It’s all tied up

Strader catches Goodwin to gain share of overall pro lead during day-three action at Wal-Mart FLW Series National Guard Western Division event on Lake Havasu

LAKE HAVASU CITY, Ariz. – After putting on a fishing clinic for two straight days on Lake Havasu, local pro Mike Goodwin finally faltered. And, as a result, Goodwin lost sole possession of the lead he’d held in vice-grip-like fashion throughout the opening round of tournament action. At the end of the day, the main beneficiary was none other than pro Phil Strader, a native of Glide, Ore., who had been hot on the heels of Goodwin all week.

To be sure, it was an opportunity the rest of the field had been hoping for – but not necessarily expecting.

“Goodwin is going to be hard to beat,” said Strader, shortly before Goodwin brought his disappointing 7-pound, 2-ounce catch to the scales. “He’s definitely going to have to stumble for me to take away the lead.”

Not surprisingly, Goodwin’s “stumble” opened the door for other competitors in addition to Strader – including bass-fishing powerhouse Jay Yelas of Tyler, Texas. After bringing in a three-day total weight of 29 pounds, Yelas is now within striking distance tomorrow of both Strader and Goodwin, who boast a tournament-leading weight of 32 pounds apiece.

In short, it’s game on.

Goodwin suffers first setback of tournament

After looking like he was going to run away with the tourney title on Lake Havasu, Goodwin suddenly found himself trying to navigate a series of bad breaks.

“I just had some bad luck today,” said Goodwin, a resident of Lake Havasu City, Ariz., who had capitalized on his local fishing knowledge to solidify his front-runner status over the first two days of tournament action. “I broke off a big fish early on, and then I missed two others. I hadn’t missed a fish all week until today.”

But despite his troubles, Goodwin said he is still very confident in both his approach and his ability to capture a tournament title during Saturday’s final day of competition.

“I still like my chances,” said Goodwin. “I stayed away from some of my good areas that I’m really counting on, and I still have plenty of fish out there. And today, I caught more fish than any other day. Overall, I feel great.”

Goodwin said that tomorrow he’s going to do a lot of “running and gunning,” targeting bass on wood and grass in “6 feet of water or less” with a combination of finesse baits.

“And I’ll tell you what,” said Goodwin. “That one fish that broke off today, I’m going to catch it tomorrow.”

Strader rises up the ranks

With each passing day, Strader continues to move up the leaderboard. After day one, Strader found himself in 15th place. Yesterday, Strader vaulted up to second place. And now today, Strader finds himself in the lead and, more importantly, with a legitimate shot at taking the first-ever Western Division title in the history of FLW Series competition.

“I’m right where I want to be,” said Strader. “My goal coming into this tournament was to make the top 50. But after the first day, my new goal was to make the top 10. Now, my goal is to win this tournament. It’s been a great month for me really. I took fifth place at the Stren Series Lake Shasta event, and then I won a team tournament on Lake Havasu last week. Everything is just working for me right now. This is a premier event. And I’ve put myself in a great position. I couldn’t be happier right now.”

However, Strader knows he still has his work cut out for him.

“I could sack another big bag tomorrow, or I could blank,” said Strader of his chances in the finals. “I almost had a perfect day today, but the wind, it’s definitely not my friend this tournament. So who knows? But if I can get the right bites early in the morning tomorrow, I should be in good shape.”

Strader said that he’ll continue fishing points and breaklines with a finesse jig during the finals.

“The most important thing tomorrow is just to go out there and have fun.”

Yelas nets third place the hard way

Taking a page from Humphrey Bogart in the “African Queen,” Yelas suddenly found himself in quite the unexpected predicament while trying to push-pole his way into the backwaters of Lake Havasu.

“Today we had a lot of trouble,” said Yelas, who has utilized a light-weight G3 aluminum boat all week to traverse some tricky terrain in an attempt to gain an edge on the competition. “The river dropped about 6 inches, and it took me and my partner about four hours to push-poll to our spot – a small backwater lake. We had sweating running off our faces for three straight hours, and I’ve never been so physically exhausted in my life. Luckily for me, my co-angler was a big, strong guy. Otherwise we never would have made it.”

But make it they did. And the result?

“Once we got in there, I caught my limit in about 35 minutes,” said Yelas. “It was amazing. I didn’t get my line in the water until 11:57 a.m., and I’ve never gone that long without fishing before. But once we caught our limit, we got right the heck out of there because we didn’t want to get trapped. Basically, I wound up just fishing a total of one hour today.”

While the good news for Yelas is that he is now within striking distance of the top of the leaderboard, the bad news is that he’s not even sure he can return to his secret spot tomorrow.

“Tomorrow, I could have some real problems,” he said. “I know if I can get in there, I can win this. But I’m not going to have a partner tomorrow, and I don’t think I can push-pole the boat myself. Also, I don’t think the (FSN) camera boats can get in there either (a requirement per tournament rules), so I’m probably not going to be able to fish that spot unless the water rises.”

And if the water doesn’t rise?

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he said. “I’ve been going there every day, so I’m not really sure what’s been going on in the main lake. I could easily zero tomorrow. The water level – that’s clearly going to be key.”

Phua gains ground

On the strength of a three-day total catch weighing 28 pounds, 3 ounces, Mike Phua of Chino, Calif., grabbed hold of fourth place heading into tomorrow’s finals.

“Tomorrow, all the pressure is off,” said Phua. “I think everyone’s goal coming into this tournament was to make the top 50 (and corresponding $10,000 guaranteed payout). So, I’ve more than surpassed my goal. Making the top 10 is unbelievable. It’s awesome.”

But as awesome of a ride as it’s been for Phua, he had something else to celebrate as well.

“I have my wife and family here,” he said. “They drove here this morning, and you can’t ask for anything more than that. This is the first time my wife and daughter have ever seen a tournament, so they’re going to finally see what I love to do in person. It’s just really special.”

Phua said that he will continue targeting bass by throwing tube baits in 2 to 5 feet near “steep walls” during tomorrow’s competition.

“The key is a slow presentation,” said Phua, who is fishing in his first-ever FLW Outdoors event. “I have one section of the lake, and I’m catching them pretty good there. I’m just going to go out there tomorrow and hopefully get some bites. We’ll just have to see what happens.”

Rest of the best

Eric McFarland of Meridian, Idaho, parlayed a three-day catch of 26 pounds, 15 ounces into a fifth-place finish in today’s competition.

Rounding out the top 10 pro finalists at the FLW Series Lake Havasu event:

6th: Randy McAbee of Bakersfield, Calif., 24-13

7th: Gary Dobyns of Yuba City, Calif., 23-1

8th: Brent Ehrler of Redlands, Calif., 22-14

9th: Neil Russell of Nampa, Idaho, 22-11

10th: Chris Zaldain of San Jose, Calif., 21-15

Tim Klinger of Boulder City, Nev., claimed the day’s Snickers Big Bass award in the Pro Division after landing a 6-pound, 6-ounce largemouth. Klinger won $488 for his efforts.

The final day of Wal-Mart FLW Series National Guard Western Division action at Lake Havasu commences at Saturday’s takeoff, scheduled to take place at 7:30 a.m. Mountain Time at Lake Havasu State Park, located at 699 London Bridge Road in Lake Havasu City, Ariz.