Quick Bites: Wal-Mart Open, Day 4
Wal-Mart FLW Tour
Wal-Mart Open
Beaver Lake, Rogers, Ark.
Saturday, pro finals day two
That’s a bull’s-eye … 2003 Wal-Mart Open champion Dan Morehead is obviously on a roll – technically, strategically and mentally – so much so that he only had to weigh in three of his five bass to win Saturday. “This has been a year where I hope I never wake up,” he said at weigh-in. Perhaps most important when an angler gets hot like Morehead is the mental aspect of the sport. Given the odds, to make three of four FLW cuts in a row is a rare enough feat in itself, but then to go ahead and win one is truly remarkable. And it takes extreme focus. (See Rick Clunn, circa 2000.) Morehead said his focus this season was refined by an off-season regimen of professional archery. “Archery is 100 percent mental,” he said. “It helps you stay focused, stay in the zone.”
How about three in a row? … Morehead’s zone only appears to be increasing in size with the upcoming schedule. The next two stops for the Paducah, Ky., pro are at his home lake, Kentucky Lake, first for an EverStart Central tourney at the end of the month and then the FLW event two weeks later. He has already accumulated five FLW Outdoors victories on Kentucky/Barkley lakes, including wins at all three levels of competition – BFL, EverStart and FLW. He knows he will be a heavy favorite at both of those events. If ever an angler had a realistic shot at the unbelievable feat of winning three in a row, it’s right now for Dan Morehead. So can he hit the mark two more times? “Lord, yes!” he said confidently. “The main thing is that I’m focused and my momentum’s rolling. I’m relaxed and I’m going home for a month. I’m going for broke.” What about the added pressure of being the hometown favorite, not to mention the points leader, defending Kentucky Lake champion and most recent FLW winner? “Some people say it’s not an advantage to be the hometown favorite, but that’s not the case at Kentucky Lake,” he said. “The TVA fluctuates that water so much, and my advantage is that I’ve fished that lake for 25 years. I know where the fish go when they move the water.”
Pair me up with him, please … Randall Hutson earned the bittersweet distinction of finishing second in back-to-back Wal-Mart Opens with his runner-up performance Saturday. “Of course, you’re never satisfied with that,” said the pro from nearby Washburn, Mo., “but you can’t be disappointed with $100,000 each time, either.” One point of satisfaction to come out of it was the fact that the Wal-Mart Open co-angler champions the last two years – Bobby Hendricks in 2002 and Roy Altman Jr. in 2003 – both fished from the back of Hutson’s boat in Friday’s co-angler finals.
Ready for more … Russ Moran, the FLW rookie from Murfreesboro, Tenn., who led the opening round, wasn’t exactly too disappointed that the crankbait bite he had been working all week slowed down when the weather calmed down Saturday and he had to switch to a worm technique. After all, he finished third and collected over $54,000. Said an excited Moran: “This was the greatest thing I’ve ever been involved with.”
Ego boost? … Fourth-place finisher Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn., was happy to cash his first check of the season this week. “I don’t think I’ve gone three tournaments without a check ever,” he remarked. While he’s hoping his top-five performance at Beaver Lake will help propel him back into the race to qualify for the Jacobs Cup, he seemed a little concerned about the next two FLW events. “At Kentucky Lake, if it turns into a structure-fishing tournament, then I’ll have to go and find everything. I’ll have a better chance if it’s a spawning tournament,” he said. “As far as Wheeler Lake is concerned, I’ve been there three times during the prespawn, and that lake has absolutely tore me to shreds. It’s put a lot of holes in my ego.”
Note to self … Fifth-place Aaron Martens of Castaic, Calif., might have learned a valuable lesson about fishing Beaver Lake this week. The first day of the finals he went to a location where he was nailing some 25 to 30 keepers in practice, but which became a community hole when the tournament started. He figured that, with the opening-round field of boats gone on Friday, it would continue to produce like it did in practice. It didn’t. “It seems like on this lake that you can’t go back to an area that’s been hit hard,” he said.
World-record meanmouth? … The 5-pound, 4-ounce meanmouth bass – a spotted/smallmouth bass hybrid – caught by co-angler Mary Parnell of Casselberry, Fla., Thursday is being submitted to the International Game Fish Association for Arkansas state-record consideration as well as a possible world record. The relatively rare meanmouth species came across the scale a number of times this week, but most were in the 2-pound range. Everyone who saw it said that Parnell’s meanmouth was the largest they’d ever witnessed.
Dummmb stat of the week … Five of the top six finishers at the 2003 Wal-Mart Open have last names that begin with an “M,” and six of the top eight begin with an “M.”
Quick numbers
507,078: Amount, in dollars, that Dan Morehead has won in his FLW Outdoors career.
233,000: Amount, in dollars, that Morehead has won on the FLW Tour in 2003.
18: Number of times that Rick Clunn has finished in the top 10 on the FLW Tour, which is by far the record. He finished seventh Saturday.
Sound bite
“This sport takes more intelligence than any sport I’ve ever been involved in.”
– Rick Clunn, describing how difficult it is to adapt to changes in conditions, locations and strategy over the course of a four-day fishing tournament.
Quick links, Day 4: