Just as the Battle of Plattsburgh was a pivotal moment in the War of 1812, the latest confrontation there will settle some important issues as well. American forces turned back a British invasion of New York on the Lake Champlain corridor in 1814 with lots of noise, nail-biting and close calls. This year’s struggle will be a good deal less sanguine, but no doubt just as dramatic to the combatants.
With the Walmart FLW Tour Major on Lake Champlain presented by Chevy set to begin June 28, suddenly we’re down to one tournament where a number of questions are going to be answered:
• Can Castrol pro Dave Dudley hold on to his precarious perch in the Angler of the Year standings?
• Will M&M’s pro Jim Moynagh’s Minnesota background both as a grass fisherman and as a smallmouth fisherman help him usurp Dudley in the rankings?
• Can 21-year-old Jacob Wheeler, the 2011 BFL All-American champion, overtake Clent Davis of Alabama to win Walmart FLW Tour Rookie of the Year status?
• Will somebody else come out of the woodwork to win at Champlain and blow Dudley and Moynagh out of the water?
• Who among the pros and co-anglers on the bubble for the Forrest Wood Cup will squeak in because of their showing at Champlain? And who will fail?
Heading into this, the final qualifying test of the 2012 season, Virginian Dudley leads Moynagh by one thin point in the AOY race. Figuring that Moynagh cut his angling teeth going after smallmouths in his home state, you’d think that he has an edge. But many expect Moynagh to target largemouths as he loves to grass fish for them on his home lake – Lake Minnetonka. Plus, any edge over Dudley is always razor-thin. Dudley, the defending AOY, thrives on challenges.
“This year has been different from any I’ve experienced as far as close finishes and tight races in the point standings,” notes Bill Taylor, FLW’s director of tournament operations. “Still, one constant all season has been the anglers clustered around the top. As Forrest Wood says about such things, `the cream always rises to the top.’ And once again we have the cream of the crop battling it out. As for the 2012 AOY, I would never bet against David Dudley, but Jim Moynagh is so mentally strong he might pull it off.
“And don’t count out Jacob Powroznik [currently third], who I think is probably the most underrated pro in the country,” adds Taylor. “If some of the leaders have a bad tournament at Champlain, and others near the top have strong showings, it could really shake things up. It’s going to be exciting to watch.”
While Dudley, Moynagh and others are duking it out for the AOY crown at Champlain, another close matchup will be decided in the tournament. In the ROY race, Davis is ahead by 21 points over Wheeler.
After a relatively uneventful career as a Southeastern Conference college fisherman for the University of Montevallo in Alabama in 2010, Davis switched to the EverStart Series in 2011 and then the Walmart FLW Tour this year, where his professional career took off at a gallop. After finishing 10th at Table Rock, 11th at the Potomac River and 20th at Kentucky Lake, Davis has amassed 854 points, or 50 points behind Dudley in the overall standings.
“Everything just sort of clicked for me last year when I fished the EverStarts,” notes Davis, 26. “I proved to myself then that I could fish with guys that were a lot older and with a lot more experience. Since then I’ve put every bit of energy I can into each tournament. I read everything I can find about a lake because I’ve never been to most of them. I do my homework, and it doesn’t hurt that I travel with Cody Meyer and Justin Lucas to events. Those guys have taught me a lot. Having said all that, the first tournament of the year almost did me in. That’s where I finished 74th.”
Wheeler, who fished the Walmart Bass Fishing League’s Central and Northern Divisions for a couple of years before his All-American win earned him a ticket to the Walmart FLW Tour, wasn’t as flashy in the standings as Davis was this year – though the Hoosier scored an 8th place finish at Kentucky Lake – but consistency has been his strong suit. His worst tournament came at the Potomac River where he wound up in 54th place, and he picked up a check in every event. Wheeler has 833 points and, like Davis, conceivably could win the Angler-of-the-Year title and Rookie of the Year if the wheels fall off of the fishing machines ahead of them.
That’s not likely to happen, though anything is possible. Shin Fukae is proof of that. In 2004, he won both Angler of the Year and Rookie of the Year with 1,085 points. Come to think of it, Lake Champlain was the last stop on the tournament trail that year as well.