Photo Kyle Wood - In a normal five-fish-limit tournament, five fish for 21-1 would be nothing to shake your head at, especially when your kicker is a 7-15, and the biggest bass caught in your group. Still, Anthony Gagliardi finds himself sitting in 15th place and 9-12 below the Toro Cut Line.
“If I didn’t catch that 7-15, I could be in a whole lot of trouble,” Gagliardi admitted. “Flipping these laydowns, I’m not going to catch a ton of fish to be able to keep pace with these guys. But I knew I was bound to catch a big one doing this, and I was right.”
While his focus is advancing to the Knockout Round, it’s easy for Gagliardi to find a silver lining in his performance thanks to his Berkley Big Bass of the Day. The South Carolina pro was fishing laydowns in Period 2 when he set the hook on the 7-15 lunker.
“I came up to a laydown I had marked during practice that had some depth to it,” Gagliardi recapped. “I knew when I pulled up it was going to be good. I made a pretty long cast beside the laydown and the fish got it on the fall.”
Gagliardi was using a Berkley PowerBait MaxScent Creature Hawg with a 5/16 tungsten weight to go along with a Level 7-foot-6 Heavy Flippin’ Stick and 50-pound Gamma Torque braid to catch the near-8-pounder. He knows he has work to do if he wants to advance to the Knockout Round, but if his 7-15 holds on for the big bass in his group, Gagliardi admits he wouldn’t be too upset heading home early if it meant he had $25,000.
“Most of the time, that ride home after you get knocked out isn’t a fun one,” Gagliardi said. “But if I’m going home with $25,000 in my pocket, I’m going to be just fine. Don’t get me wrong, I want to win, but it’s nice to have a backup plan.”
Photo by Garrick Dixon - Until Robinson started his epic run, the day looked like it belonged to Gagliardi.
After a relatively slow start to the morning where the South Carolina pro caught three fish in the first two hours, Gagliardi keyed into an open-water jerkbait bite late in the first period, recording 10 fish in a 27-minute flurry just before the period break. That burst added 20-10 to Gagliardi’s weight, pushing him past Hackney and into the lead, which he added to with six fish and 12-5 in the second period.
But not long after that, Gagliardi hit an afternoon lull where he failed to catch a scorable bass for nearly two hours, and Robinson went on his tear.
“To me, it’s all about positioning myself well in that Top 20 (to advance out of the Elimination Round), so today was a successful day for me,” Garliardi said. “I coudn’t ask for a better way to kick off this new part of my career.’
Having not fished under the MLF format before, Gagliardi wasn’t sure what to expect, but after the strong start, he can’t wait until Friday.
“It was awesome. Granted, a lot has to do with the fact that I caught ‘em well. I was thinking about it after I was out there. I had 14 or 15 fish and I was thinking about what my best five would be and then what would happen if I catch a 2-even or four of them and they don’t help you. That’s frustrating, but now, every time you catch one it adds fuel to the fire. It keeps you focused. I don’t think as much or crunch numbers as much about what I need. I’m not worrying about what I need to catch. I can just fish and focus on that.”
While the majority of his catches came offshore, he did spend time poking around some grass and other emergent vegetation, but had no luck doing so. Ultimately, he thinks if the weather warms up, he might have to switch gears.
“I honestly don’t know,” he said. “I could do (the offshore thing) for two more days and not get a bite. Eventually, at some point, the grass bite (could improve). With a break in the weather that’s going to trump offshore. The numbers are in your favor out there, but the guys in the grass catch numbers, too, with 4s and 5s mixed in and that can make up a lot of ground.
“If it stays cold and windy, that gives the offshore bite more of a chance. If the nicer weather comes through, it might turn into something different.”
Pioneering fishing brand Berkley has announced that it has expanded its professional roster for 2019, adding 11 new anglers to the team. The new pros will represent Berkley throughout the 2019 Season on various tournament trails including the Bassmaster Elite Series, Fishing League Worldwide Tour (FLW), and the Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour.
These anglers will be sponsored by Berkley for the 2019 season and will represent combinations of the brand's hard and soft baits, line, and hooks. They will also test and evaluate products and appear at trade shows and events throughout the year.
"This year will be an exciting one for Berkley as we've been investing heavily in the brand. In the last few months we have added 226 colors across 54 shapes in the legendary PowerBait range, as well as an outstanding assortment of new topwater baits. Our pro staff loves the new baits and we're excited to see them do well on the tournament trail," said Jon Schlosser, VP Marketing for Berkley.
Major League Fishing announced the groupings for the first two days of fishing in their first ever Bass Pro Tour event on Lake Toho next week. The competition starts Jan. 29, 2019 and group A will fish then. While Group B will fish on the Jan. 30 2019. Here is who will be competiting in each group. For more details visit MajorLeagueFishing.com.
| Group A
Mark Daniels |
Group B
Aaron Martens |
California-based apparel manufacturer AFTCO announced that it's added nine anglers to its freshwater pro staff.
Josh Bertrand, Jeff Kriet and Wesley Strader will compete on the newly formed MLF Bass Pro Tour, while Clifford Pirch, Garrett Paquette, Drew Cook, Micah Frazier and Greg Dipalma will represent the company on the Bassmaster Elite Series tour. Veteran Walleye pro Dean Arnoldussen will also join the AFTCO freshwater pro team.
“Last year, for the first time in 60 years, AFTCO entered the freshwater market," said VP of sales and marketing Casey Shedd. "From testing and tweaking our outerwear to add bass-specific features to building the AFTCO Bass Bus live-release boat, we made some real progress toward our goal of improving our freshwater fisheries.
"As we head into our second year in the freshwater market, AFTCO is thrilled to be adding nine new anglers who represent the ethos of our company. It’s not just about explaining the technical aspects of how a SpeedVent hood works, or why UPF is important. More importantly, each pro also acts and advocates for the message we are hoping to spread to the broader fishing community: ‘If you like to fish, fishing conservation is not an option, it’s critical to the longevity of our passion’ The AFTCO team gets that and really has been excited about helping us champion that cause.”
The new members join a staff that includes Jason Christie, Dustin Connell, Todd Faircloth, Shin Fukae, Anthony Gagliardi, Russ Lane, Jared Lintner, Scott Martin and Michael Neal.