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Lake Okeechobee and Florida Everglades |
Rookie romp reaps bass fishing’s richest reward
Luke Clausen leads wire to wire, wins $500,000 at 2004 Wal-Mart FLW Tour
Championship
By Jeff Schroeder - 14.Aug.2004
 BIRMINGHAM,
Ala. – If there were ever any doubts about whether the best pro angler would
beat the brackets and win at Logan Martin Lake this week, Luke Clausen put them
all to rest Saturday. The 26-year-old rookie pro from Spokane, Wash., led all
challengers for the fourth day in a row and won the 2004 Wal-Mart FLW Tour
Championship with a five-bass limit weighing 14 pounds, 10 ounces.
Simply put, Clausen was the best angler here this week, and he earned every
penny of the $500,000 winner’s check.
“I can’t even believe what’s happening,” Clausen said. “I was so stressed out
this morning that I couldn’t even make a cast under a dock. I was so nervous.”
Nervous? Maybe. Rattled? Not even close. Clausen spent the week mowing over some
of the toughest competition in the brackets, competition that included a
heavyweight shootout with Shad Schenck of Waynetown, Ind., in the opening round
and a hard-fought win over Greg Hackney of Gonzales, La., in the semifinals.
Clausen caught the heaviest limits of the entire 48-angler pro field three of
the tournament’s four days and led in total weight throughout the event.
Overall, he caught 55 pounds of bass during the championship.
Not only did the 26-year-old make history as the youngest to win the FLW
Championship, he became the first pro to complete a four-day sweep in an FLW
tournament. Several have come close since the tour began in 1996 – like David
Fritts of Lexington, Ky., and Alton Jones of Waco, Texas – but none have won
before.
“I think that’s pretty awesome,” Clausen said. “Everything was just going right
for me this week. It’s great to fish against company like this. It’s just
amazing.”
What’s more amazing is that Clausen defeated the likes of Scott Martin, Mickey
Bruce, Charlie Ingram and Clark Wendlandt, among others, on a lake that he had
never even fished before. This was his first trip Logan Martin Lake.
With the way the fishing developed for this tournament, perhaps that played
right into the winner’s hands. Water fluctuations – first a drop in water level
in the opening round, then a rise on Friday – plus a cold front threw many pros
off balance when the tournament started Wednesday. Clausen, however, never
strayed from his finesse-fishing pattern around docks, but he did have to adjust
every day.
“The day it got overcast, I really struggled until I realized that they were
under docks. I caught almost all of my fish off of docks, though I did catch a
few off secondary points,” he said, adding that his magic bait was a prototype
Reaction Innovations green-pumpkin finesse worm on 6- and 8-pound line. “I would
run out of water each day, so I’d go find some more. A lot of fish I was
catching were suspended and they were biting it on the fall. I think the light
bait was key.”
Clausen said he caught about 10 keepers when it counted Saturday, almost all
spotted bass. He caught one largemouth the entire week, he said, which was his
big fish this morning.
Clausen’s win capped a triumphant week for West Coast anglers at this year’s
championship. The co-angler winner, Stephen Tosh Jr., is from Waterford, Calif.,
and both he and Clausen came to the FLW Tour this season after posting big
numbers in the nascent EverStart Series Western Division the last two years.
There, Clausen won the Clear Lake tournament in 2003.
Clausen’s FLW Outdoors career earnings prior to this week stood at $31,500. Now
he can tack a big old “5” on the front of that figure.
“This is incredible,” he said. “I don’t even know what I’ll do with the money.
I’ll probably put it in the bank and look at the balance every day. The hardest
part’s going to be writing that check to the government.”
Martin misses win No. 3
 Clausen
had to earn his win Saturday because Scott Martin put up another nice limit – 14
pounds, 4 ounces – and nearly won his second FLW tournament in a row. Last
month, Martin won the Forrest Wood Open and $200,000 at Lake Champlain. The son
of TV bass legend Roland Martin, the Clewiston, Fla., native won his first FLW
event as a pro at the Pascagoula River in 2000.
This week, he earned $50,000 for second place at the championship.
Asked about his hot hand right now, Martin said: “I've been getting up really
early and staying really late, and it's paid off.
“I’m happy. I fished really efficiently and I fished really clean.”
Gagliardi falls short of No. 2
Another 2004 FLW winner, Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, S.C., claimed the
third spot with a limit weighing 13 pounds, 7 ounces. Gagliardi, who won at
Kentucky Lake in May, added another $40,000 to his career earnings this week.
“I got lucky. I caught two big fish before 9 o’clock,” he said. “It makes for a
long day when you’ve got two good fish in your livewell and you’re struggling
all day to get some 2-pounders to go with it.”
Millsaps fourth, Bruce fifth, Vida sixth
Jimmy Millsaps of Canton, Ga., delighted the capacity crowd with a crazy catch
Saturday, dredging up a log, some weeds and who knows what else in an valiant
effort to land a fish. He finished in fourth place with a limit weighing 12
pounds, 4 ounces and earned $35,000.
“This was a heart-attack fish,” he said at weigh-in as video of the catch
rolled.
Mickey Bruce of Buford, Ga., finished fifth and collected $30,000 with a limit
weighing 11 pounds, 12 ounces.
“I had an opportunity for a big stringer today, but a few of them just got off,”
he said.
Kevin Vida of Clare, Mich., rounded out his solid week at Logan Martin Lake with
another decent limit – 11 pounds, 8 ounces – and finished in sixth place. He
earned $24,000.
“What a tremendous fishery this is,” he said. “I’ve never caught spotted bass
like this in my life.”
Rest of the best
A number of pros admitted to “swinging for the fences” and going for big fish
instead of just a limit Saturday. Consequently, the weights fell off in the
bottom half of the leaderboard.
Rounding out the top 12 finishers at the championship are Dave Lefebre of Erie,
Pa., with five bass weighing 6 pounds, 15 ounces (7th place, $23,000); Charlie
Ingram of Santa Fe, Tenn., with five bass weighing 6-10 (8th, $22,000); Clark
Wendlandt of Cedar Park, Texas, with five bass weighing 6-3 (9th, $21,000);
Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla., with five bass weighing 5-0 (10th, $20,000); Jason
Kilpatrick of Satsuma, Ala., with two bass weighing 4-6 (11th, $19,000); and
John Crews of Jetersville, Va., with three bass weighing 3-15 (12th, $18,000).
Catch all the action
Coverage of the Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship will be broadcast on the Outdoor
Life Network on the “FLW Outdoors” television program. A tournament preview show
featuring bass-fishing legend Hank Parker will air Aug. 15 at noon CDT and Aug.
19 at 4 p.m. CDT, and fishing fans can watch the tournament weigh-in with hosts
Carlton Wing, Taylor Carr and Charlie Evans Aug. 22 at noon and Aug. 26 at 4
p.m. Tournament veteran Larry Nixon will host a tournament wrap-up show Aug. 29
at noon, and that show will re-air Sept. 2 at 4 p.m.
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