Pundits’ Picks: Beaver Lake

FLW Tour pundits present their picks for the Beaver Lake FLW Outdoors Fishing Challenge and tell you why they picked them.

The pros got off to a quick start this season, but, as predicted, they couldn’t keep up the pace. The results are in from Lake Murray:

Pundits: 3,058
Pros: 2,773

With back-to-back victories led by Jeff, former mayor of Punditville, and myself, the newly elected mayor, we pundits have taken a 227-point lead in the yearly total. The official tally midway through the season is now pundits: 8,876, pros: 8,649.

And we pundits aren’t looking back.

With three stops remaining on lakes that we all know well, you’ll probably see a lot of overlap in the picks, which of course will make it harder for the pros to close the gap. That said, I’m going to stick with most of the guys who led me to a landslide victory on Lake Murray.

Here are your winning picks for the Beaver Lake FLW Outdoors Fishing Challenge.

– Dave

Hot picks

Just look to the Angler of the Year standings. Three of the top five in points get major nods at the Wal-Mart Open: Mr. Beaver Lake himself Clark Wendlandt (fifth) leads by capturing picks from all eight pundits and pros; AOY leader Dan Morehead received three picks; and David Dudley (second) received two. Not so evident in the standings are the four picks received by Aaron Martens and three apiece by Mark Pack and David Walker, all of whom are out of the standings’ top 30 but might know something special about Beaver Lake itself. Also receiving multiple picks are Tracy Adams, Rick Clunn, Bernie Schultz and Carl Svebek.
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Wal-Mart FLW Tour stop No. 4
Wal-Mart Open
Beaver Lake, Rogers, Ark.
April 9-12

Dave Washburn
Executive editor, FLW Outdoors
Previous tournament score (Lake Murray): 866
Yearly total: 2,392

1) Clark Wendlandt. You’d have to be a fool not to pick Wendlandt to win this one. His mastery of Beaver Lake boarders on superhuman, as he has finished in the top 10 at the Wal-Mart Open each of the last four years and won there twice. When it comes to sight-fishing, this Kellogg’s pro is the master. And if the weather warms up a bit, sight-fishing is going to be the name of the game.
2) Dan Morehead. I wrote last month that Morehead is my pick to win Angler of the Year, so remember that you read it here first. His consistency in 2003 – three top-25 finishes, including two top-10s – bodes well for this prediction. Morehead has finished as high as fourth and only as low as 28th on Beaver Lake in the last three years. Anyone care to guess who my pick for the No. 1 spot on Kentucky Lake will be? Hint: He fishes for Team Evinrude and lives less than 30 minutes from the sprawling reservoir.
3) Darrel Robertson. Robertson is having his best season on the Wal-Mart FLW Tour to date, sitting comfortably in fourth place for Angler of the Year, just 33 points behind Morehead. He cracked the top 15 at the last two Wal-Mart Opens, and he was certainly my moneyman on Lake Murray. This Castrol pro is a nice hedge to my sight-fishing bet.
4) David Dudley. Like Robertson, Dudley is a Castrol pro with a solid history on Beaver Lake. He has cracked the top 20 twice in the Wal-Mart Open and finished 23rd last season. He may not win, but he certainly won’t disappoint. Besides, like my three previous picks, he’s having a terrific season.
5) David Walker. The unofficial captain of Team Stanley Works is my lone pick outside of the top-five Land O’ Lakes Angler of the Year contenders. He is currently 37th in the points race, and I’m sure he’s anxious to secure a spot in the $1.5 million Jacobs Cup world championship of bass fishing in Richmond, Va. Walker has finished in the top 20 three times on Beaver Lake. This year will be No. 4.

