Monsoor Grabs the Lead
Veteran river rat finally sees success on the Potomac
Tom Monsoor is known for two things: swim jigs and rivers. Both may finally be converging perfectly for him after two days of the FLW Tour on the Potomac River presented by Costa Sunglasses.
Top five patterns from day two
Thrift wins Angler of the Year
Haraguchi earns Co-angler of the Year
Dortch earns Rookie of the Year
Despite his strengths, Monsoor has had an up-and-down history on the Potomac, in large part due to the tides – he admits he never had really been able to figure them out. On day one, he thought it finally clicked, as he utilized a pattern he felt was tide dependent. Helping the matter was his boat position of 149, which allowed him to capitalize on both key feeding windows brought on by the tide changes in the morning and afternoon.
However, being in the first flight Friday, and with the tides backing up an hour, he knew he really only had the morning window. He made the most of it, cracking 16 pounds, 14 ounces to take over the lead with 36 pounds, 4 ounces.
On Friday the veteran hit the same two areas he caught all his fish Thursday. The first area is only 100-200 feet long, but he’s caught a limit there quickly both days despite it being “packed” with boats. The second area is the one that makes Monsoor grin, as it’s 100 yards wide and has been producing better quality.
“I had a limit by 8 a.m. on the first spot, and then I culled out four of them in the second spot,” says Monsoor. “I was done fishing by noon and just went looking after that.”
It was a good thing Monsoor was done so early, as his batteries went dead and his livewell began leaking, forcing him to stop and refill his livewell any time he ran so much as a mile.
He’ll get both of those issues fixed for Saturday. He’s also hoping the top-20 cut helps fix his other issue, which has been fishing pressure.
“I’ll have to see what I’m going to do tomorrow and see how bad my areas got beat up today,” says Monsoor. “On both my spots, as soon as I left guys went right on them and started fishing circles on the spots. Fortunately, they like my swim jigs better than theirs.”
Top 10 pros
1. Tom Monsoor – La Crosse, Wis. – 36-4 (10)
2. Robert Behrle – Hoover, Ala. – 35-2 (10)
3. Chris Johnston – Peterborough, Ont. – 34-2 (10)
4. David Dudley – Lynchburg, Va. – 33-9 (10)
5. Andy Young – Mound, Minn. – 33-8 (10)
6. Andrew Upshaw – Tulsa, Okla. – 33-8 (10)
7. Anthony Gagliardi – Prosperity, S.C. – 33-3 (10)
8. John Voyles – Petersburg, Ind. – 33-1 (10)
9. Michael Neal – Dayton, Tenn. – 32-14 (10)
10. Brandon Cobb – Greenwood, S.C. – 32-12 (10)