April 8, 2010

A Quick Chat with Day 1 Leader at Amistad - 18 year old Joey Nania

Photo: Larry Towell - Bassmaster.com

The Bassmaster Opens kicked off today on Lake Amistad and like Bryon Velvick predicted in his interview the fishing was crazy good.  Multiple 20lb bags and a fish over 10 pounds were weighed in, but the real story was at the top of the leaderboard.  Tied with Elite Series Angler Clark Reehm was an 18 year old all the way from Liberty Lake , Washington with 24 pounds even.  What an amazing feat for a rookie from smallmouth country to be leading an event of this magnitude in Texas .  I know Joey from my days with the Inland Empire Bass Club in Spokane , WA .  I was able to talk to him tonight and see how he's feeling.  He had an awesome day out there and was culling 3 and 4 pound fish and caught nearly 30 fish today.  He's really excited about his chances for tomorrow since he will be the first boat out tomorrow, he was #202 - dead last this morning.  
 
"I figured I had 22 or 23 pounds and was happy to see I had 24 pounds, I figured I would be in the top 10 but was pumped when they said I was leading" Joey said.  His bag could have been bigger if he didn't lose a 7+ lb fish.  He went on to say that "nobody was even close to my area, I should be able to do it again if the weather doesn't change too much."

Good luck Joey! Check out his website to learn more about this up and coming pro.   Bassmaster has a cool video that can be seen here and the standings can be found here.


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