Quick Bites: Forrest Wood Open, Lake St. Clair, Day 2

Wal-Mart FLW Tour
Tour Stop #6
Lake St. Clair, Detroit
Day 2, Opening Round

Catching them like a co-angler … Once again, a co-angler led for the day’s biggest stringer. Actually, co-angler lead qualifier James Shockey’s 18-pound, 2-ounce, five-bass total catch tied pro Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn., who also had 18-2. But the Wellington, Fla., co-angler did continue the heavyweight trend on the co-angler side started yesterday by Casselberry, Florida’s Rick Parnell, who topped all competitors in both divisions with a massive 20-pound, 4-ounce catch.

2001 Angler of the Year … While he might have preferred to fare better at this tournament, pro Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., clinched the 2001 Angler of the Year title and a spot on Kellogg’s cereal boxes with his 28th-place finish today. “This is a big deal,” said VanDam, accompanied onstage by his two young sons. “It’s really exciting for me because Kellogg’s is based in Battle Creek, which is not far from where I live.” Rick Clunn of Ava, Mo., the next closest in points to VanDam, finished the tourney in 87th place. “I didn’t do the lake justice today,” said Clunn. One pro who was technically in contention for the points title at the start of the tourney, Mickey Bruce of Buford, Ga., did do it justice by making the cut into the semifinals. But Bruce, currently in third place in points, will eventually have to settle for second place in the standings (he’ll take over Clunn after he finishes) because VanDam just had too large of a lead at the beginning of the week. VanDam will receive his Angler of the Year award at tomorrow’s weigh-in plus $25,000 and a new Ranger boat – and he will continue to reap the rewards as his name and face are splashed on newspapers and cereal boxes all over the country during the next year.

2001 Co-Angler of the Year … It was a much closer race on the co-angler side, but Wesley Burnett of Hot Springs, Ark., edged out Chris Rand of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for the points title. “I didn’t feel confident about (winning) the Co-Angler of the Year title coming into this tournament because Chris Rand is such a top-notch fisherman,” said Burnett. “I had my work cut out for me. I had to catch some fish to do it.” Which he promptly did, landing 26 pounds in the opening round to qualify for the finals in fourth place. Rand, a former two-time winner on the FLW Tour, trailed Burnett by a workable 21 points coming in this event. But with the Floridian’s 128th-place finish today and Burnett’s top-10 qualification, Rand was knocked out of contention. “I’ve got to say, my heart’s feeling a little heavy right now,” Rand said. “But I take my hat off to Wesley Burnett. He did a good job. I’ve been chasing him all year.”

Throwin’ down the tubes … By an overwhelming margin, the bait of the week award goes to the tube bait. The vast majority of anglers, including top pro qualifier Larry Nixon of Bee Branch, Ark., is using some variety of tube bait to catch their quarry this week. Look for the trend to continue into the semifinals and finals because bountiful Lake St. Clair is giving up smallmouth to the tubes like it’s Christmas. In the opening round, 174 of 175 pros caught keeper bass while 170 of 175 co-anglers weighed in.

Looks like he can take a hit, eh? … In among the leading co-angler stringers of the day was Pat Verbeek’s 13-pound, 8-ounce total catch. Verbeek, who plays right wing for the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings, suffered a 2-pound, 1-ounce stringer yesterday that left him wallowing in 146th place. But the Birmingham, Mich., native picked himself up off the ice, er, water today and rebounded to finish in 49th place. One tough competitor? You bet. Just ask his day-two pro partner, Terry Segraves of Kissimmee, Fla.: “I could tell he’s an athlete just by sitting in the boat with him. We went across one stretch of rough water and he just sat there eating crackers the whole way.”

Raising Crain … Kudos goes out to Shirley Crain of Van Buren, Ark. The only female to fish the FLW Pro Division, she had her best performance of the year, catching 10 bass weighing 28 pounds, 5 ounces in the opening round and finishing in 16th place.

Sound Bites

“As soon as I get done here, I’m going to call my wife and tell her we’re moving to Detroit.”
– James Shockey, happy with his results so far on generous Lake St. Clair.

“Oh yeah. Sayonara, konnichiwa and all that. I’m ready to go. What are we fishing for over there anyway?”
– Team Timex pro David Walker of Cannon, Ky., who is heading overseas this fall to fish in an angler exchange program on the Japanese pro bass circuit.

“Don’t be so hard on `em, man. Those were tough.”
– Pro Gerald Swindle of Warrior, Ala., who could only manage four bass weighing 8 pounds, 7 ounces on day two, responding to FLW host Charlie Evans’ lighthearted barbs about the relatively diminutive size of his fish.

Quick Links, Day 2:

Photos
Results
Pairings
Press release
Nixon, Fisher grab share of lead at $1 million Forrest Wood Open