Target: Toshi
Namiki leads charge toward $100,000 at final day of FLW Ouachita River
MONROE, La. – Looking at this year’s Wal-Mart FLW Tour schedule, it’s tough to imagine that one of the heaviest cut weights would have come at the third event of the season. The first two tournaments, lakes Okeechobee and Toho, yes, but the Ouachita River? This place was supposed to be some tough fishing.
But that’s exactly what this surprising Louisiana-Arkansas bass fishery did this week, giving Florida a run for its money. In fact, the pro cut weight here – 26 pounds, 6 ounces – actually beat the Okeechobee cut weight, 26-3. Toho came in a little higher at 27-1.
“This place has been fantastic,” fourth-place pro Jason Kilpatrick said Saturday morning. “There are some real quality fish here.”
The pro who squeaked into the cut in 10th place with that weight of 26-6, Toshinari Namiki, now leads the two-day final round. Yesterday he brought in the day’s only catch weighing more than 20 pounds and is leading the charge toward the $100,000 top prize.
But, at 20 pounds, 7 ounces, Namiki’s lead is relatively slight, especially considering the size of fish we’ve already seen here this week. Matt Herren is just behind him with 18-1, Mike Hawkes has 16-2, and Kilpatrick has 15-0.
The spirited back-and-forth between anglers seen at Friday night’s weigh-in continued at takeoff Saturday morning, with the young guns and veterans ratcheting up the level of dock talk. It was all good-natured ribbing, but one could sense there was a concerted effort to get into Namiki’s head.
“Yeah, he looks pretty confident, but he’s getting old and has a bad arm,” Hawkes joked about the 38-year-old Namiki.
“I don’t think anybody in this top 10 fishes faster than me,” Darrel Robertson said. “So with this short day, that could work to my advantage.”
Reiterating his sentiment from Friday night, Kilpatrick said: “Every one of these guys has a quitter inside of them. Everyone has that part of him that is thinking about trying not to fail, as opposed to winning. It’s just a matter of overcoming that.”
But Namiki was hearing none of it. He, too, echoed his boast from the night before.
“With secret bait, I catch 20 pounds,” he said. “Yeah, I sleep very well (last night). I dream of winning.”
All 10 pros are expected to lock up into Arkansas’ Felsenthal pool today. Before they left, they conferred on a mutual time for everyone to meet at the dam at the end of the day so they could save time by locking back down together.
Namiki, battling a bit of a language barrier, wrote the time he heard down on a sheet of paper and showed it to Herren and Hawkes.
They looked at each other, smiled and said in unison: “Yeah, that’s it.”
Saturday’s final weigh-in begins at 3 p.m. Central time at the Wal-Mart store located at 2701 Louisville Ave. in Monroe. The free Family Fun Zone – which features interactive displays, product samples and games – opens to the public at 11 a.m.
Here at FLWOutdoors.com, weigh-in coverage on FLW Live begins at 3 p.m. Central time.
Saturday’s conditions:
Sunrise: 6:22 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 59 degrees
Expected high temperature: 80 degrees
Water temperature: 54-58 degrees
Wind: SW at 19 mph
Maximum humidity: 37 percent
Day’s outlook: sunny