The Elites had plenty to say about the fishing on Day One of the Diet Mountain Dew Mississippi River Rumble presented by Power-Pole.
"They got a little weird on a frog today. They'd blow up on it, and the frog would be just sitting there."
– Ish Monroe, 12-2, 50th place (tie), who turned 39 years old today.
"I'm frog free. If I put a frog on tomorrow, I want you to slap me."
– Gerald Swindle, 10-3, 76th place (tie).
"I had a blast. Anytime you can catch a fish on a frog, it's a blast."
– Steve Kennedy, 12-9, 37th.
"It's a lot harder to get a bite. Last year I caught 50 to 100 fish a day. Today I think I got eight bites."
– Cliff Pace, 12-7, 41st.
"I just pretty much sucked. I caught 20 fish and two keepers."
– Terry Scroggins, 4-10, 99th.
"I just want to touch one 3-pounder a day. That makes all the difference. I didn't do that today."
– Kevin Short, 12-4, 46th.
"It's probably going to take real close to what it did last year – 12 ½ pounds (per day)."
– Jeremy Starks, 12-0, 54th place, about the daily average weight it will take to make the Top 50 cut after two days. Last year's cut weight at La Crosse was 25-8.
"I covered a lot, a lot of water today. If you can get that random 4- or 5-pounder it will change your day. I'm going to cover a lot of water again tomorrow."
– Kevin VanDam, 13-6, 23rd.
"In one 70- or 80-yard stretch, I caught over 120 fish. It was absolutely amazing. But I didn't catch any big ones. I caught them on all kinds of different baits. I was like, 'This is too much fun.'"
– Shaw Grigsby, 12-13, 34th.
"If you couldn't catch a limit today, you had a bad day. I wasn't on squat, and I still caught 12 pounds."
– Mark Davis, 12-0, 54th.
"Last year they were fighting over your bait. This year it seems like you have to beg them to bite it."
– Todd Faircloth, 14-5, 6th, who won the tournament here in 2012.
"The (Mississippi) River is starting to settle down, and the fishing is picking up."
– Matt Herren, 14-0, 14th.
"There are millions of fish here. You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a bass."
– Kenyon Hill, 8-0, 90th.
"When you lose one, it definitely weighs on your mind."
– Edwin Evers, 13-5, 26th, the current Angler of the Year points leader.
"I'm one big bite away from moving up 25 spots."
– Chris Zaldain, 11-14, 56th.
"A 3-pounder or anything above that is like gold."
– Greg Vinson, 13-6, 23rd.
"I figured out something today. I found two new schools. I didn't pre-fish it. If nobody else finds it, it could be interesting."
– Aaron Martens, 14-4, 9th.
"It's over with. I can quit wracking my brain. I can go to sleep, wake up tomorrow and do something different."
– Matt Reed, 4-12, 98th.
"You want to catch some pike? Put you on some chartreuse socks."
– Swindle, who sported chartreuse socks Thursday.
"I drove 100 dozen miles to get up here."
– Dennie Tietje, 12-4, 46th, who is from Roanoke, La.