Sooner Run Day One quotes

The best of what the Elite anglers had to say on Day One of the Sooner Run presented by Longhorn Tobacco.

GROVE, Okla. — The best of what the Elite anglers had to say on Day One of the Sooner Run presented by Longhorn Tobacco.“I had a brutal practice. I needed wind and got the wind today to push the baitfish up against the bank.”

 — Ben Matsubu on his 19-8 pound 3rd place bag.

 “This is probably one of the best lakes I’ve ever fished. It’s got an amazing amount of three- to four-pound fish.”

 — Mike Iaconelli

 “I guess it was a little kick in the pants. I went through a time where I couldn’t do anything right. It was to catch ’em again.”

 — Derek Remitz, responding to a question about Casey Ashley’s win two weeks ago and his recent slump.

 “The lake’s totally different. I’ve got witnesses out there somewhere who can tell you I caught them in the willow trees today. Things are starting to get to where I want them, but you won’t catch them the same way I caught them last year.”

 — Mike McClelland

 “I really wanted to run my pattern this morning, but all I caught were little fish. I changed up and in the last hour I caught 14-14. Maybe if I do it all day tomorrow I can get 17 or 18 and get in there.”

 — Ish Monroe

 “It really did. I could hardly get out of the hole today.”

 — Randy Howell, one of the Elite Series’ more avid speed freaks, jokingly responding to weigh-in emcee Keith Alan’s query about his new goatee and how the added drag might affect his boat’s performance

 

“I thought I could catch a limit pretty early, but I had to run around to find a place for 30 minutes this morning.”

 

Jason Quinn on his late start causing him to miss out on fishing his first choice holes

 

“I need rain, I need clouds, I need low light conditions.”

 

— Dedicated topwater frog thrower Dean Rojas on what it’ll take to turn around his slow start (11-12 for 78th place)

 

“I didn’t catch a four-pounder all practice. At least I did it when it counted.”

 

Edwin Evers

 

“It’s really tough out there. I could catch 6 pounds, 8 ounces just as easily as I could catch 16-8.”

 

Mark Tyler

 

“I hung around in an area just hoping they were gonna bite. Obviously they didn’t.”

 

Eric Nethery, who stands in 77th place

 

“I’ve got to stay out there where they’re headed, not where they’re leaving.”

 

Kevin Wirth on choosing to fish deep rather than shallow

 

“I really don’t have a clue.”

 

Rick Clunn on the weigh-in stage when asked why he performed so poorly

 

“This is one of those days I wish we had caddies like they do in golf. I would have stayed in the boat and let my caddie weigh my fish. This is embarrassing.”

 

Rick Clunn, currently in 107th place

 

“I’m looking for it all.”

 

Skeet Reese, answering emcee Keith Alan’s question, “Are you fishing for Angler of the Year points, or fishing for money?”

 

“I’ve been fishing these tournaments for 22 years and never seen the likes of it. First he throws his rod and reel in the water, then I hear a strange noise … look back towards him, and somehow he has managed to drop his lifejacket in the livewell. It’s one of those that deploy automatically, and the CO2 cartridge went off while it was in the livewell.”

 

Steve Daniel on the first-day woes of his co-angler

 

“Sometimes when you swing for the fence, you’re going to come up short.”

 

Kevin VanDam when asked about his poor showing at the last tournament on Smith Mountain Lake

 

“My fifth fish was hanging on a limb waving at me.”

 

Elton Luce when asked why he couldn’t catch the fifth fish to finish his limit

 

“I kinda worked on them all day.”

 

Gary Klein when asked what kind of day he had on Day One

 

“I’ve been working like I’m taking a laxative.”

 

Gerald Swindle, talking about how hard he fished on Day One

 

“I caught my limit and just rode around.”

 

Terry Scroggins, responding to being asked on the weigh-in stage if he wanted to share how he caught his fish on Day One

 

 

Editor’s note: This week, ESPNOutdoors.com invited the University of Oklahoma bass fishing team to join coverage of the Sooner Run presented by Longhorn Tobacco. The collegiate anglers will post a regular blog on this site and appear on Hooked Up, the live Internet shows that air at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. ET on Sunday in advance of the live weigh-in. Daily live weigh-ins and a realtime leaderboard will be at 4 p.m. ET. Please feel free to post comments to this blog via the ESPN Conversation feature at the bottom of this and every news page on this site.