Ready for a win

Tucker hoping to seal Stren Series win

LAGRANGE, Ga. – Terry Tucker of Gadsden, Ala., has been fishing Operation Bass and FLW Outdoors events for the better part of 20 years.

He has four Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League wins, several All-American qualifications and a couple of Stren Series top-10s – but no big-league wins.

“I’m due,” said Tucker Saturday morning, as the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers awaited the start of the fourth and final day of the Stren Series Southeast Division event on West Point Lake.

Tucker leads the event by 6 pounds, 5 ounces going into today.

“I’m ready to win one of these things,” he said. “I need to win one for a little morale boost. I’ve been doing this for so long, my patience is running thin and the fun is going out of it. A win would certainly re-energize me and help put the thrill factor back in it.”

While Tucker has done very well at the BFL level, the Stren Series and FLW Tour events have been tougher on him.

“That’s basically because I’m a shallow-water fisherman,” he said. “It’s seldom that shallow-water fish hold up for two or three days in a row. Either I catch them all in one day or things change.”

Coming into this event, Tucker was determined not to catch all his fish in the opening round.

“I new that 10 to 12 pounds a day would make the cut,” he said. “So I only allowed myself to catch two or three fish per day out of my best area during the first two days. One thing I’ve learned is that these types of places are not limitless, and you have to conserve your fish accordingly.”

Now that Tucker has managed his fish enough to put himself in the driver’s seat, he is worried about the weather.

“I need sun, but the clouds and rain are moving this way,” he said. “I figure I’m going to have a small window of a couple of hours this morning to seal the deal and make this happen.”

Saturday’s conditions

Sunrise: 7:21 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 42 degrees

Expected high temperature: 47 degrees

Water temperature: 48-52 degrees

Forecasted winds: N at 5-10 mph

Day’s outlook: 90-percent chance of rain

The final weigh-in of the Stren Series West Point Lake event will take place today at 4 p.m. at the LaGrange Wal-Mart.