The Wal-Mart FLW Tour has made a major impact on professional tournament fishing. It has done so through national television coverage and the introduction of major non-industry sponsors. It also has made tournament fishing more lucrative by increasing winning paychecks. Over the past few years, the FLW Tour has awarded several million dollars, and in some cases, the money gets doled out in $200,000 plus increments.
Five anglers have experienced such hefty paychecks – Darrel Robertson, Peter Thliveros, Randall Hutson, Davy Hite, and Jim Moynagh. Here’s a look at four of the five.
Darrel Robertson
The Man: Darrel Robertson appeared on the professional bass fishing scene about 10 years ago. The 49-year-old angler is one of the few professionals who do not view fishing as their full-time career. Instead, he makes his living from his cattle ranch in Jay, Okla. He also operates a construction business that installs farm structures, such as silos and storage tanks.
Robertson and his wife, Carol, have three daughters – Terra, 29; Abby, 19; and Tessa, 7. The couple also has two grandsons.
Although he is primarily self-sponsored through his construction business, Robertson also receives assistance from Ranger Boats and Outboard Marine Corporation to help keep him on the tour.
The Match: Robertson has a very unique claim. He won more money in one year than any other angler is professional tournament fishing. In November, he earned $600,000 by winning the Ranger M1 Tournament in Florida. And a little over a month prior to the M1, he creeled $250,000 by winning the Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship on Fort Gibson Lake.
“I live on Grand Lake, which fishes similar to this lake (Fort Gibson),” Robertson says. “I was fishing structure, and I had a lot of stuff in 4- to 5-feet of water.”
To earn his championship prize, Robertson said he caught virtually all of his fish on a Woo-Daddy from Gene Larew. The Brush Hog-like bait was Texas-rigged and fished around shallow water structure.
The Money: Robertson’s bankbook is now swollen from his tournament winnings. He is currently fourth on the FLW Tour’s all-time money winners list with $292,116. But in spite of his riches, he says the $250,000 tournament win hasn’t sunk in yet.
“I never really thought about the money until it was over,” he says. “At the tournament (Fort Gibson) I was sure you needed 16 pounds to win. I didn’t have it. I just felt sick because I thought I lost a quarter of a million dollars.”
But Robertson held onto the lead without his prescribed weight. And winning the tournament was more important to him than collecting the money. He says: “It was more exciting to win the tournament than to win the money. The excitement of standing on stage and signing autographs felt real good. And it just meant a lot more to me to win this tournament than the M1 because I was not a real bass tournament angler until I won that one.”
The money hasn’t change Robertson’s life. He says he will still fish in tournaments, raise cattle and build farm tanks. “I just used the money to pay some bills and went on,” he says.
Randall Hutson
The Man: Randall Hutson has been fishing since he was a little boy. But it wasn’t until about 11 years ago that he got the tournament urge. Most of his early tournament activities centered on the waters near his Washburn, Mo., home. Hutson missed the first year of the FLW Tour, but then he took the tour by storm and now holds the eighth position on the list of all-time money winners with $223,550.
When Hutson is not fishing, he is running a 320-acre cattle ranch with his wife, Pamela. The couple has three children – Melissa, 29; Ryan, 20; and Lyndsey, 11. Hutson credits his family for his success. “If it hadn’t been for my wife and kids, I couldn’t have done it,” he says.
The Match: Hutson’s big score came in June 1998. While fishing the Forrest Wood Open on the Connecticut River near Hartford, Conn., Hutson held off a highly competitive field and overcame terrible fishing conditions to win.
“The river came up real high,” Hutson recalls. “I went up the river to find some clear water. I got lucky where I was catching fish during practice in a little creek.”
Hutson made the first and second round cuts and won the tournament on the strength of smallmouth bass – quite a feat in a tidal river known for largemouth bass. He said all his fish came on a pumpkin-green French Fry worm and a small lizard. The trick, he said, was to use light 8-pound test line with a split shot placed up the line.
The Money: Hutson’s big win on the Connecticut River earned him $200,000. At the time, it was one of the largest payouts in tournament history.
“It was kind of hard to believe. I was pretty numb,” Hutson says about his impressive paycheck. “It hadn’t sunk in until I was driving home from the tournament.”
Hutson put the money to good use. He paid off his bills and cleared his farm mortgage. Then he still had enough left over to remodel his home and add to his saving’s account. But the prize was also important to Hutson’s future on the FLW Tour.
“It (the win) came at a good time,” Hutson said.
Peter Thliveros
The Man: If fishing were like the army, Thliveros would have been a private in 1982 when he began his tournament-fishing career. Today, he would be a five-star general. This Jacksonville, Fla., angler began fishing in club tournaments. He then jumped into the Red Man circuit and made the Red Man All-American in 1992.
