KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Though Day 1 of the MLF Invitatiional on the Kissimmee Chain was far from balmy, which can often make for a tough bite in Florida, the fishing proved solid. A strong north wind made large swaths of Kissimmee barely fishable, and the going was slow in the morning. But by weigh-in, the quality of the field shone through.
Leading the way, Ryan Armstrong of Robinson, Illinois, blasted 29 pounds, 12 ounces to claim a solid lead of nearly 4 pounds. In second, Drew Gill of Mount Carmel, Illinois, snatched up 25-13, and Berrien Springs, Michigan’s Ron Nelson caught 23-1 for third place. Three more anglers brought in 20-pound bags, and a bunch of pros got into the mid-teens, putting themselves within striking distance if they can land a couple of the big bass Florida is known for.
Competitors will conclude the two-day opening round on Saturday, with only the Top 30 based on their two-day cumulative weight advancing to Championship Sunday.
“I practiced hard, like everybody else, from sunrise to sunset and kept the trolling motor down and fished a lot of water,” Armstrong said. “A couple times, I got around a lot of bites. I think I have two or three areas that I have a whole lot of faith in. I shook the fish off for the most part in practice, and so I just went to where I thought I had the best bites. I started there this morning, and I never left.”
Fishing away from most of the field, Armstrong caught fish early and often.
“I had a limit pretty quick, and I left around noon,” he said. “I just took my time getting back in and making sure I was in safe.”
While leading an Invitationals event isn’t a familiar position for Armstrong, he’s feeling good.
“I feel very, very comfortable fishing grass,” he explained. “I feel very, very comfortable in the area that I'm in. I know what's going on. And what I've seen today, I learned a lot about my area that I wasn't able to learn in practice, because I didn't want to expose the fish anymore.
“So, today was a really good learning day for me about my area, which really is probably more important than what my weight was. Because I think I'm going to be more efficient, and I have a better idea of how many fish are around me to manage it.”
Armstrong hasn’t declared victory yet, and he’d be a little premature to call game, especially with last week’s Bass Pro Tour winner on the Harris Chain, Bobby Lane, lurking in the Top 10 along with a bevy of high-level talent within striking distance. But he couldn’t ask for a better way to open the season.
“It feels great, man,” said Armstrong. “But it's far from over. I'm nowhere near what we want. This is a long road, and it was a good Day 1. But we want to win, and we're going to try to do everything in order to make it happen.”
Despite the new rules limiting forward-facing sonar this year, second-place angler Gill was likely a fixture in most Fantasy Fishing rosters, and he rewarded his faithful on Day 1. Knocking their lights out as he is known to do, the young Illinois pro is in striking position again.
“I went out there and executed the game plan,” said Gill. “It was a pretty high-risk approach, fishing isolated targets for isolated big ones. I caught eight or nine bass today and caught them all on the spinning rod – a pretty unique deal for here.”
With his echolocation machines turned off on Day 2, Gill is planning on making some pretty big changes.
“I’m going to fish mostly new water,” he said. “A little bit of the same stuff less precisely, but most of my stretches just don't have enough of a population to catch them blind. I mean, you would throw for four hours before ever hitting a single bass.
“We're going to try and hold serve for the last day and see if we can't pull off something crazy,” he said. “I know 30 is doable doing what I'm doing, and I want to get another shot at it on Day 3. So, we’ve got to make it through tomorrow.”
Here are the numbers for the Top 20:
1st: Ryan Armstrong, Robinson, Ill., five bass, 29-12
2nd: Drew Gill, Mount Carmel, Ill., five bass, 25-13
3rd: Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., five bass, 23-1
4th: Matt Reed, Madisonville, Texas, five bass, 21-14
5th: Troy Stokes, Harrison, Tenn., five bass, 21-12
6th: Kennie Steverson, Umatilla, Fla., five bass, 20-3
7th: Jon Canada, Helena, Ala., five bass, 19-4
8th: Bobby Lane, Lakeland, Fla., five bass, 18-14
9th: Mitchell Robinson, Landrum, S.C., five bass, 18-14
10th: Joseph Webster, Hamilton, Ala., five bass, 18-13
11th: Keith Carson, DeBary, Fla., five bass, 18-10
12th: Bryson O’Steen, Live Oak, Fla., five bass, 18-8
13th: Joshua Weaver, Macon, Ga., five bass, 17-7
14th: Bobby Bakewell, Orlando, Fla., five bass, 17-7
15th: John Brown, Wedowee, Ala., five bass, 17-0
16th: Gary Klein, Mingus, Texas, five bass, 16-12
17th: Andrew Nordbye, Guntersville, Ala., five bass, 16-10
18th: Hayden Marbut, Birmingham, Ala., five bass, 16-10
19th: Ethan Greene, Eufaula, Ala., five bass, 16-6
20th: Thomas Wooten, Huddleston, Va., five bass, 16-4
Complete results for the entire field can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Pro Matt Reed earned the first $1,000 Berkley Big Bass award of the year with a largemouth that weighed 8-12.
Anglers launch at 7 a.m. ET each morning from the Big Toho Marina, located at 69 Lakeview Drive in Kissimmee. Weigh-ins will be held at the marina and begin at 3 p.m.
