Bump and run

When Rick Clunn plucked Randy Blaukat from his broken-down boat on the Mississippi River and drove him upriver to Memphis, Tenn., Thursday afternoon, May 18, he may have performed the most sportsmanlike gesture in pro bass fishing this year. It was day two of the Wal-Mart FLW Tour competition in Memphis. Clunn, of Ava, Mo., was in fourth place in the Pro Division and had fished hard all day in hopes of making the top 10 to earn a spot in the second round on Friday. In front of him on the leader board was Blaukat, of Joplin, Mo., who’s a regular in the tour’s top five this year and who had taken the lead the first day in Memphis – just three places and 1 pound, 9 ounces of fish in front of Clunn.

That Thursday afternoon when his motor blew, Blaukat was miles from Memphis and in danger of missing the weigh-in. Knowing the pros were landing huge stringers on day one – the top six anglers each weighed in over 20 pounds – Blaukat certainly would have missed the cut if he didn’t weigh in his fish on day two. That would have effectively removed one obstacle for Clunn.

But when Clunn came along and found one of his key competitors in distress, he didn’t even hesitate to stop.

“It can be dangerous out there and you don’t want to leave anybody on that water if you don’t have to,” Clunn explained. “It could be me next time and I don’t want anybody running by me.”

As remarkable a deed as that was, it wasn’t the first fellow pro Clunn had carried into the weigh-in. On day one of the tournament, he picked up Larry Frasier of Madisonville, Ky., after Frasier’s motor gave out 120 miles south of Memphis. Frasier proceeded to place fourth the first day, one spot in front of fifth-place Clunn. On day two when he picked up Blaukat, it turned out that the two anglers he had rescued from the Mississippi were the only two competitors to finish the first round in front of the third-place Clunn – Blaukat was first and Frasier was second.

The longest runs

During the first two days of the four-day Wal-Mart FLW tournament in Memphis, conditions on the Mississippi River were, to say the least, less-than-optimal for a world-class bass fishing event. Two factors combined to make the tournament one of the more memorable, if not more arduous, tournaments in recent memory: low water and high winds.

Tournament officials and anglers reported the river to be some 20 feet lower than when the FLW Tour visited Memphis the same time last year. The low water landlocked many of the oxbow lakes near Memphis, causing competitors to run record distances downstream to find accessible fishing locations.

The leader for round one, Blaukat, ran some 180 miles one way to reach his location. That distance eclipsed his previous record of a 153-mile run he made during a tournament on Lake Powell last year. The lengthy, three-and-a-half hour one-way boat ride left him no more than an hour of actual fishing time.

Marathon runs were the norm, especially for those who brought in big sacks of fish. Clunn admitted he made the longest run of his 27-year career on the Mississippi using about 90 gallons of gas a day.

“I really have never been this fatigued in my whole life” he said. “The trip down the Mississippi goes beyond any adjectives I have. I really stressed about making the run before the tournament started, then I got an adrenaline rush from it.”

Davy Hite of Prosperity, S.C., who celebrated his birthday during the tourney and who led the field going into the final round, estimated he ran over 1,200 miles.

“I turned 35 two days ago, but my back feels like it’s 135,” he said.

Battling 5-footers

A strong southwest wind, sometimes gusting to 25 mph, blew against the Mississippi’s current to create large swells. Add to that the waves created by barge traffic and it turned the hundreds of 20-foot flat-bottomed bass boats traveling at high velocity into water-bound pinballs.

“The thing about it is you’re running 60 mph, then you turn a bend and you’re in 4- to 5-foot swells,” said pro Carl Maxfield of Summerville, S.C., who ran 162 miles round trip each day. “I’ve been doing this for 25 years and I’ve never run that hard.”

Maxfield was another of those sportsmen who came to the rescue of a fellow angler in need. He was about 23 miles down river from the weigh-in point at Jefferson Davis Park in Memphis when he encountered a stalled boat holding co-angler Steve Bowman of Little Rock, Ark.

“He said he needed the check (for placing in the money),” Maxfield explained. “I told him, `There’s no way I’m going to leave you all out on this river.’ I wouldn’t want to be out there.”

The problem was, Bowman was in the flight in front of Maxfield and needed to make it back 20 minutes earlier than his rescuer. Traveling 23 miles upriver on the hostile Mississippi in just 33 minutes presented a challenge. They ran over several wing dams they couldn’t see through the chop and we’re slowed to 10-12 mph in places, but they made it back just in time for Bowman to check in.

“When we pulled up to the bank everybody was reaching into my (tackle) box for aspirins,” Maxfield said.

Moving it down river

Along the way, Maxfield encountered the detritus of the rough-water bass fishing tournament. “You’d come around a bend and you’d see an empty boat tied up over here, or one beached over there. It was a tough day all over,” he said.

One of those who had to abandon his boat was pro Tommy Biffle of Wagoner, Okla. On day two, he and his co-angler, Gary Dickey of Trafalgar, Ind., were ejected from their boat when the motor broke off at top speed just 12 miles from Memphis. Neither angler was hurt, but the incident provided proof enough about the power of the mighty Mississippi and the impact that difficult conditions can have on a bass tournament.

“With the current, it’s just rough,” Biffle said. “Luckily, I’m just a little bit sore. But I had to mess around until 2 a.m. getting the boat back.”

In hopes of shortening the long-distance runs the anglers were making, Operation Bass officials moved the days-three and -four takeoff and weigh-in point about an hour’s drive down river to a landing on Tunica Lake. The move proved successful as finalists continued to bring in the crowd-pleasing big bass that really defined the Memphis tournament – with much less wear-and-tear on their bodies and boats.

Afterwards, top-10 pro Craig Powers of Rockwood, Tenn., joined in the prevailing din of appreciation among anglers for the equipment they used during the river tournament. More than one competitor pointed to his Evinrude Ficht motor as the reason he didn’t become stranded. The Ficht is known for its fuel efficiency in long-distance runs and for its solid construction.

“I thank the Lord no one got hurt in it,” he said, “and that’s a testament to these boats and motors. You couldn’t afford to fish this tournament without that Evinrude Ficht motor.”