Quick Bites: Angler of the Year edition

Wal-Mart FLW Tour

Lake Champlain, Plattsburgh, N.Y.

Opening round, Thursday

Gagliardi No. 1 … After coming close last year, Anthony Gagliardi drove the deal home today and took home the 2006 Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year title. The results are still unofficial, so the rest of the 48-man championship field won’t be final until Saturday. But for now, Gagliardi can enjoy the sweet taste of success after he toppled his two remaining competitors, Jim Moynagh and Matt Herren. “It felt like it was my turn up here,” Gagliardi said, and indeed it was, as his 44th-place finish was enough to hand him the title he’d sought all year. As Gagliardi has led the points race for quite some time now, his relief that the chase was finally over almost superceded his excitement that the title was his, an honor he says has yet to sink in. “I’m glad it’s over,” he said. “It’s weighed heavy on my mind for three months. It’s been pretty stressful.” … Gagliardi said last season, when he entered the final event just one point shy of the leader in the AOY race, gave him the confidence he needed to take on the field again this year. “I had more pressure on me last year,” Gagliardi said of the 2005 come-from-behind scenario. “It gave me the confidence, and I liked the situation better (this year). For the past three years, people kept claiming it’s my breakout year, but I can’t talk about that anymore.” Earlier in the day, before No. 2 Moynagh had weighed in, Gagliardi described today as the most important day of his life. “No matter what happens, I’ll go into next year on a positive note,” he said. “I had a lot of people wish me luck, and that meant a lot to me.” Later, once the deal was done and he was able to relax, Gagliardi breathed a sigh of relief over the lost fish that in the end had no effect. “I really didn’t think I had it,” he said. “I lost some fish today, and I felt they would come back to haunt me.” When the fat lady sang, though, it was Gagliardi’s pretournament strategy that ultimately landed him the crown. “I knew what I wanted to do – fish for smallmouth up here,” said Gagliardi, noting that he knew the largemouths would give him heavier weight. “I knew they’d be enough.” … Gagliardi joins an elite group of anglers who have earned the title of Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year, but what distinguishes Gagliardi from the rest is his relatively young age. “That’s something I’ve thought about,” he said. “I am pretty young to win this. I think it’ll make it easier for me to fish in the future, having this under my belt.” If the fishing is going to be easier for Gagliardi from now on, competitors need to look out. In five full seasons fishing as a pro, Gagliardi has scored two wins, four championship appearances and now one Angler of the Year title. Congratulations, Anthony, on a job well done.

Happy Father’s Day … A couple of this week’s top 10 pros have something in common – genes. That’s right, Keith Williams and his father, Jerry Williams, are making the Lake Champlain finals a family affair, as Keith enters day three in the sixth position with dad Jerry behind him in ninth. “I used to think I wanted to win, but now I’d like to see Keith win, and I think he can,” Jerry said on stage. Keith, too, was pretty psyched about how things shook out, especially because of the history factor. “We’ve been trying to do this since we’ve both been fishing the FLW Tour,” Keith said. “I think we’re the first ones to do it, too, so that means something.” … As far as pro results, Keith appears to be right. However, back in 2003, Gary Yamamoto scored a pro top-10 on Kentucky Lake while his son, Derek, was a top-10 co-angler.

Waves crash top-10 hopes … This morning, the dock talk predicted that today’s cloud cover would hamper the fishing, and indeed it did, mainly in the form of a choppy boat ride that made many day-one fishing spots unreachable. The wind and resulting large waves on big Lake Champlain prevented many an angler from reaching his day-one honeyhole, including J.T. Kenney, who fell from sixth to 32nd after he decided not to risk the dangerous drive. “Wind and waves, that’s all it was,” Kenney said. “I didn’t feel like I could get down there. It would take two hours to get there, and God knows how long to get back, which would have left me with only one or two hours to fish. Yesterday, running wide open, it took an hour and a half.” Kenney said the lost ability to get to his spot hurt him a lot, as he just wasn’t on the fish any closer to the launch ramp. One angler who went ahead and made the long run was Matt Herren, who was contending for an AOY title and decided to go for broke. His catch decreased by only a couple of pounds, and he ultimately rose two spots up the leaderboard to end the tournament in 31st place.

Making his Mark … As we mentioned earlier, the top 48 pros and 48 co-anglers, based on year-end points standings, advance to the prestigious Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship, slated for early August on Alabama’s Logan Martin Lake. Therefore, while the top-rated guys are sweating out a potential AOY title, the lower 48 are far more concerned with merely hanging on. Minnesota’s Mark Myers entered this week’s season-ending event ranked No. 49 on the co-angler side, one spot out of the championship, and today got himself into the championship in a surefire way – scoring a top-10 finish. “I was in really good position at Kentucky Lake, but I bombed there,” said Myers, who’s currently in seventh place heading into day three at Lake Champlain. “I needed to do good here, and I did.” While the pros, who are in charge of boat navigation, pretty much hold their fate in their own hands, the co-anglers are often at the mercy of their pro partners. Luckily for Myers, his day-one partner, Mike Surman, was fishing just the way a Minnesota boy likes to fish. “I only got a couple days practice, but yesterday we fished Ticonderoga for largemouths, and I felt right at home there,” Myers said. Today, though, gave him a bit more of a fit. “I didn’t have a fish at noon,” he said. “I made an adjustment and caught a bunch of fish the last couple hours.” Funny how just two hours can make a difference between going to Birmingham or watching the championship at home on FLW Live.

What a pair … In FLW Tour competition, pros and co-anglers are paired at random. Therefore it was quite the coincidence that co-angler Kim Bain was paired up with her fiance, Andre Moore, on day two at Lake Champlain. “I thought she was really going to put it on me today,” Moore said on stage. “I compete against her (as a pro) in the FLW Series – she’s tough.” As for Bain, the pairing that she’s been wanting for two years now came on a bittersweet day. Though her decision isn’t yet final, Bain is likely going to fish the pro side of the FLW Tour next year, meaning her probable final day as a co-angler was spent fishing out of her fiance’s boat. “It was really special to fish it with Andre,” Bain said. “It felt good to fish with someone I practice with.” Bain said the couple’s competition day together was free of any lover’s spats, saying, “We always get along.”

Quick numbers:

5: Top pro Dion Hibdon’s opening-round lead over No. 2 Scott Dobson, in pounds. Weights will be cleared, however, for the final rounds.

1: Difference, in ounces, of No. 3 pro Thomas Lavictoire’s day-one and day-two weights.

5: Ounces separating No. 10 Shinichi Fukae from the first man out of the final rounds, No. 11 pro Alton Jones.

3: Number of top-10 finishes achieved this season by Fukae on the FLW Tour.

2: Number of those top-10s that were victories – so far. Fukae still has two more days to score his third victory of the season.

5: Number of top 10 pros with weights registering 34 pounds and change.

3: Ounces separating No. 1 co-angler Eddie Griggs from No. 2 Doug Weiser.

Sound bites:

“I caught a lot of fish today – in the net.” – Co-angler Charles Ward, who fished behind No. 7 pro Tracy Adams.

“It’s kind of like taking an alcoholic to the bar and telling him not to drink.” – Pro David Walker, on the prospect of attending the championship as a sponsor representative instead of a competing angler.

Tomorrow’s takeoff is scheduled to take place at 6:30 a.m. Eastern time at the Plattsburgh Boat Basin, located at 5 Dock St. in Plattsburgh.