The first time David Williams fished Buggs Island, or what he and other North Carolinians call Kerr Reservoir, was back in 1996 when he and former Elite Series pro Rob Digh entered a Jerry Rhyne Bass Circuit tournament.
The duo won the event and a Ranger boat. Williams has loved the Roanoke River impoundment ever since.
“I fell in love with Kerr Lake pretty quickly,” he said. “But I have come up here several times and won a BFL and things like that. It has been good to me throughout the years. I like coming up here. It is my style. You can power fish, find dirty water, whatever you want to do. There are fish everywhere.”
The good vibes on Buggs Island continued for Williams on Day 2 at the St. Croix Bassmaster Open, as the Newton, N.C. pro caught 17 pounds to lift himself into the Top 10. With a two-day total of 28-5, Williams heads into Championship Friday in 8th.
“Today was fun. I caught a lot of good fish. It seemed like I couldn’t do any wrong. Anywhere I went there was good bass hanging around,” the Classic qualifier said.
Although he has a mountain to climb, he sits just 8 pounds behind leader Powell Kemp, a few bites like he got today could lift him towards the top of the leaderboard.
On the first day, Williams was disappointed to find that the majority of his water was unfishable due to the wind.
“Today I was able to get on the main stretches more and fish the main lake more. Yesterday you couldn’t do it,” Williams said. “I only got to practice a day and a half coming from Santee last week. I didn’t find much, so I have been practicing as the days go along. Yesterday I had a decent day, but you had to get out of the wind. It was one of the Top 5 windiest days I’ve fished in my life.”
While Thursday was breezy, with winds 10-15 mph, Williams said it was much more manageable and actually set the bass up where he could really catch them. He caught around 40 bass today, but half of those were nonkeepers.
“That set them up where I like them to be,” he said. “Most of them have been really shallow. I can see most of them hit my bait. It has been a lot of fun. I caught fish anywhere from 6 inches long to a 4 ½-pounder. I just weeded through enough of them to get a good bite.”
Jack Dice was three years away from being born when Williams won his first tournament, but the lake holds the same special feeling for the youngster from Lynchburg, Va. He needed a comeback similar to Williams to make his way into the final day.
The College Series followed his 12-12 Day 1 performance by catching 16-2 Thursday, notching yet another Top 10 on what he considers his home lake. He finds himself in third heading into the final day with 28-14, but Dice knows he will need a special day to catch Kempt.
“The stars have to completely align,” Dice said. “It is possible. It is springtime and the water is up and relatively cool. The fish are biting and I am going to do everything I can to catch them. I am going to be as open-minded as I can.”
Although he has plenty of history on the lake and several top finishes in other tournaments, Dice didn’t view himself as a favorite coming into the event. But he did know it was a great opportunity for him to have a great finish.
“I have wanted to contend here because it is home,” he explained. “This is a place I have so much history on. I don’t feel like I’m a favorite at all, I just love fishing here. I have gotten more messages this week just because I’m here. I wanted to take on that challenge as best I could. I am very thankful for how it has worked out so far.”
Throughout practice, Dice looked for a shad spawn with little success, but was fortunate to find one on the first morning and caught all of his weight quickly. He started there again on Day 2 and caught his biggest bass of the day.
“It was a great start but then it just died. I was sitting on two fish for hours,” he said. “I had to scrap all of that and figure it out again. I went closer to the bank and got one bite that clued me on a new pattern. A second one confirmed it and I ran it the rest of the day.”
Although a little wind might have helped his shad spawn and reaction bait bite, Dice was able to fish efficiently with a wacky rig and a shaky head.
“These fish are transitioning. I’m catching a mix. I’m trying to target fish that are done spawning. At the very least, that is where the bass have to be going. There are more fish done spawning than fish coming. I think that is where a big bite can be had. But I haven’t felt like I’ve been on anything automatic.”
Although he calls the Potomac River home, Shayne Berlo has spent plenty of time at Buggs Island as well and made one of the biggest moves of the day. The McLean, Va pro caught the biggest bag of the day, which measured 17-13, to move from 74th to fourth with a total of 28-12.
Berlo was unable to fish any of what he found in practice because of the heavy winds.
“Today I got to go to some of my good stuff and it was on,” Berlo said. “I have been fishing that in between depth. Around the 6 to 10-foot range. I should have practiced on the other side of the creek and had some stuff over there, but everything I had was on one side of the creek.”
