MORGAN CITY, La. – Fujifilm pro Sam Swett of Covington, La., caught 10 bass weighing 23 pounds, 9 ounces in the final round of competition on the Atchafalaya Basin to edge past Tom Monsoor of La Crosse, Wis., by 10 ounces and win $100,000 at the $900,000 Wal-Mart FLW Tour stop presented by Lay’s.
“This is obviously the biggest win of my career,” said Swett, who bucked the jig flipping trend used by most contenders and caught solid limits all week using a 1/2-ounce white spinnerbait with gold and silver Colorado blades. “It was definitely special to win in front of the hometown crowd with all my friends and family here.”
If ever a tournament tested the ability of anglers to adjust to changing conditions, this year’s event on the Atchafalaya Basin was it. Fair, mild conditions greeted anglers in practice, but on opening day, cold temperatures and rain rolled through the region. Already high water crept even higher as the rain continued throughout the week, and temperatures that had held in the 50s and 60s steadily dropped.
By Saturday the gently flowing Atchafalaya River and connecting canals became a raging torrent, and anglers struggled to find clear water, which was key to catching a limit of quality bass throughout the week. Several pros reported that water temperatures in many areas of the basin dropped 7 degrees in 24 hours. Overall, it was an extremely tough week that truly tested the mettle of pros and co-anglers alike.
Swett caught most of his bass while fishing a bayou near the Intracoastal Waterway. Each day the outgoing tide filtered the basin’s stained water by pulling it through grass flats in the area. The resulting clear water on the opposite side of the grass seemed to attract bait fish and bass.
This was Swett’s first top-10 appearance since joining the FLW Tour in 2001. In addition to his $100,000 check, he also earned a $1,000 bonus from Solar Bat for his use of Solar Bat sunglasses on the tournament trail.
Monsoor, a Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League veteran who advanced to the Wal-Mart FLW Tour in 2002 through the EverStart Series Northern Division, landed $37,000 for a final round catch of 10 bass weighing 22 pounds, 15 ounces. He also earned the Shop-Vac Clean Sweep Award and a selection of four Shop-Vac products for advancing to the finals as the No. 1 seed with 10 bass weighing 32 pounds, 11 ounces. He caught all of his fish this week swimming a homemade jig.
Monsoor has earned 24 top 10 finishes in FLW Outdoors competition since 1996, including an EverStart Series win on the Mississippi River in 2001 and a third place showing at the FLW Tour stop on Kentucky Lake in 2003.
Rounding out the top five pros are Cody Bird of Granbury, Texas (seven bass, 18 pounds, 12 ounces, $25,000); Chris Baumgardner of Gastonia, N.C. (seven bass, 17 pounds, 9 ounces, $20,000); and Steve Tosh of Waterford, Calif. (seven bass, 16 pounds, 2 ounces, $18,000). Pros finishing as low as 50th place earned $10,000.
Team Land O’Lakes angler and Bronx native Judy Israel claimed the co-angler crown and $20,000 Friday with three bass weighing 6 pounds, 9 ounces that she caught while fishing behind Yamaha pro Dean Rojas of Grand Saline, Texas. Israel, a 58-year-old grandmother of two who moved from New York to Clewiston, Fla., seven years ago to pursue life on the FLW Tour, is the first woman to claim a tour title. She also collected a $500 Wal-Mart gift card from Castrol and $500 worth of Castrol products for the win.
During the tournament, 1,239 bass weighing a total of 3,006 pounds, 15 ounces were brought to the scale. More than 99 percent of the bass were released alive, thanks in part to an all-new, state-of-the-art Crestliner release boat that will be used at every FLW Tour stop in 2004. If the tour maintains a 98 percent live-release rate throughout the season, Energizer will donate $25,000 to the Children’s Miracle Network.
The biggest bass of the tournament was caught by Mark Pack of Mineola, Texas, who landed an 8-pound lunker Wednesday to win $750 and the day’s Snickers Big-Bass Award in the Pro Division. Pack earned another $1,000 from Snickers for catching the heaviest bass in either division over the first two days of competition. The angler who catches the overall largest bass during the regular season will also win an additional $5,000 in August. Currently, Rojas holds the top spot with a 10-pounder caught at the tour’s season opener on Lake Okeechobee in January.
Bill McDonald earned the Energizer Keeps on Going Award and a $500 Wal-Mart gift card for advancing to the final round as the No. 10 seed after finishing 44th on opening day. He also earned the Schick Close Shave Award, a $100 Wal-Mart gift card and a selection of Schick products for advancing to the finals in the last qualifying position.
The four-day tournament is the second of seven events that comprise the $6.8 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour, which culminates with the record-setting $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship and Outdoor Show in Birmingham, Ala., Aug. 11-14. At the championship, the winning pro earns the sport’s largest cash award, $500,000, and fishing fans are treated to hundreds of displays featuring special offers on everything from crankbaits to bass boats. Featuring two $500,000 events, two $900,000 events and two $1.25 million Open events during the regular season, the FLW Tour is the nation’s top tournament circuit.
The third regular-season FLW Tour stop will be held March 10-13 on Old Hickory Lake in Gallatin, Tenn., and the Wal-Mart Open on Beaver Lake near Rogers, Ark., will be held March 31-April 3. Kentucky Lake near Benton, Ky., will host the fifth tour stop May 12-15 followed by the Forrest Wood Open on Lake Champlain near Plattsburgh, N.Y., June 23-26.
Coverage of the Atchafalaya Basin tournament will be broadcast to 65 million Outdoor Life Network subscribers on the “FLW Outdoors” television program. A tournament preview featuring bass-fishing legend Hank Parker will air Feb. 29 at 1 p.m. Eastern time and March 4 at 5 p.m. Eastern time. Fishing fans can watch the tournament weigh-in with hosts Carlton Wing, Taylor Carr and Charlie Evans March 7 at 1 p.m. and March 11 at 5 p.m. Eastern time. Tournament veteran Larry Nixon will host a tournament wrap-up March 14 at 1 p.m. Eastern time and March 18 at 5 p.m. Eastern time.
The FLW Tour field expanded from 175 to 200 pros and 200 co-anglers for 2004. Pros and co-anglers are randomly paired each day, with pros supplying the boat, controlling boat movement and competing against other pros. Co-anglers fish from the back deck against other co-anglers. Anglers in both divisions competed for two days to determine the top 10 who advanced to Friday’s competition.
Weights were cleared Friday, and the remaining co-anglers competed for one day to determine the winner. The top 10 pros continue competition Saturday, with the winner determined by the heaviest two-day weight.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, the Wal-Mart FLW Tour is administered by FLW Outdoors, the world’s leading marketer of competitive fishing. Other FLW Outdoors-sanctioned tournament trails are the EverStart Series, the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye Tour, the Wal-Mart RCL Walleye League and the Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its six tournament trails. Wal-Mart has been the title sponsor of FLW Outdoors since 1997.