Despite only getting five bites throughout the day, they were definitely the right quality of bites. Anchored by a beautiful 6-pound, 11-ounce Lake Hamilton largemouth, Connor Cunningham of Springfield, Mo., brought a five-bass limit to the scale Thursday weighing 17-08 to jump out to the early lead at the 39th annual BFL All-American Championship on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Cunningham will start Day 2 with a 4-10 advantage over Ryan Powroznik of Hopewell, Va., who caught five bass totaling 12-14. Of the 98 competitors – 49 boaters and 49 co-anglers – competing in the event, all weighed in at least one fish and 63 anglers weighed in a limit.
The three-day tournament, hosted by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism and Visit Hot Springs, features some of the nation’s best weekend grassroots anglers competing for a top prize of up to $120,000.
“Well, my day looks a lot better on paper – I only got five bites today – and fortunately I was able to catch them all,” said Cunningham, who qualified for the event from the BFL Ozark Division. “I bounced around a lot and caught my fish on a variety of techniques. None of those fish in my bag knew each other, let’s say that. I caught my fifth keeper when they were out schooling, about 1:30 this afternoon.”
Cunningham said that he didn’t have a whole lot of experience on Lake Hamilton, but it fishes very similar to his local waters back home.
“I was able to come down to Lake Hamilton just a couple of times before it went off limits, and other than that I’ve never seen the place. It does fish very similar to Lake of the Ozarks back home, though.”
Cunningham politely declined to mention any specifics in regard to his baits and techniques he used Thursday, including the details on his big 6-11 kicker, but he did say that his plan for Day 2 was going to be to continue to grind away and bounce around covering water.
“It took me two hours this morning to catch one, then it was something like one an hour from then on,” he said. “I don’t have anything else, so I’m just going to roll with the same thing. I could come in with zero tomorrow, but in a tournament like this you have to swing for the fence. So that’s what I’m going to do.”
Although he didn’t have as much weight, Powroznik caught many more bass overall than Cunningham did.
“It took me a while to get going, but I think I caught around 25 throughout the day,” Powroznik said. “I caught my fish offshore, fishing brush piles and some rough spots off the bank. The weather conditions were not what I wanted, and I lost a few fish as well. But overall, I’m pleased.”
Powroznik said that he caught his fish on finesse-style baits in 10 to 18 feet of water.
Here's a rundown of the initial Top 20:
1st: Connor Cunningham, Springfield, Mo., five bass, 17-08
2nd: Ryan Powroznik, Hopewell, Va., five bass, 12-14
3rd: Sean Wieda, Alexandria, Ky., five bass, 12-08
4th: Hunter Eubanks, Inman, S.C., five bass, 11-14
5th: Brian Bean, Hot Springs, Ark., five bass, 11-13
6th: Preston Henson, College Grove, Tenn., five bass, 11-07
7th: Brad Jelinek, Lincoln, Mo., five bass, 11-03
8th: David Lowery, Milledgeville, Ga., five bass, 11-00
9th: Andy Wicker, Cayce, S.C., five bass, 10-14
10th: Jonathan Crossland, Chapin, S.C., five bass, 10-13
11th: Wade Ramsey, Choctaw, Okla., five bass, 10-06
12th: Drew Tabor, Harrison, Ark., five bass, 10-03
12th: David Bright, Mooresville, N.C., five bass, 10-03
14th: Kevin Brown, Hot Springs, Ark., five bass, 10-02
15th: Justin Kimmel, Athens, Ga., five bass, 9-09
16th: Chris Wilkinson, Farmersburg, Ind., five bass, 9-07
17th: Steve Phillips, Douglas, Ga., five bass, 9-01
18th: Mike Reid, Greenville, Texas, five bass, 9-00
18th: Matthew Marinelli, Salem, Conn., five bass, 9-00
20th: Jarrett Martin, Mansfield, Ohio, five bass, 8-14
20th: Matt Henry, Milledgeville, Ga., five bass, 8-14
