Rogne Brown, who lives about five minutes from Chester Frost Park, came very close to making the final five in his first FLW Series Eastern Division bass tournament after Friday’s weigh-ins there.
Even with four of his five fish not surviving, costing him a 2-pound penalty, Brown was in third place for a long time through the flighted weigh-in process. But ultimately the dead fish cost him a chance at $44,778 for first place today. He finished seventh with 37 pounds for three days and earned $7,165.
Wesley Strader of Spring City wound up third with Friday’s second-heaviest bag – 15 pounds, 9 ounces – for a three-day total of 41-3. Mark Rose of Marion, Ark., maintained first place at 45-7 with an early-flight 12-5 total Friday, and Tom Mann Jr. of Buford, Ga., brought in 17-6 to take second at 42-8.
Andy Montgomery of Blacksburg, S.C., and Pete Thliveros of St. Augustine, Fla., will complete the group going back out on Lake Chickamauga this morning. Their three-day totals are 40-15 and 38-13.
Brown, a 42-year-old former Central High School quarterback who runs the Coast Guard-licensed Tennessee River Guide Service, would be at 40-8 if not for seven dead fish Thursday and Friday.
“Something’s wrong with my livewell. I haven’t had a dead fish for years,” he said. “Of all tournaments for this to happen. And I preach taking care of your fish – ice them, salt them, do whatever.”
He lost one possible 5-pounder during his Friday round, he said.
“I was jumping around to a bunch of different hot spots,” he said. “This is not the best time to fish this lake. It’s probably one of the toughest months of the year, including the dead of winter.”
Strader made that clear in a pre-tournament FLW release, predicting that 15 pounds a day likely would win. Leader Rose has averaged 15-2 with his five-fish-a-day limits.
Strader himself caught one “decent” bass in his morning haul but was able to get more good-sized ones and cull smaller fish in the afternoon to get to his 15-9 total.
He also “covered a lot of water” in finding what he wanted. The key, he said, is current generated by TVA.
“The perfect day for me tomorrow would be a little bit of wind, all five turbines on at Chickamauga Dam and all five turnbines on at Watts Bar,” Strader said. “When the current starts moving, the bigger fish start biting.”
Craig Powers of Rockwood had a 13-7 total and moved up to 12th at 35-5, receiving $5,597. Another former standout football quarterback in the area, Patrick Baynes of Murray County, finished 14th at 34-10 and also got $5,597.
Jeff Knight of Cleveland finished 21st at 31-7 and got $5,150, the same as Dayton’s Andy Morgan, who jumped 24 places Friday to 25th with a 14-10 bag pushing him to 30-4. Charleston’s Thomas Helton was 28th at 29-0 and got $4,926, and Dayton’s Michael Neal also finished in the money – 33rd at 27-11, good for $4,702.
Second place today will pay $17,911, and third will pay $13,433.
The co-angler division ended Friday with Patrick Roy of Syracuse, N.Y., winning at 29-3, almost 4 pounds more than runner-up Aaron Combs of Jackson, Ky. George Kapiton of Inverness, Fla., finished eighth and was the FLW Eastern co-angler of the year for the four 2010 tournaments in the series, which will return to Lake Chickamauga in April.
In addition to the five FLW pros hitting the water again today, Chester Frost Park will host a National Guard FLW College Fishing Southeast Division tournament with confirmed representation for 39 colleges. The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Alex Craw and Randall Massingill will be in one of the boats.
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.