Monsoor’s man to beat at Beaver

But look who’s No. 2

ROGERS, Ark. – Sometimes these pro fishing tournaments turn out almost like they’re scripted. Rest assured, they are not, but after Clark Wendlandt put a pounding on a nice, leading limit of Beaver Lake bass Friday, things sort of seemed, well, familiar. The plot twist came when one of the hottest new sticks on tour, Tom Monsoor, came in with an even heavier limit and took a 1-pound lead over Wendlandt in the first half of final-round action at the FLW Tour’s Wal-Mart Open.

Monsoor, who hails from La Crosse, Wis., weighed in five bass for a Pro Division-leading 12 pounds, 8 ounces. Wendlandt, from Cedar Park, Texas, is just a pound off pace with 11-8.

“Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while,” said a smiling Monsoor, who seemed pretty surprised at his own success at unpredictable Beaver Lake. “I’m just fishing. You just don’t plan on winning here, though, because this isn’t a pattern lake.”

The relative lack of dependable fishing patterns that has stymied so many other pros at Beaver Lake this week seems to have worked in Monsoor’s favor. Many anglers started the tournament throwing crankbaits and jerkbaits in search of prespawn bass, but that bite almost completely dried up when the weather changed for the better on day two. With bluebird skies and little wind, most of the top pros switched over to a jig-and-trailer combination – and went deep. For the last two days, Monsoor, who is a known jig specialist, has fished almost perfectly.

“This morning, I told my co-angler partner, `The pressure’s off. We made (the cut). Let’s just go fishing,'” said Monsoor, who has caught over 10 pounds every day so far and qualified for the finals in fourth place.

The leader relied on his arsenal of homemade “Tom’s swimming jigs” to catch his 10 keeper bass Friday. These are the same jigs that he used to win four BFL Great Lakes Division tournaments on the Mississippi River at La Crosse, as well as the 2001 EverStart Series Northern Division event at the same venue. But since joining the FLW Tour in 2002, he also found that his highly guarded jigs were versatile, earning him third place at Kentucky Lake in 2003 and a runner-up check at the Atchafalaya Basin just last February.

Now, he’s poised to win the second-biggest payout of the year, $200,000, on a seemingly difficult lake. So what’s with that jig? The secret, Monsoor thinks, besides its swimming action, is the color of his trailer. Many anglers here are using combinations of brown and green-pumpkin. He’s using a white jig head, but his trailer, a new Yamamoto grub, is fluorescent.

“I think that when it gets down in that dark water, (the fish) can see it,” he explained, adding that he caught fish down to 30 feet deep Friday.

Since deep fishing has been key, especially since the sun came out, perhaps brighter is better. As opening-leader Craig Powers of Rockwood, Tenn., who placed sixth Friday, said, “The ones that you can see swimming are the ones that you can’t catch. It’s the ones down there on the bottom that you can get.”

“Yeah, it doesn’t matter to me,” Monsoor said about the sunny, calm conditions, adding that he expected to catch a lot of smaller spotted bass, but ended up with a good share of bigger largemouths in his livewell Friday. “In fact, I think it’s making it better for me.”

Don’t spend your winnings yet, Tom

Monsoor had good reason to doubt his prospects for victory Friday since his biggest challenger, Wendlandt, is perhaps the biggest of them all at Beaver Lake. Not that it needs repeating – again – but here’s his unparalleled track record at this yearly tournament: five top-10 finishes in the last six years, plus two victories (1999 and 2001). He has already cleared $427,500 in winnings at this tournament alone over the years, and he’s guaranteed at least another $20,000 tomorrow.

You can rest assured that Wendlandt’s gunning for that $200,000 payday, but it almost didn’t happen. He qualified for today’s cut in 10th place yesterday, and he had to sit and wait as the bubble man for about a half hour to see if he would make it.

“It wasn’t too much fun,” he said.

Wendlandt admitted that he might have been a little bit the victim of his own success at Beaver Lake when he came into this tournament. He only caught three bass on day one and had to make a strong surge on day two just to squeak in. After pushing too hard Wednesday, he reflected about what it is to be known as “Mr. Beaver Lake” and the pressure – self-imposed, he admits – that goes along with it.

“It’s worked out since then,” he said. “I relaxed, said a prayer, and since then things have been good. I’m here to fish.”

On the Shin

Besides Monsoor and Wendlandt, a good part of the rest of the top 10 still has a viable chance for a comeback victory. Eight of the 10 pros caught limits Friday, and roughly the top seven guys are all still within reasonable striking range for Beaver Lake.

Day-one pro leader Shinichi Fukae of Osaka, Japan, placed third with five bass weighing 10 pounds, 7 ounces.

Fukae, a solid FLW newcomer who looks strong to take over the standings lead after this week, fired a warning shot at his fellow finalists during weigh-in. Through an interpreter, he said, “(I) will catch 15 pounds tomorrow.”

Klinger fourth

Another FLW rookie from the West, Tim Klinger of Boulder City, Nev., placed fourth with a limit weighing 10 pounds, 1 ounce. He caught one of the heaviest single largemouths of the day, accompanied by four smaller fish.

“I lost another big largemouth about five minutes after I caught that one,” he said. “I’m ready. If I can get five bites on my jig, I’m going to be strong.”

Hardin fifth

Mark Hardin of Canton, Ga., was one of those pros who missed the wind Friday. Still he managed to scratch out a limit worth 9 pounds, 3 ounces for fifth place.

“I just hope the wind will blow so we can catch some tomorrow,” he said.

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 in the Pro Division are Powers with five bass weighing 8 pounds, 14 ounces (6th place); Mike Surman of Boca Raton, Fla., with five bass weighing 8-7 (7th); Jason Kilpatrick of Satsuma, Ala., with five bass weighing 6-10 (8th); Jason Abram of Chuckey, Tenn., with two bass weighing 2-9 (9th); and Dion Hibdon of Stover, Mo., with two bass weighing 2-8 (10th).

The final day of Wal-Mart Open competition at Beaver Lake begins Saturday at 7 a.m. CST as the 10 pro finalists take off from Prairie Creek Marina in Rogers. The heaviest two-day weight from Friday and Saturday combined will determine the tournament’s $200,000 winner.

FLW Outdoors editor Patrick Baker contributed to this report.