boated the 6 1/2-pounder, unhooked it and returned it to the water in accordance with a B.A.S.S. rule stating that all sight fish must be hooked inside the mouth. Between the fish UNC lost and the giant they boated and threw back, they lost 12 pounds of bass and the opportunity to cull up about 8 pounds in a matter of 10 minutes.
Lehew and Self plan to bed fish on Day 2. Lehew said he had another 20 fish on beds that they never checked, in addition to 15 they caught fishing beds today. Four of the five fish they took to the scales came from beds. With ideal weather conditions and enough knowledge of the lake to find clear water, there’s a good chance the UNC Charlotte team will improve its weight on Day 2.
Eastern Kentucky University’s Kyle Raymer and John Smith rounded out the Top 3 after Day 1 with 15-4.
“We didn’t really sight fish much today,” said Smith. “A lot of our sight fish were in the backs of creeks, and all that stuff is like chocolate milk.”
Eastern Kentucky University’s Raymer and Smith elected to flip instead. The team’s bites are coming from bedding fish, but they could not see them well enough to be certain. They are fishing in areas where they saw fish on bed in practice.
“We probably caught 30 keepers, but we only had four solid fish,” said Smith. “We had one 15-incher that killed us.”
The EKU team laid off the fish in its most productive areas on Day 1 after reaching the 15-pound mark. At that point, they started looking for one big bass on a bed. But on Day 2, they plan to catch as many as possible in their flipping areas before moving to areas where they can sight fish later in the day.
On Saturday, teams will launch at Blythe Landing in Charlotte, N.C., at 7 a.m. ET, with the weigh-in beginning on the same site at 3:10 p.m. ET.
Carhartt Bassmaster College Series
4/12/2013 - 4/13/2013
Lake Norman - Blythe Landing - Charlotte, NC
STANDINGS BOATER DAY 1
Today's Activity Accumulative
Name # Fish # Live Lbs - Oz # Fish # Live Lbs - Oz
1 John Hunter - Vincent Timperio Georgetown College 5 5 17- 1 5 5 17- 1
2 Shane Lehew - Eric Self UNC Charlotte 5 5 16-11 5 5 16-11
3 Kyle Raymer - John Smith Eastern Kentucky University 5 5 15- 4 5 5 15- 4
4 Zachary Blalock - Kyle Albers Eastern Carolina 5 5 14-13 5 5 14-13
5 Clint Benbow - Brandon Abernathy NC State 5 5 14-12 5 5 14-12
6 Mike Huff - Nick Huff Georgetown College 5 5 14- 9 5 5 14- 9
7 Justin Graben - Vincent Campisano Murray State 5 5 13-13 5 5 13-13
8 Matt Salmons - Travis Spivey Eastern Kentucky 5 5 13-11 5 5 13-11
9 Ronnie Moore - Thomas Chafatelli Eastern Carolina 5 5 13- 4 5 5 13- 4
10 Jody White - Sean Snow Virginia Tech 5 5 12- 7 5 5 12- 7
11 Cody Griffey - Joe Wilkerson Christopher Newport University 5 5 11- 2 5 5 11- 2
12 John Woodward - Ricky Kassebaum Virginia Tech 5 5 10-13 5 5 10-13
13 Hunter Cockram - Chris Freas Clemson University 5 5 10-12 5 5 10-12
14 Jonathan Miller - Zack Soles Shippensburg University 5 5 10-11 5 5 10-11
15 Justin Witten - Travis Cox Radford University 5 5 10-10 5 5 10-10
16 Carson Rejzer - Chris Carwile Virginia Tech 5 5 10- 7 5 5 10- 7
