Quick Bites: FLW Tour Pickwick Lake, Day 4

Wal-Mart FLW Tour

Pickwick Lake, Florence, Ala.

Final round, Saturday

A log of money … During today’s weigh-in, No. 4 pro David Walker revealed he got himself into the final rounds by fishing one very productive log. However, he got to the lucky log today to discover some company. “There were two local boats there, and they said, `Man, you should have been here two hours ago,'” said Walker, who weighed in only three bass today that weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces. “It was in the back end of a creek, and there were plenty of logs, but that one laid in the creek channel in about 6 feet of water, and I could see it. On the first day, I caught 12 fish on 12 consecutive casts on that log.” The next day, Walker returned to the log, only this time he couldn’t see it. But he remembered where it was, so he just threw a deeper-diving crankbait and had similar success. “I caught four keepers – four of the five I weighed in,” he said. “I went back yesterday, and sure enough, I caught three – all good fish.” Alas, it was not to be today. “Unfortunately, I had a couple of boats watching me yesterday,” he said. “Today there were four boats, and one boat had four people in it, and all of them said they had limits.” The boaters did move out of the way to let Walker fish the log, but it was too late, and since he was all the way over in Wheeler Lake and he had spent time waiting for a barge to get through the lock, he did not have time to wait on the spot to replenish. “Even an hour later it wouldn’t regroup,” he said. “I didn’t stay in there to wait for a miracle.” … Walker earned $20,000 for his fourth-place finish.

Flip flop … Yesterday, we talked with Dan Morehead about his less-than-stellar day-three performance on Pickwick, when he brought to the scales an uncharacteristically low 3 pounds, 5 ounces. He said he planned to return to Wilson Lake today to a spot that brought him a runner-up finish at a Stren Series event a couple of years ago, and nostalgia paid off. With a 13-pound, 4-ounce limit today, Morehead brought in the heaviest stringer of the day and moved up the leaderboard to finish the tournament in fifth and earn $18,000. “We get asked a lot what the difference is in being a professional versus a weekender, and it’s all about decisions, and I made the wrong one,” Morehead said of day three. “Today I went to Wilson, and I could have given (winner Jeane) a run for the money if I had done this yesterday.” Indeed, Morehead and Jeane were the only pros to catch a limit today, with Jeane bringing in 12 pounds. “We all have the same equipment and can all tie the same knots,” Morehead said. “It’s the decisions that determine winners and losers.”

Who’s who … This week’s top 10 was stacked with veteran and well-known pros, including former anglers of the year Walker and Morehead as well as former winners Jim Moynagh, Tommy Biffle and Dave Lefebre. In fact, this week’s lineup was one of the more prolific ones in recent memory. In the end, it was rookie George Jeane Jr. that claimed the victory – the only one in the bunch without a previous top-10 finish to his credit. So what goes through your head when you find yourself in the top 10 surrounded by some serious sticks? “Not a thing,” Morehead said. “If there’s anybody that’s going to feel pressure, it’s George Jeane, and he obviously handled it well. The rest of us, it’s just game on, go fishing.”

Beaver blues … In three prior seasons on the FLW Tour, Lefebre has never finished higher than 98th on Beaver Lake, an annual destination that is considered one of the biggest tournaments of the year because of its close proximity to Wal-Mart headquarters and, thus, major sponsors. In fact, Lefebre’s worst finishes of each of his seasons has come on the Arkansas lake, which is the FLW Tour’s next stop. Lefebre is hoping to turn the tide this year and use some of his Pickwick top-10 momentum to finally break his Beaver curse. “I’m going to need a lot of momentum heading into Beaver Lake,” Lefebre said today on stage. “I love fishing Beaver Lake, and I have a lot of fun there in practice. It’s the biggest one we’ve got – all the important people are there – so you want to shine, but when the tournament starts, something goes on inside my head, and I can’t get it done.” … Though his record there certainly doesn’t sparkle, his lack of Beaver prowess hasn’t hurt him too much, as he has yet to end a season ranked lower than 25th. He’s currently 20th in FLW Tour points standings.

Sleepy heads … Two of this week’s top-10 finalists, Walker and Biffle, drove to Pickwick on the heels of the Bassmaster Classic, a championship event that expends a lot of time and energy. That tournament did not end until Sunday while Pickwick got started on Wednesday, and the two venues aren’t exactly close – the Classic took place in Orlando, Fla. While all the other double-dippers got to go home and rest, or at least sleep in these last two days until it was time to work the Family Fun Zone at Wal-Mart before the weigh-ins, Walker and Biffle were up with the chickens to fish the final rounds. “The Classic is a tournament in which you get very little sleep,” Walker said. “Coming straight from that one is more of a problem than coming from another tournament. And to compound that, I had all my Florida rigs. I had to regroup and get my act together in just a few moments.” The pair obviously fared well, though Biffle was nowhere to be found after the weigh-in, as he was leaving straight from Florence to head out west. … Biffle took 14th at the Classic and 10th in this tournament, whereas Walker finished 44th at the Classic but ended this tournament in fourth.

AOY update … Halfway through the season, Lake Murray winner Anthony Gagliardi leads the pro standings with 523 points, four points ahead of No. 2 Darrel Robertson. Gagliardi finished this week’s event in 49th place while Robertson finished 17th. Behind them, third through fifth, are Ishama Monroe, Brennan Bosley and Kim Stricker. … On the co-angler side, rookie phenom Bryan Thrift leads No. 2 Judy Israel by four points with 563 points for the season. Trailing them are Alex Ormand in third, Darrel Stevens in fourth and Mark Phillips in fifth. Israel and Ormand scored top-10 finishes this week while Thrift finished 27th.

Quick numbers:

8-6: Jeane’s margin of victory over Moynagh, in pounds and ounces. It is the widest margin of victory so far this season.

50,642: Jeane’s total FLW Outdoors cash winnings before his $100,000 Pickwick payday.

7: Number of top-10 finishes Jeane had scored in the BFL and Stren Series before his FLW Tour win.

2: Number of fish Jeane had weighed in before Moynagh weighed out, securing Jeane’s victory. He went on to weigh in three other fish.

Sound bites:

“When you get into the top 10, you’d like to have a weak field. I drew into a full house.” – No. 3 pro Rob Kilby on this week’s solid top 10.

“This is the first time I’ve fished tidal water in the middle of the U.S.” – Biffle, who called the fishery a “tidal lake.”

“I’ve kind of got that on my mind.” – Bosley on the Angler of the Year race. He’s currently fourth in the points standings.

“I already had the white flag up by noon.” – Kilby, on a tough day four.

“I managed to catch 17 pounds before he figured out what I was doing.” – Jeane on yesterday’s co-angler winner Ken Keirsey, who caught his winning haul out of the back of Jeane’s boat but obviously didn’t hurt his pro partner’s fishing.