Lynda Gessner, of Foristell, Mo., weighed in a limit of 11 pounds, 10 ounces and led by more than 2 pounds after Thursday's opening round of the Women's Bassmaster Tour at Thurmond Lake.

Gessner, who lives near St. Louis and narrowly missed out on a WBT victory in 2007 with a second-place finish on Arkansas' Lake Dardanelle, got a boost from a 5-pound, 8-ounce lunker she caught in a wind-protected area of the drought-stricken reservoir.

Thursday's action included plenty of fishing with 61 lady pros, each with an amateur co-angler. Everyone will fish in today's second round, but only the top 20 contenders will compete in Saturday's final round, in which the winning pro will receive a $50,000 boat package and the winning co-angler will receive a $25,000 boat package, in addition to cash prizes.

Heading into the event, Gessner was down on her chances after a relatively unproductive practice. She rallied Thursday, catching the 5-8 pounder within her first 10 casts and culling on a day when others had problems scratching out a limit.

She has three locations through which she will rotate today, and she's hoping for wind and clouds in the final two days of competition. She felt that because of some colder weather of late, the fish moved deeper Thursday.

While Gessner found a bait and stuck with it, Kim Stapp, of Ringgold, Ga., who was second with 9 pounds, 3 ounces, was all over the map. Stapp utilized her entire tackle box, throwing a variety of baits at a variety of depths. The epitome of "junk-fishing," Stapp felt she had pegged the right areas as her weight was accomplished on just three fish.

She lamented her missed opportunities and felt that if she had executed she would have caught at least seven keeper-sized bass. One she estimated to weigh more than 3 pounds.

She missed during her practice period.

"I think I'm in the right areas," Stapp said. "I'm seeing some nice-sized fish, but I just didn't execute. You can bet that I'll try to catch that fish that I missed twice. The third time is the charm, right?"

Rounding out the top five were Angie Douthit, of Clewiston, Fla., with 8 pounds, 12 ounces; Susan Gregory, of Kiln, Miss., with 8-9 and Bain, the AOY points leader, with 7-13.

In the co-angler division, Lesley Childers, of Anderson, S.C., led with 7 pounds, 3 ounces. Co-anglers are vying for a top prize of a boat package valued at $32,000. Trailing Childers were Bar-bara Gaskins, of Suffolk, Va., with 6-6 and Gail Wood, of Russellville, Ark., with 4-15.

Weigh-ins will be held at 3:15 p.m. today at Columbia County's Wildwood Park.