Jeff Schroeder
Editor, FLWOutdoors.com
Previous tournament score: 741
Yearly total: 2,102

1) Clark Wendlandt. Some tour anglers have referred to the Beaver Lake FLW tournament as the “Clark Wendlandt Invitational.” For good reason: With his prior record there, he’s as close as you can come to a sure bet at Beaver Lake.
2) Dan Morehead. Tour points leader. Hasn’t missed the top 30 at Beaver in three years. He’ll roll again in Arkansas on his way home to Kentucky next month.
3) Aaron Martens. You can’t keep a good angler down, and Martens is still one of the best despite his lackluster first half of the season. He’s been historically strong at the Wal-Mart Open, never finishing worse than 39th place. Plus, he stayed away from the BASS tournament in California – his home state – this week so he could focus on Beaver Lake and try to work his way back into Jacobs Cup contention. Martens is a prime example that a potential half-million dollars is serious motivation for professional anglers.
4) Mark Pack. The lure designer from Texas is a Beaver rat. He compiled his best finishes the last two years, fourth and sixth place, at the Wal-Mart Open.
5) Rick Clunn. The former Wal-Mart Open champ says he lives in the Missouri Ozarks for their natural beauty. Beaver Lake’s in those same Ozarks – on the Arkansas side of the state line. You can’t leave the legendary one off your list simply because of the innumerable times he’s fished – and won – on the White River chain. This is Clunn’s backyard.

Rob Newell
Contributing editor, FLW Outdoors
Previous tournament score: 739
Yearly total: 2,155

1) Rick Clunn. Beaver Lake is low and cold, similar to 2000 when the fish had not quite committed to beds. Clunn won that on a crankbait. Something tells me Clunn will be in familiar territory.
2) Aaron Martens. Conditions are setting up right for Martens to finesse some fat, prespawn, spotted bass on his drop-shot rig.
3) Bernie Schultz. Even though fish are not likely to be on beds, the Dinkmaster will rise to the occasion and find a way to scratch out some decent spotted-bass limits.
4) Jim Eakins. Eakins is my local contingent. He makes finesse jigs especially designed for spotted bass in the Ozarks. I bet he will have a few of those tied on next week.
5) Clark Wendlandt. There is a lot of speculation that if fish are not on beds at Beaver Lake, Wendlandt will be as lost as Jeff Schroeder would be on “The Bachelorette.” However, I beg to differ. Wendlandt has so much confidence on Beaver Lake that you could blindfold him for the entire tournament and he would still somehow catch bass.

Gary Mortenson
Editor, FLWOutdoors.com
Previous tournament score: 712
Yearly total: 2,227

1) Clark Wendlandt. Although this is the probably the worst-kept secret on the FLW Tour, it bears repeating nonetheless: Wendlandt is Mr. Beaver Lake. With his performances in the last four years, Wendlandt has treated this lake like it was his own Family Fun Zone trout pond. And while he might not end up winning the ultimate prize on Beaver this year, it is way too foolish to bet against him.
2) Dan Morehead. The man from Paducah, Ky. is on a roll. He already has two top-10 performances on tour this year and leads the overall points standings race. Oh, by the way, his last three finishes on Beaver Lake are as follows: 22nd place, 28th and fourth. Plus, Morehead has extra incentive to distance himself from the other competitors breathing down his back in the 2003 Angler of the Year race.
3) Tracy Adams. The resident of Wilkesboro, N.C., doesn’t get much love during the regular installments of Pundits’ Picks. However, I’m going to break that streak and proudly proclaim that Adams will definitely make some noise at Beaver. In the last four years, Adams hasn’t turned in a performance worse than 19th place there. And that’s good enough for me.
4) Mark Pack. Hailing from Mineola, Texas, Pack has turned in two straight top-six appearances on Beaver Lake. In 2000, Pack recorded a very respectable 36-place finish during the only other time he’s fished Beaver Lake on the FLW Tour. Pack is back and he’s ready to make me look smart.
5) David Walker. Here’s all you need to know about the former FLW Angler of the Year and current resident of Sevierville, Tenn.: In five years of FLW fishing at Beaver Lake, he’s never turned in a worse performance than 40th place. Sprinkle in a seventh-place finish in 1998, a 14th-place finish in 2000 and a 19th-place finish last year and you’ll discover that you have a genuine threat to take home the Beaver Lake title in 2003.

Check out the pros and a special guest pundit as they weigh in with their picks for the Wal-Mart Open.

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