MORGAN CITY, La. – Pro Paul Elias of Pachuta, Miss., claimed his first Wal-Mart FLW Tour victory Saturday on the Atchafalaya Basin with a two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 34 pounds, 2 ounces. Elias, a seven-year FLW Tour veteran, earned $100,000 for the win.
Elias started the tournament on a high note, finishing 20th on opening day and following that up Thursday with an eighth-place effort that landed him in the finals. He entered Saturday’s competition in the No. 1 spot, a position he never relinquished. Before Saturday, Elias’ best FLW Tour finish was a sixth-place showing on Alabama’s Lake Eufaula in 1997. He caught his winning bass Saturday on a buzzbait as well as a Mann’s spinner bait.
“It’s been almost five years since I’ve won a major tournament, and it starts working on your head,” said Elias, who caught his winning bass in a 200-yard-long stretch of grass located at the end of a six-mile long run through extremely shallow water. “I thought maybe I didn’t have the mechanics to do this anymore. Everything went well; the Lord smiled on me. This is a sweet victory.”
Elias was fishing in an area so tight it barely held two boats. “I had to run some pretty skinny water to get there,” he said. “It’s an area that held a lot of fish because it was the deepest water for miles. It wasn’t very deep, either, but it’s what the fish were coming to.”
The four-day, $500,000 tournament presented by Frito Lay began Wednesday on the heels of a cold front, but with warming temperatures and sunny skies, Atchafalaya bass began moving to shallower water. Flipping became the technique of choice for most anglers, several of whom caught limits in excess of 15 pounds. The anglers who had the sprawling Louisiana basin figured out by opening day had a clear advantage – all 10 finalists finished in the top 20 on Wednesday, and six finished in the top 10.
Rounding out the top five pros are Bill Chapman of Salt Rock, W. Va. (10 bass, 28 pounds, 1 ounce, $35,000); Dave Lefebre of Erie, Pa. (10 bass, 27 pounds, 14 ounces, $20,000); Jimmy Millsaps of Canton, Ga. (10 bass, 26 pounds, 8 ounces, $16,000); and Andre Moore of Scottsdale, Ariz. (10 bass, 25 pounds, $14,000).
Brad Rodrigue of Pierre Part, La., claimed $15,000 Friday as the co-angler winner thanks to a five-bass catch weighing 14 pounds, 3 ounces. He also earned a $500 Wal-Mart gift card from Castrol and $500 worth of Castrol products for the win.
Elias won a $500 Wal-Mart gift card plus a selection of Stanley tools as the winner of the Stanley Accuracy Cast Award, which goes to the angler who pitches a jig closest to a specified target.
One hundred and seventy-five pros and 175 co-anglers kicked off the tournament from the Belle River Boat Launch in Belle River Wednesday and competed for two days for one of 10 final-round spots in their respective divisions. The Atchafalaya Basin event is the second of six regular-season Wal-Mart FLW Tour events that lead to the $1.5 million Jacobs Cup on the James River in Richmond, Va., Sept. 10-13. The road to Richmond, Va., is indeed paved with gold, as the Jacobs Cup champion will collect $500,000, the largest guaranteed cash award in bass-fishing history.
Coverage of the Atchafalaya Basin tournament will be broadcast to 55 million Outdoor Life Network subscribers on “FLW Outdoors,” featuring fishing legends Hank Parker and Larry Nixon alongside hosts Charlie Evans, Carlton Wing and Taylor Carr. A tournament preview featuring Parker will air Sunday at 1 p.m. EST. Tournament highlights from the Atchafalaya Basin will air Feb. 22 and 23 followed by a tournament recap featuring Nixon March 1 and 2.
The Wal-Mart FLW Tour will visit Lake Murray in Columbia, S.C., March 12-15 for its third regular-season tournament. The Lake Murray tournament is also a $500,000 event, awarding $100,000 to the winning pro.
The Wal-Mart FLW Tour features a pro/co-angler format in which the pro supplies the boat, fishes from the front deck against other pros and controls boat movement. Co-anglers fish from the back deck against other co-anglers. Every angler who receives weight credit in a tournament earns points, with 200 points awarded to the winner, 199 points for second, 198 for third, and so on. These points determine angler standings, and the top 48 pros and 48 co-anglers following the regular season advance to the $1.5 million Jacobs Cup.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its six tournament trails. Wal-Mart has been the title sponsor of FLW Outdoors since 1997. For a complete list of FLW Outdoors sponsors and for more information about the premier products and services they offer, please visit FLWOutdoors.com.
FLW Outdoors and the Wal-Mart FLW Tour are named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood.