A tournament field of 221 boats – each featuring a pro and a co-angler – began their three-day competition for a top cash award of up to $235,000 at the Toyota Series Championship on Lake Cumberland, in Burnside, Ky. Pro angler Joe Uribe Jr. of Surprise, Arizona, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 16-02 to take the day-1 lead.
Uribe holds a 4-ounce lead over Nick Ratliff of Vine Grove, Ky., who boxed 15-14. The no-entry fee event features the Top 25 pros and Top 25 co-anglers from each of the eight Toyota Series divisions and tournament winners, the highest finishing boater and co-angler from each regional at the All-American, the College Fishing National Champions and 2nd-place team, and the top pros and co-anglers from the FLW International Division.
Hailing from the Western Division, Uribe set the pace on day 1 and added another mark to his sterling record, having only finished outside of the Top 6 in the Western Division Angler of the Year points standings twice in the past 10 years. Though success has been lacking at the championships, he’s overdue to show off on a national stage, and a tough lake with smallmouths and rock could be just the fix.
“I’m so glad to be out here – this lake is beautiful,” said Uribe. “We made a long run to our first spot and stuck it out, fishing slow and thorough. I only got six bites all day, but I made them count.
“I threw moving baits and covered a lot of water. I looked at different pieces on the bank – bank transitions – just something a little bit different. I found a creek in practice that I thought looked really good, with a lot of variations of structure and depth and immediately felt comfortable where I was and fished that area all day.
“I only had two days of practice, but everything just clicked and I started getting bit right away. I literally had one rod on the deck – I was winding a crankbait, making a lot of casts and continuously moving. There were maybe five boats in the area I was fishing. I’m looking forward to going back out there tomorrow – the weather has been brutal and it’s supposed to rain tomorrow. Hopefully that ends up being a good thing.”
Uribe attributed his success to the fact that he never stops practicing.
“I made a couple stops on the way back and caught a couple. I’m going to practice again tomorrow during the competition and if I’m fortunate enough to make the Top 10, I’ll be practicing again on Saturday.”
Here are the totals for the initial Top 10:
1. Joe Uribe Jr.: 16-02
2. Nick Ratliff: 15-14
3. Chris Malone: 15-03
4. Greg Bohannan: 14-13
5. Kip Carter: 14-07
6. Bill Beutjer: 14-05
7. Dakota Ebare: 14-01
8. Ryan Davidson: 13-13
9. Jacob Wheeler: 13-12
10. Andrew Loberg: 13-11
