57 early action shots

Head out on Day 1 of the Bassmaster Elite on the Potomac River presented by Econo Lodge. The tidal Potomac River is host to 107 of the best anglers in the world and it is the next to last regular season event for the Elite Series season.

The first angler we saw was Kotaro Kiriyama and he was looking to start his day strong, but didn’t have any fish to start the day.

James Niggemeyer was fishing down the grass bed as well. With the tide being low the grass was even shallower than normal.

Niggemeyer is an underrated grass fisherman so it wouldn’t surprise me if he did well this week.

He short-stringed a fish real quick and landed his first keeper of the day.

He makes quick work of the fish and puts it in the livewell.

Kiriyama slides by and continues to fish the area.

Niggemeyer continues to flip around the shallow area as the tide starts to funnel in from the mouth of the Potomac.

This osprey serves as an additional warning that there is a No Wake Zone up ahead.

David Williams rolls through the no wake zone as he makes his wake up a creek.

Meanwhile, just as Williams passed Brandon Lester hooked up with his third fish.

Lester was working the edge of a grass line when he hooked up.

Lester boats his third and puts it in the livewell.

Lester was focused on having a great event this week as he is within sight for the Top 50 AOY Championship.

Dean Rojas was in the vicinity as well and was fishing some grass as well.

It didn’t take long for Dean “The Machine” Rojas to hook up with a fish.

Rojas battles the fish and realizes it is a pretty good fish.

The fish thrashes and splashes water as Rojas lands the fish.

It was a quality fish to start the day and it allowed Rojas to grind it out for four more bites the rest of the day.

Rojas continues fishing in hopes of going through a flurry.

A kayak heads toward Rojas as he checks out what’s going on.

A Thursday morning stroll by Elite Series anglers isn’t a bad way to spend your morning.

David Williams passed us earlier and then we found him making his way around some docks.

Williams was trying to stay away from the crowds and find fresh water to himself.

He gets in a compartment and looks for a new bait to rig up.

A blue heron cruises by as Williams fishes.

Tommy Biffle started off hot this morning as he had 11 pounds before 9:00 a.m., but he would eventually weigh that much in later in the day.

With tidal fishing it can be all about timing so Biffle hits a stretch of his area that he fished earlier hoping to catch an extra fish.

Up ahead we saw Brandon Lester messing around in his boat and looked as if he boated a fish.

But we found out it was a nasty snakehead and Lester deposits it back into the Potomac before it gets to take a chunk out of him.

I headed towards the main river and found Chad Grimsby fishing on the way.

Bobby Lane was also in the vicinity. We would eventually recognize a lot of anglers in the area.

Lane already had a solid bag early on Day 1 and was looking to upgrade the rest of the day.

He sits down and adjusts his tackle and lets his marshal peer in for a closer look at what he was doing.

Then he stood up and bombed a cast towards us.

The Lane brothers stop and talk to each other as they fished passed one another.

Timmy Horton was slinging around some baits looking for a bite.

So does Chris Lane who worked his way toward us.

I see an angler who seemed almost in disguise…

It didn’t take long to realize it was David Mullins who was protecting himself from the sun. Meanwhile, David Walker was showing off a keeper to his marshal for a blog photo.

He sets the hook and the fight was on. It broke the silence among the anglers nearby.

Mullins brings aboard a keeper and encourages us to keep chatting with him since he hooked up mid conversation.

Bradley Roy was another angler in the area as they all worked around each other.

Walker and Roy chat as they go by.

Shane Lineberger and Keith Combs poked around as well. It’s not odd to see anglers fishing this close when they are targeting an expansive flat. We see it every time we go to the St. John’s River and also other tidal fisheries with flats and shoals.

Combs ended the day in the Top 10 and is primed for possibly another good day.

The 2015 Bassmaster Angler of the Year Aaron Martens stayed just far enough away that he didn’t share as much water as the other anglers.

Matt Herren fished around as well. After Day 1 it took just over 11 pounds to sit inside the Top 50 cut.