His success at the tournaments prompted him to turn into a full-time professional angler, fishing both the FLW Tour and the B.A.S.S. tournament trail. He currently stands in fifth place on the FLW Tour’s all-time money winners list with $257,392.
Thliveros has a reputation for being a master chef on the tour. He and his wife, Valerie, have two sons – Justin, 17, and Nicholas, 6.
To be a full time professional, an angler needs good sponsors. Thliveros has a fine list, including Ranger Boats and Stren Fishing Line.
The Match: Last June, Thliveros won the Forrest Wood Open on Lake St. Clair near Detroit, Mich. He won the tournament impressively by improving his weight each day both before and after the cuts. “I basically found a place I had to myself most of the week,” Thliveros said.
This honey hole was a small hump of gravel rising up to 10 feet of water surrounded by grass in 12 to 13 feet of water. He caught most of his fish on a green Texas-rigged Zoom tube fished on 10-pound test line. On the final day, Thliveros said he had to switch over to a minnow-like jerkbait to catch the bigger fish.
The Money: For many tournament anglers, winning the money is secondary to winning the tournament. First place means prestige, press and self-satisfaction. Thliveros shares these feelings.
“I finally won a big tournament in a big way,” Thliveros said. “The money was the gravy on top of it.” But it is hard not to get excited about winning $200,000. “At the time I won it, it didn’t really sink in,” he said. “I’m sure I will really realize it in April when I have to pay Uncle Sam.”
Thliveros says he will use the money to help fund his sons’ college education. He also will invest some of the remaining money as a nest egg for the future.
Jim Moynagh
The Man: Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn., was the first and youngest $200,000 tournament winner in FLW Tour history. He won the Forrest Wood Open on Lake Minnetonka in 1997. At the time, he was an impressionable 32-year-old. But he had a long list of tournament training before joining the FLW Tour.
He began his fishing career in 1983 by joining a local bass fishing club. In 1989, Moynagh entered his first “big money” tournament and joined a local team tournament circuit. After spending two years on the Red Man Tournament Trail, he turned his bass fishing hobby into a full-time career in 1995. Two years later, Moynagh became a regular on the FLW Tour.
Fishing and family life go together. Moynagh and his wife, Deidre, have two young sons – Jacob, 2, and Matt, 10-months. To help Moynagh compete, his wife maintains her full-time job, which helps cover home expenses and health insurance. Sponsors like Ranger Boats, Evinrude Outboards, Berkley, and Mainstream Internet Services also contribute to Moynagh’s fishing success.
The Match: In some cases, the “home lake jinx” keeps local anglers from winning big professional tournaments. Moynagh, however, broke the jinx on Lake Minnetonka at the 1997 Forrest Wood Open.
“I knew if things went well, I could win. And I really put lot of pressure on myself to win,” Moynagh said. Entering the tournament as a local favorite, the hometown crowd also expected him to win.
To win the tournament, Moynagh had to switch between four distinct patterns. He said the most important pattern was to run a Risto Rap along the edges of milfoil beds. That pattern didn’t produce big bass, but it kept him supplied with solid creel fish that enabled him to overcome the highly competitive tournament field.
Two of Moynagh’s biggest fish came on a “Roller Jig.” He dragged this specially designed jig along the bottom in a sandy area. The two other productive tactics were to drag a Carolina rig along the outside milfoil edges and to flip a Swat Jig with a Berkley crayfish trailer into the weeds.
The Money: In life, timing is everything. And for Moynagh, the timing was perfect. He almost didn’t get to fish the Forrest Wood Open. FLW Tour events are very popular, and the fields fill quickly. Moynagh had to settle for the waiting list on most of the tournaments in 1997. He was only able to enter two events, one of them being the Lake Minnetonka contest.
“It really helped anchor my position in my career as a pro fisherman,” Moynagh said. “It costs so much money to compete. Winning the money gave me security for a couple of more years.”
Moynagh said he spent the money wisely. After paying taxes, he put a portion of the winnings toward a larger house for his growing family. He then invested some for retirement. The remainder he set aside for future tournament support.
While winning the big purse certainly made Moynagh’s day; it was winning that meant more. “There was a lot of satisfaction that I could win on my home lake,” he said. “And there was a sense of pride that someone from Minnesota won the tournament.”
Moynagh’s $200,000 put him in a nice position to continue competing. It also anchored his position as the second all-time money winner on the FLW Tour with $332,750. But he isn’t really satisfied yet.
“I’d really like to win another $200,000. Then we could take a look at Deidre giving up her job so we all can go to the tournaments together,” he said.