We have fished five of the six tour events now and things are getting tight. The AOY as well as the field for this year’s Cup is going to be decided this week at Chickamauga. The AOY gets all of the attention and rightly so. The guys at the top have all had great seasons and they deserve the attention. It looks now like the top three or four anglers in the point standings all have a real shot at the title and taking home $100,000.

What I want to talk about is the drama that takes place in the middle of the pack at this tournament. The AOY is out of reach for most guys but the majority of the field still has a shot at making the Cup. There is more calculating and computing done by the anglers at this event than all of the others combined. Each day of the event the results will become a little clearer.

Some anglers will fail and others will succeed. Some will thrive on the pressure and others will crumble. Some will leave on top of the world and others are looking at a very long off season. A lost fish or mechanical issue will cost someone but help someone else.

Now some will argue that this is just one of six tournaments and they are all the same. I mean, the winner gets 200 points at this one just like he does at the first one. Every cast you make from the first derby to the last should be the same. So what makes this one different? Why is there more pressure?

The first tournament is exactly that. You have an entire season to make up ground or expand your lead. You can have a bad day or lose a big fish and make up for it tomorrow or at the next derby. None of us have that luxury this week. This is it. It’s the last one and your last chance. One hundred and seventy four anglers made their first cast at Okeechobee this year and all 174 had a common goal of making the Forrest Wood Cup. Only 35 good anglers will earn their spot to fish for $500,000 at the Cup. The rest will make their last cast of the 2013 FLW Tour season at Chickamauga. That is what makes this tournament special! I live for that competition!

Good Luck!

Randall Tharp