With day of competition in the books, Mark Rose of Marion, Ark., is leading the FLW Series event on Pickwick Lake.

On Wednesday, Rose caught five bass that weighed 18 pounds, 15 ounces. He holds a 2-pound, 8-ounce lead in the $1 million tournament, featuring 200 pros and 200 co-anglers representing 28 states.

“It’s been a good day,” Rose told FLW Outdoors after the first-day weigh-in. “I really like fishing here on Pickwick. I tend to do a little better in the spring but it just seems to be fishing really good right now with the grass and all.”

Rose had most of his sucess one area.

“My two biggest fish today came off the same area and that area wasn’t even one of my better spots,” he said. “I’ve been catching a lot of fish. I probably had eight keepers today. After I caught my limit this morning I didn’t fish all that hard this afternoon. I just went looking and trying out a few different spots.

“Who knows how things are going to go tomorrow. I saw a few guys sitting on some of my other spots today. I’m just going to go fish hard early and get my limit. When I get that, I’m going to go hit my big fish spot and some of my other better areas and hopefully get a good kicker fish.”

Rose told FLW Outdoors he is throwing football head jigs around deep structure and breaks. He said the key depth for him Wednesday was 14-16 feet.

Terry Bolton of Paducah, Ky., trails finished second with 16-7. Rounding out the top five pros are Dion Hibdon of Stover, Mo., with 16-0; Tom Mann Jr. of Buford, Ga., with 15-12 and Chad Morgenthaler of Coulterville, Ill., with 15-6.

Edward Gildernew Jr. of Zelienople, Pa., leads the Co-angler Division with 11-9 followed by Chris Cox of Bethel Springs, Tenn., in second place with 11-2.

Competition continues today-Saturday. Daily weigh-ins will be broadcast on FLW Live