EDENTON — Pro angler Dustin Connell finished at the top of the Group A leaderboard on day one of the Bass Pro Tour U.S. Air Force Stage Five at the Chowan River.
Connell, who is from Clanton, Alabama, reeled in 19 scorable bass totaling 47 pounds, 8 ounces during the opening day of qualifying on Tuesday. The lead gives him a 16-pound, 5-ounce advantage over day-one second-place finisher Mark Daniels Jr., of Tuskegee, Alabama.
Overall, Tuesday’s opening of the national tournament yielded plenty of scorable bass — 24 of the 39 anglers in Group A totaled at least 10 pounds — plus a few bigger fish. Six largemouth of more than 5 pounds hit the scales, earning Martin Villa the $1,000 Berkley Big Bass Bonus.
Villa, of Chesapeake, Virginia, finished the opening round in third place with 13 scorable bass with a total weight of 29 pounds, 14 ounces.
The 39 participants in Group A were off from fishing on Wednesday, as the 39 participants in Group B began their first day of competition. Group A anglers were scheduled to resume competition on Thursday, while Group B anglers will be back it on Friday.
After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the anglers who finish first through 10th from both groups will advance to Saturday’s knockout round. In that round, weights are zeroed and the remaining 20 anglers compete to finish in the top 10, and those anglers advance to Sunday’s championship round. In the championship, weights are also zeroed and the day’s highest total wins the top prize of $100,000.
Throughout the week, the tournament format will require anglers who catch fish to have them weighed and then immediately released back to the river. Participants advance their way up the leaderboard by catching as much fish in weight as they can per day.
Connell entered Tuesday’s opening round with a goal to score as many pounds of fish as possible so he could devote Wednesday to practice.
“I really wanted to catch them good today just because I know that we’ve got a lot of wind coming in on Thursday, on our (Group A’s) second day,” Connell said in a press release. “And I didn’t want to put myself in a bind on Thursday trying to fight the wind. It may blow right down the chute. The wind tide changes a lot of things. So, that was what I really wanted to do today is just go ahead and make this cut and be done with it.”
Wind speed and direction are key drivers of current flow and water levels on the Chowan River and could lower the water and affect the eating behavior of fish.
“I love fishing current, so I understand what current does to fish; I know how they act,” Connell said. “Coming here, I’ve never seen the place before. I had three days of practice, and I just kind of found me an area that I liked and then I just went from there.”
Connell said so far, he likes the fishing conditions on the Chowan River.
“This place is incredible,” he said. “It’s full of bass, and it’s a very unique place just because of the salt content and the way these fish move. They’ll eat crabs, they’ll eat shad, it just depends on what section of the river you’re in. But it’s a very, very healthy fishery.”
In addition to Connell, other top professional anglers participating this week include Ott DeFoe, Jacob Wheeler and North Carolina’s own Bryan Thrift.
The U.S. Air Force Stage Five at the Chowan River started Tuesday and concludes Sunday, and is being hosted by the town of Edenton, the Chowan County Tourism Development Authority, and Harbor Towns Cruises. The event is presented by Wix Filters and a total purse of $659,000 is up for grabs.
Follow live score updates from the U.S. Air Force Stage Five at the Chowan River by visiting majorleaguefishing.com . Click “view all” on the Scoretracker to see the standings of all 39 anglers in a group.
As of 9:40 a.m. Wednesday, Wheeler was leading the Group B scoreboard with five scorable fish with a total weight of 12 pounds, 14 ounces.
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