Quick Bites: FLW Tour, Lewis Smith Lake, Day 4

Wal-Mart FLW Tour

Lewis Smith Lake, Jasper, Ala.

Final round, Sunday

Species split … Largemouth or spotted bass? That is the ubiquitous question that always surrounds mixed-species tournaments, especially in Alabama. Pros often have to commit to one species or the other. So how did the largemouth vs. spotted bass split fall among the top 10 pros in the FLW Tour event on Smith Lake? Planted solidly in the largemouth camp were Scott Canterbury (2nd), Koby Kreiger (3rd), Greg Pugh (5th), Darrel Robertson (6th), Jason Christie (7th), Brandon Coulter (8th) and Glenn Browne (9th). Spotted-bass devotees who stayed on the lower end of the lake fishing deep with finesse tackle included Danny Pierce (10th), Luke Clausen (4th) and the tournament winner, Michael Bennett.

Diamonds in the rough … The FLW Tour is fertile ground for young, up-and-coming fishing talent. In recent years pros like Shin Fukae, Anthony Gagliardi, Bobby Lane, Brent Ehrler and Bryan Thrift have made professional-fishing names for themselves with undeniable performances in FLW Tour competition. At this week’s event on Lewis Smith Lake, two more rookies are emerging as promising candidates for future fishing stars – and ones to watch for Fantasy Fishing picks: Jason Christie and Scott Canterbury. Christie, 34, of Park Hill, Okla, is a BFL stalwart who has 21 BFL top-10s, including five BFL wins, to his credit. Last May, he resigned from his job as a P.E. instructor and basketball coach to focus on his fishing career and was rewarded with a Stren Series win on Lake of the Ozarks in September. He has now joined the FLW Tour for 2008 and found success in only his second tour-level event with a seventh-place finish at Lewis Smith. “I fished a frog all week on 65-pound-test way in the backs of pockets,” Christie said. “I was hitting about 60 spots per day, covering as much water as possible.”

Canterbury continued … Scott Canterbury is another prospect to be watching in 2008. Canterbury is also a longtime BFL veteran with 12 top-10s in league-level competition. He fished the Stren Central Division in 2007 and finished eighth in the points, giving him a berth in the FLW Tour. “I decided to step it up a notch and give the FLW Tour a try,” Canterbury said. And it did not take the 31-year-old plumber from Odenville, Ala., very long to find success on tour. In just his second event, he finished in second place, missing his first career win by 3 pounds, 4 ounces. “To finish second in my second FLW Tour event is quite a rush; this is the most exciting tournament I’ve ever fished. I had no idea I’d make the top 10 here. I was on absolutely nothing in practice. Every day of the tournament, I’d just go fishing with an open mind. I covered water with a buzzbait while looking for beds. I caught most of my fish off beds, but each day of the tournament I got a big bite on the buzzbait that helped me get to over the 10-pound mark.”

Pulling together for Pace … Sadly, on March 18, Duracell pro Keith Pace lost his wife, India, to a year-and-a-half battle with cancer. The Paces had only been married for three months when India was diagnosed with stage-four breast cancer in August 2006. The long, grueling fight against the dreadful disease has left the Pace family mired in medical expenses. The FLW Tour family, including Pace’s Procter and Gamble teammates, have rallied behind Pace, designing T-shirts in India’s honor and selling them for donations to the Pace Family Medical Fund. The T-shirts can purchased and donations can be made at www.beyondanglers.com.

Kreiger passes the million mark … Prilosec Pro Koby Kreiger finished third at Lewis Smith Lake, and his $40,000 check pushes his total fishing-career earnings (including BASS earnings) to just over $1 million. “Passing that mark is a pretty cool thing; it’s a little goal I’ve had in the back of my mind for a long time,” Kreiger said. “Now that I’ve got that out of the way, my next goal is to win one of these FLW Tour events.”

Speaking of Kreiger … At the conclusion of the FLW Tour event on Lewis Smith Lake, Kreiger now has the Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year lead with 388 points. He is followed by tournament winner Michael Bennett with 379 points. Andy Morgan (378), Luke Clausen (371) and Glenn Browne (363) round out the top five.

Quick numbers

3-3: Weight, in pounds and ounces, of Michael Bennett’s margin of victory after catching all spotted bass on Lewis Smith Lake.

2: Number of FLW Tour events Scott Canterbury and Jason Christie have fished apiece.

5: Number of BFLs Jason Christie has won.

1 million: Amount of money, in dollars, Koby Kreiger has won as a professional angler.

11: Number of years Koby Kreiger has been fishing professionally.

Sound bites

“When I used to tell people that I wanted to be a professional angler, there were plenty of doubters – that million-dollar figure should give the naysayers something to study for a while.” – Koby Kreiger, on surpassing the $1 million mark.

“I guess I need to be more specific when I pray.” – 10th-place pro Danny Pierce, telling the crowd he prayed for a top-10 when he really wanted a win.

“I can at least say I led an FLW Tour event for a while – even though it was for about 30 seconds.” – seventh-place pro Jason Christie, after briefly holding the lead on day four.