Cold, muddy water won’t dampen finalists’ day
CLEWISTON, Fla. – Look for the five pro anglers who qualified for today’s final round of the Wal-Mart FLW Tour on Lake Okeechobee to bring back some big bass despite water conditions that might seem less than favorable.
As they gathered for pre-takeoff festivities this morning, the top five pros – Mark Hardin of Canton, Ga., David Fritts of Lexington, N.C., Kelley Williamson of Purdy, Mo., Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., and Kim Stricker of Howell, Mich. – all indicated that the low, muddy water of the Big O won’t be a roadblock to their fish-finding efforts, but it will make their job a little more difficult.
“There’s a lot of fish out there,” said VanDam. “It’s just a matter of getting them to bite.”
VanDam, who has made a triumphant return to the FLW Tour this year after a yearlong hiatus, has looked strong the first three days of competition. He weighed in a total of 33 pounds, 13 ounces of fish to take the lead after the two-day opening round, then came in with a strong catch of 18 pounds, 4 ounces to place fourth in yesterday’s semifinal. VanDam, who has been primarily fishing with crankbaits, says the key this week is his relentless pursuit of the strike zone.
“I had a lot of extra bites yesterday that I didn’t catch,” he said. “What I’m doing out there isn’t rocket science. It’s just a lot of hard work.”
As always in the final round, the competitors’ confidence level will play a factor. Despite just squeaking into the semifinals in 10th place on day two, Fritts assured fans that he was on fish and that he would catch them. He proved he wasn’t kidding when he weighed in a hefty 20 pounds, 14 ounces of fish yesterday to move up to second place. And he hasn’t wavered from that optimism today.
“The low water’s probably helping me,” Fritts said this morning. “I feel pretty confident. I even felt pretty confident yesterday at 11 o’clock when I still didn’t have a fish.”
The semifinal-round leader, Hardin, is also hoping his poise can carry him to his first FLW victory. A five-year veteran of the tour, he has notched just one top-10 appearance – a sixth-place finish at last year’s tournament at Beaver Lake, Ark.
Williamson, a newcomer to the FLW Tour, has been very quiet about his successful fishing technique this week. But whatever his secret is, it involves a lot of running his boat.
“I got a keeper about every mile and a half,” he said yesterday. “It’s a long ways between every bite.”
On the other hand, Stricker, who placed fifth yesterday, has focused almost exclusively on one spot the whole tournament. Chances are he’ll return to there today where he said he’ll go after the bigger, better fish.
“Every day, this spot has yielded a giant,” he said. “Today is just another day at the office.”
And every day, all five of these finalists have brought in some giants.
Said VanDam, “The bottom line is everybody’s in a good area and everybody’s getting good bites.”
Final-round weigh-in begins today at 3 p.m. at the Wal-Mart Supercenter located at 1005 West Sugarland Highway in Clewiston. The Family Fun Zone opens at 11 a.m. and runs until weigh-in.
The winner of today’s event will take home $100,000.