Texas two-step - Major League Fishing

Texas two-step

Have any Texans in your Toho picks? Better keep an eye on this week’s Sam Rayburn Stren
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Jim Tutt gears up for day two of competition at the Stren Series event at Sam Rayburn Reservoir. Photo by Patrick Baker. Angler: Jim Tutt.
February 21, 2008 • Patrick Baker • Archives

JASPER, Texas – You can’t take love for Texas out of a Texan, but you can sure take some of the Lone Star State’s biggest sticks out of their home state in a hurry to compete on the Wal-Mart FLW Tour.

The tour’s season opener on Florida’s Lake Toho, scheduled for Feb. 28-March 2, comes hot on the heels of stop No. 2 of the Stren Series Texas Division event on Sam Rayburn Reservoir in eastern Texas, taking place Feb. 20-23.

So what does a Stren Texas event have to do with the kickoff of the $9.5 million 2008 FLW Tour and the inaugural $7.3 million FLW Fantasy Fishing season? Well, if you’re inclined to lean toward Texas heavyweights in your picks, which would be logical as the area is widely known for its impressive fisheries and anglers, you may want to consider the timing of these two tourneys.

There are many touring pros who hail from Texas, and a significant number of those anglers continue to fish companion circuits in their home state, which requires balancing dual or even multiple schedules. But who can blame them when the fishing is that good here. Look no further than the Stren Texas opener on Falcon Lake, which shattered FLW Outdoors weight records. And they’re catching them here on Sam Rayburn, too, surpassing pretournament predictions with daily leading catch weights over the 20-pound mark.

Chris McCall caught an 11-pound, 2-ounce bass at Falcon Lake, the biggest fish of his tournament career.The list

Some of the pros fishing the Stren event on Sam Rayburn will pull up stakes in a hurry to head for Florida, hoping to squeeze in as much practice time as possible for the tour opener. Here’s a quick list, though not comprehensive, of some pros who will be doing the Texas two-step from Jasper to Kissimmee:

• Jim Tutt: 10th-year FLW Tour pro, three-time Forrest Wood Cup qualifier; 22 FLW Outdoors top-10 finishes, including two Stren wins and – note this – a tour top-10 on Florida’s Lake Okeechobee.

• Cody Bird: 9th-year FLW Tour pro, two-time Cup qualifier; 16 top-10s, including 5 on tour.

• Chris McCall: 6th-year FLW Tour pro, one-time Cup qualifier; 16 top-10s, including a 2006 Stren win on Sam Rayburn and – again take note – a tour top-10 on Okeechobee.

• Jerry Green: 5th-year FLW Tour pro, one-time Cup qualifier; 5 top-10s, including a 2005 Stren win on Sam Rayburn as well as a Stren Championship top-10 and 2 tour top-10s, one of which came on – you guessed it – Lake Okeechobee.

Tommy Martin shows off an 11-pound, 9-ounce Falcon Lake bass.• Tommy Martin: 3rd-year FLW Tour pro, one-time Cup qualifier, 19-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier with a Classic win; 2 FLW Outdoors top-10s (but note that he’s amassed almost 50 BASS top-10s, including many in the Sunshine State).

• Stephen Johnston: 1st-year FLW Tour pro; 16 top-10s, including last year’s Stren win on Sam Rayburn.

What the anglers say

Johnston is a man with a plan for the journey east. He’ll have Stren pro and FLW Tour co-angler Rick Powell chauffeur him to Lake Toho when they’re done with this week’s event on Sam Rayburn. That way Johnston will have roughly 20 hours of drive time to recharge his batteries before his first-ever FLW Tour event as a professional. Some of the other pros mentioned above will caravan along depending on which day they can leave Texas.

Tutt said he’s in it to win it at Sam Rayburn and not too worried about missing some practice time at Toho: “Obviously, I’m going to miss a couple days of practice, but it seems like I do better that way lately anyway. Obviously, I’m thinking of Toho, but I also want to make the Stren Championship.”

Martin weighed in on the transition: “Obviously, I gotta be here (at Sam Rayburn) … it depends on how I do. I live on Toledo Bend, so if I don’t make the cut, I’ll go home Friday night, get there around 2 a.m., get some sleep, drive over Saturday and miss only one day of practice. If I miss the cut, I’ll miss two days. That’s just how it is when you fish two circuits.”

Analysis

There’s little doubt that many miles to go before one sleeps can exact a physical and mental toll, but these guys are used to touring schedules that would leave an average person road-weary. Granted, the Texas Stren pros will be coming to the party a little later than a majority of the field, but this isn’t even close to the first time that anglers of this caliber have competed back to back – and it’s not infrequent to see some of them perform well on the flip side, sometimes even better than at the former event.

Stephen Johnston displays a 9-pounder he caught on day four at Lake Amistad in 2007.Also notable is the fact that only Johnston is poised to make the top-10 cut at Rayburn on Friday, though only one day of the Texas tourney has passed, and anything can happen on this reservoir in two days’ time.

At the end of the day, you’ve got to remember that these men are professionals; you have to suppose they know what they’re doing when they make their touring schedules. With the experience they have, why would they put their tour-level events in jeopardy by fishing companion events the week prior if they didn’t think they could handle it?

Then again, maybe some are just trying to cover their bases and increase the odds of cashing checks to be able to fish another career day. One thing is certain: Many of the Texas pros fishing at Sam Rayburn have resumes that warrant consideration for your picks, but like all punditry, there’s always the X factor to chew over.