Quick Bites: Forrest Wood Open, Day 3

Wal-Mart FLW Tour
Forrest Wood Open
Wheeler Lake, Florence, Ala.
Friday, pro finals first half, co-angler finals

Mr. Kato: Domo arigato … 2003 Forrest Wood Open Co-angler Division champion Masafumi Kato originally hails from Ishikawa, Japan, and is the next bass-fishing friend from across the pond to make his mark in the States. His is an interesting story. Word is he saved up his money in Japan for a year, came over and fished the FLW Okeechobee tournament last January. There, he met Jason Knapp, a co-angler from Uniontown, Pa., who heard that Kato didn’t have a place to stay in the U.S. Knapp invited him to stay with him in Pennsylvania and helped him enter local club tournaments as well as mentor him on the FLW Tour. Six months later, Kato is $40,000 richer while Knapp has really improved his Japanese. … Notable: Kato qualified for the finals just under the cut in 10th place Thursday. He edged out Derek Yamamoto of Mesa, Ariz., the son of Gary Yamamoto, one of the Japanese angler’s fishing idols.

Local advantage … Pro leader Tim Horton obviously knew what he was doing when he entered this tournament, his only FLW event of the year. Hailing from Muscle Shoals, Ala., he’s about as local a favorite as any angler could in a tournament, and he’s taking full advantage of it. Still, Horton says being a local and knowing so many different ways and places to catch fish on your home water can be a hindrance. “It can because, if you don’t allow yourself to be patient and let (a spot) pan out, things can go bad,” he said.

Speaking of locals … Second-place pro Aaron Martens of Castaic, Calif., is worried about them. Specifically, his main concern Friday was that local anglers might plunder his key fishing spots Saturday. He saw someone pull a 3-pound bass off one of his holes Friday, so he explained his tournament situation and they obligingly – and generously – backed off. But Saturday there’s a local club tournament on Wheeler, and Martens knows his key spots are going to be vulnerable. Still, he also knows how the conditions change so often at Wheeler, especially because of the changing current, that his prime spots might not be working anyway. “It’s something new every day,” he said. “Like they say, you’ve got to change every day. It’s Wheeler Lake.”

Windy Friday … Martens likes fishing Wheeler’s current, and so does fourth-place pro Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich. One thing that VanDam didn’t like today, however, was the wind. “I just figured, with the conditions we had, I could spinner-bait and crankbait all day, but it was hard to keep the boat in position,” he said. “I thought I was going to nail them today, but I scrambled for my five (bass).” … Interestingly, VanDam, who’s still in contention for the trophy, said, “I have not had a good day yet at this tournament. … I’d like to win one, but if I have another performance like I had today, I can’t win this tournament.” For the record, VanDam already has four second-place finishes on the FLW Tour.

Amen to that … Heartfelt congrats go out to 10th-place co-angler Lonnie Fuller Jr. of Hemphill, Texas. While he didn’t catch a bass Friday, this was the third top-10 finish of his rookie FLW season, which included a victory at Lake Murray. Most astonishingly, he captured his second top-10, which was at Beaver Lake, after suffering a stroke at the tournament. While he was visibly slowed down at that event, he says he’s now no worse for wear. “I got home from that tournament, had surgery, and the next morning I woke up and felt just fine,” he said. “The man upstairs was looking after me.”

Quick number

4,737,200: Amount of money won by Masafumi Kato Saturday – that is, in Japanese Yen. He won $40,000.

Sound bites

“We didn’t communicate a whole lot, but he knew the word `net,’ that’s for sure.”
– Third-place pro Scott Martin, who fished with Masafumi Kato Friday.

“I haven’t been nervous yet, but the idea of $200,000 is starting to get to me a little bit.”
– Tim Horton

“I’ve been second five times in the (Bassmaster) Classics. I hope this is the one I’m going to win.”
– Pro Tommy Biffle, referring to this year’s FLW Championship and its $500,000 first-place check. Like VanDam, Biffle has been saddled with the “Mr. Runner-up” moniker on tour. Unlike VanDam, Biffle has won an FLW event, the Pascagoula River in 2001.

Quick links, Day 3:

Photos
Results
Press release
‘Horton hauls in lead on Wheeler Lake’
‘Kato lends Far-East flavor to co-angler victory’