FLORENCE, Ala. — Landon Myers enjoyed the best day of tournament fishing of his young life so far on Day 1 of the Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Qualifier at Pickwick Lake presented by Lowrance. The 18-year-old Alcoa High School (Tennessee) senior landed a five-bass limit weighing 27 pounds, 7 ounces to take the Day 1 lead over second-place Dylan Nutt, who brought 25-15 to the scales.
“I love fishing,” Myers said. “It is a passion of mine. This is a lake I like. I wanted to come here ready to swing on them. I was able to do that today. It was pretty crazy. It was a great day.”
It may not have been easy to get a bite on Pickwick Lake on a bright and warm Day 1, but the bass that did bite were the right size. Of the 43 limits caught today, 15 of them weighed more than 20 pounds. Several other anglers put together impressive bags with just four bass in them.
The Top 17 boaters and nonboaters at the end of the week will advance to the Mercury B.A.S.S. Nation Championship at Upper Mississippi River presented by Lowrance Oct. 22-25 in La Crosse, Wis.
Myers, who committed to fish for Carson-Newman University in November, has fished Pickwick in the past. But over the winter, he spent much of his time on Watts Bar and Chickamauga Lake, and some of that knowledge has helped him this week.
Coming off a 57th-place finish at the Strike King Bassmaster High School Series event at Smith Lake at the beginning of the month, Myers wanted to have a strong showing at his first Nation event. His practice period gave him a good reason to be excited.
“Last night I was sitting at dinner shaking. I was pumped (for today),” he explained. “I had a decent practice. I tried not to catch them. There’s not a lot of point in leaning on them in practice. But I had a good idea of what I was going to be doing.”
While his first stop of the day did not pan out as expected, it didn’t take much longer for Myers to find his rhythm. By 10 a.m., the east Tennessean had landed a 22-pound limit fishing sweet spots in one primary area. At 11:30, he caught a 6-pound largemouth to bolster his limit.
“At that point, I had quit fishing my stuff,” he said. “I was running new water from 11:30 on. All of my fish looked like twins. Everything was healthy and fat.”
Then at around 2:30, he boated another kicker largemouth, one that weighed over 6 pounds. His final tally included four largemouth and a smallmouth.
Myers caught bass as shallow as 8 feet of water and as deep as 40 feet of water, but as the temperatures rose, he noticed the prespawners he was targeting started to move shallower. Three baits caught the majority of his weight on Day 1, and he noted his Garmin LiveScope was an important component to his success.
A few other competitors are also fishing the same area, but not as many as he expected.
“I’m probably fishing the bank more often,” he noted. “I’ve caught a lot of bass off wood so far. As it got warmer, I started catching them shallower.”
Warm temperatures are expected to continue throughout the week, and Myers is confident there are still plenty of bass in the area; it is just a matter of getting them to bite.
Nutt, a junior at the University of North Alabama and 2022 Bassmaster High School All-American, continued his impressive streak at Pickwick Lake with his nearly 26-pound limit on Day 1. He has already won a three-day Toyota Series event this year and also won the Bill Dance Giant Bass Open on Saturday (the first day of Nation practice) with an 8-pound largemouth.
It was an overall tougher practice for Nutt, but some of his productive areas paid off once again on Day 1.
“It was really tough, to be honest,” Nutt said. “I did get keyed into a few little things about what the fish are doing. I’ve been catching a lot of 3-pounders, which don’t get you anywhere on Pickwick.”
Targeting bass moving into prespawn staging areas, Nutt landed 20 pounds within his first 30 minutes of fishing. He then went a long while without landing a quality keeper.
“I started second guessing myself. I said a prayer and asked The Lord to help me make the right decisions and fish open-minded,” Nutt said. “The next two spots I went to, I caught a 5 ½ off one of them and a 5 and a 5 ½ off the second one. Today was just a blessing.”
He finished the day with three largemouth and two smallmouth in his bag. Nutt said he rotated through plenty of baits on Day 1, with four turning out to be the most productive. Forward-facing sonar has played a role in his success as well. Water temperatures were between 54 and 56 degrees in his areas.
Indiana’s Eli Lubbehusen sits in third place with 25-4 followed by Minnesota’s Nick Dumke in fourth with 25-3. Georgia’s Dylan Jarvis and Wisconsin’s Harmon Marien are tied for fifth with 25-1.
Corey Bohlmann of Le Roy, Ill., landed the Big Bass of the Day, an 8-3 largemouth that has him sitting in 63rd place.
Gabriel Fabbri of Bruce, Wis., leads the nonboater standings with a three-bass limit weighing 11-10. He is followed by fellow Wisconsin angler Kacey Meyer in second with 10-13 and Georgia’s John Doolittle in third with 10-3. Mississippi’s David Wheat caught a 4-13, the Big Bass of the Day.
The full field of 155 boats will launch from McFarland Park beginning at 7 a.m. CT and return for weigh-in starting at 3 p.m. The Top 20 boaters and nonboaters after Day 2 will advance to Championship Friday. Weigh-in will be available to watch live on Bassmaster.com.
Visit Florence is hosting the tournament.