17 Jeffry Endly - Scott Davis University of Louisville 5 5 9-12 5 5 9-12
18 Tyler Faggart - Tyler Mayhew NC State 5 5 9-11 5 5 9-11
18 William Shipes - Alan Horwatt Clemson University 5 5 9-11 5 5 9-11
20 Edward Rude III - Matthew Gibson West Virginia University 5 5 9-10 5 5 9-10
21 Andrew Jackson - Gregory Callas Virginia Tech 5 5 9- 8 5 5 9- 8
22 George Fleming - Tanner Blanks Radford University 5 5 9- 6 5 5 9- 6
23 Blaine Chitwood - Cole Campbell Radford University 5 5 9- 1 5 5 9- 1
24 Paul Owens - Ben Rucker NC State 5 5 8-14 5 5 8-14
25 Matthew Garvin - Briggs Kennington Clemson 5 5 8-11 5 5 8-11
25 Jake Hart - Courtney White Eastern Carolina 5 5 8-11 5 5 8-11
25 Dustin Millwood - Jacob Sawyers NC State 5 5 8-11 5 5 8-11
28 Zach Meadows - Austin Cox Radford University 5 5 8-10 5 5 8-10
29 Samuel Freeman - Josh Rennebaum University of South Carolina 5 5 8- 9 5 5 8- 9
30 John Sanderlin - John Stables Virginia Tech 5 5 8- 7 5 5 8- 7
31 Seth Mycko - Kyle Cox Clemson University 5 5 8- 4 5 5 8- 4
32 Colton Robertson - Matthew Hinkle NC State 5 5 8- 2 5 5 8- 2
33 Wade Brown - Cody Baker University of Louisville 5 5 8- 1 5 5 8- 1
33 Brett Meyn - Brian Conners Radford University 5 5 8- 1 5 5 8- 1
35 Grayson Barber - Thomas Gomez NC State 4 4 7- 9 4 4 7- 9
36 Christian Cook - Andrew Furr Appalachian State 5 5 7- 3 5 5 7- 3
37 Russell Suber - Cameron Kaihara Clemson University 5 5 7- 1 5 5 7- 1
38 Jared Pike - Gatlin Edge Clemson 5 5 7- 0 5 5 7- 0
39 Bryan Carroll - Jacob Reome Clemson University 4 4 6-14 4 4 6-14
40 Ryan Collins - Jordan Elmore University of Kentucky 5 5 6- 5 5 5 6- 5
41 Marty Ballard - Blake Glockner University of Kentucky 5 5 6- 3 5 5 6- 3
42 Luke Taylor - Tyler Hartrim Lynchburg College 5 5 6- 2 5 5 6- 2
43 Devin Mitchell - Ethan Howell Appalachian State 4 4 6- 2 4 4 6- 2
44 Trevor Cardea - Stanton McDuffie NC State 5 5 6- 0 5 5 6- 0
45 Parker Dixon - Caleb Hartley UNC Charlotte 4 4 6- 0 4 4 6- 0
45 Clay Elliott - Shawn Combs Georgetown College 4 4 6- 0 4 4 6- 0
47 Cory Fox - Dylan Cooper Virginia Tech 3 3 5- 9 3 3 5- 9
48 Jake Whitaker - Alan Price UNC Charlotte 4 4 5- 8 4 4 5- 8
49 Peter Kenny - Seth Winslow Christophern Newport 3 3 5- 0 3 3 5- 0
50 Evan Shearer - Tyler Meghan Virginia Tech 3 3 4- 2 3 3 4- 2
51 Charlie Sipe - Hunter Hill Appalachian State 3 3 3-14 3 3 3-14
52 Bryce Owen - Christopher Robey NC State 2 2 3-12 2 2 3-12
53 Austin Warmus - Brian Kearns Eastern Carolina 2 2 3- 8 2 2 3- 8
54 Benjamin Ray - Seth Taylor West Virginia 2 2 3- 2 2 2 3- 2
55 Jordan Johnson - Gettys Brannon University of South Carolina 2 2 3- 0 2 2 3- 0
56 Matthew Combs - Michael Holland West Virginia 2 2 2-10 2 2 2-10
57 Reid Mizelle - Joe Maciejewski Roanoke College 1 1 1- 5 1 1 1- 5
58 Evan Miles - Craig Montgomery Centenary College 1 1 1- 0 1 1 1- 0
59 William Gilbert - Nathan James Elon University 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 0
59 Sean Robertson - Kari Bryant Christopher Newport University 0 0 0- 0 0 0 0- 0
BIG BASS TOTALS
Day Name City,State Lbs-Oz Day # Fish # Live Lbs-Oz # Limits
1 Shane Lehew Charlotte, NC 5- 5 1 253 253 491- 5 41
2 0 0 0- 0 0