MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark. — Lightning struck twice for Casey Scanlon, and while one of those opportunities escaped him, capitalizing on the other helped secure a Day 1 limit of 18 pounds, 5 ounces, which leads Day 1 of the St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Norfork Lake presented by SEVIIN.
Scanlon, a veteran Ozarks stick from Eldon, Mo., buoyed his opening bag with a 5-pound, 9-ounce largemouth. Heading into Day 2, he holds a lead of 1-8 over Doug Chapin.
“Actually, I lost one bigger than that; I could’ve had a really good day,” Scanlon said. “The one I lost was in a totally different area on an isolated piece of cover. I threw a bait across that spot that you normally don’t lose big fish on.
“I got him to the boat, and he just pulled off. I know where he’s at, so hopefully tomorrow I can go back and get him.”
With recent rains sending muddy plumes into the lake through various creeks and drains, Norfork took on a significantly different complexion than it had presented during practice. This prompted to Scanlon to call an audible.
“I scrapped most of what I was doing after my first few stops in the morning,” Scanlon said. “I slowed down, got a few bites and just kept my head down and kept grinding. Slowly but surely, I culled up.”
Scanlon guarded his specifics, but he said he was able to develop some consistency by looking for a particular type of rock and a certain water clarity level.
“I probably hit a dozen places and when I got to each one, I tried to fish as slowly as I could and capitalize on the bites,” Scanlon said. “I was kinda in that midrange.
“The water clarity varied a lot, so I had to keep moving to find the clarity I wanted. There was definitely a lot of mixing water involved.”
Scanlon said he caught his fish on a mix of reaction baits and slower presentations. His 5-9 bit a moving bait.
With lake conditions changing by the hour and more rain in the Day 2 forecast, Scanlon said he’s hopeful he can pick up where he left off today. Realistically, he suspects he’ll need more flexibility for the second round.
“Honestly, I don’t know if the area where I caught them today will produce again,” Scanlon said. “I utilized several different places today but caught both of my big ones on a similar stretch.
“I was just keeping on the move, and I’ll probably have to do that again tomorrow.”
Chapin, who hails from Tigerton, Wis., is in second place with 16-13. Noting that his day was an extension of what he saw coming during practice, Chapin said his day started with a bang.
“I got fortunate and caught a 5-pounder on my first cast,” Chapin said. “I kind of just expanded off what I’d found in practice. There is, for certain, a pattern. Whatever bass are supposed to do in rising water, that’s what I was doing.”
Chapin said he caught his fish on a mix of power fishing a Damiki rig. He had a limit in the boat by about 10:30.
“I had 15 pounds by 11 or 12 and then I just culled up ounce by ounce throughout the rest of the day,” Chapin said.
Expressing optimism for Day 2, Chapin said: “With this rising water, it’s going to get even better. Hopefully, I can whack another big bag.”
Bailey Gay of Union, Ky., is in third place with 16-11. Countering the hinderance of high, muddy water, he said, came down to focusing on locating populated zones.
“The fish are kinda grouped up and you’ll get into an area that has fish, more than developing a pattern,” Gay said. “It was a lot of picking up the trolling motor, running and gunning around the lake and finding hot stretches where the fish are biting.
“As soon as you’d hit a stretch, you’d put the trolling motor down and if it’s not happening right away, pick the trolling motor back up and keep going.”
Gay said he hit approximately 35 spots in hopes of finding some where fish were moving up. Unable to locate a place where fish would be coming to him, Gay instead focused on staging spots.
“I was fishing a lot deeper than a lot of people — anywhere from 15 to 45 feet,” he said. “The baitfish were located in that deeper water.
“I spent some of my time shallow and caught some on a crankbait and some on a spinnerbait,” he said. “I caught some on a jig, I caught some LiveScoping; I just junk fished today.”
Jace Lindsay of Beckville, Texas, is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with his 6-3.
Friday’s takeoff is scheduled for 6:45 a.m. CT at Buzzard Roost Boat Dock. The weigh-in will be held at the same location at 2:45 p.m.
Bassmaster LIVE will stream the final day’s action on Bassmaster.com and the Roku Sports Channel will air coverage on Saturday from 7:30 to 10:30 a.m. ET and from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Stay up-to-date on all tournament coverage at Bassmaster.com/how-to-watch/.
The City of Mountain Home, Arkansas is hosting the event.