This year's FLW Tour is reminiscent of the 1973 Triple Crown season, when Secretariat and Sham ran three of the most memorable races in thoroughbred history.
In FLW parlance, the "thoroughbreds" are Mark Rose of West Memphis and Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C. They are two of the most accomplished anglers in FLW history, and they are running neck and neck after the second event of the season, which ended Sunday.
Playing the role of Secretariat, Rose has held off Thrift for two consecutive weeks to become the only angler in FLW history to win back-to-back Tour events.
His latest was Sunday at Lake Travis, near Jonestown, Texas, when he won $125,000. He caught 20 bass in 4 days that weighed a total of 59 pounds, 2 ounces. He held off a late charge by Thrift and beat him by 12 ounces.
On Feb. 12, Rose beat Thrift by 15 ounces at Lake Guntersville, Ala., in a tournament that Rose clinched with a last-minute 6-pounder.
Thrift tried to reverse that Sunday at Lake Travis by catching a 5-pounder in the closing minutes, but Rose was too strong.
"I consider Bryan to be the best angler on the planet," Rose said. "He is what pushes me every day to be a better angler. This kind of competition at the top of the game is what this sport is all about."
It pays to win. Rose's victories were worth $250,000. Thrift netted $60,000 as two-time runner-up.
As FLW correspondent Rob Newell noted Sunday, the Lake Travis event is the only FLW tournament Rose has won outside the Tennessee River chain of lakes. Rose excels at fishing ledges in the Tennessee River basin, but he won at Lake Travis by fishing in very deep water a long way offshore, as well.
His big run started when he tried to drag jigs across treetops 18 feet below the surface, but Rose said he saw large concentrations of fish on his graph at 25-to-45-foot breaks. He backed into deeper water and dragged a football jig down stair-step ledges that fall off points.
"I caught some fish as deep as 50 feet," Rose said. "I even dropped down from 17- to 15-pound Seagaur Tatsu [flourocarbon line] to decrease the line resistance at those extreme depths."
To bring home the herd, Rose moved shallow midway through the final round. He said he fished about 30 docks that enabled him to cull two bass.
Rose leads the FLW Angler-of-The-Year race with 400 points, but Thrift has 398 points.
Arkansans were a major presence in the top 20 of the Lake Travis event. Dylan Hays of Sheridan finished third with 54 pounds to win $25,000. He was the most consistent performer, as all of his daily catches weighed 13-15 pounds. Clark Reehm, formerly of Russellville and now of Huntington, Texas, finished fourth with 53-3 to win $20,000. Scott Suggs of Bryant finished 12th to win $12,000.
Bass fishing fans in Arkansas will be able to see all of these pros April 27-30 at Beaver Lake in Rogers. It is the fifth and biggest event of the regular season, and second only to the Forrest Wood Cup, which will be held Aug. 11-13 at Lake Murray, S.C.
BFL news
A late switch paid big for Matt Wood of Jessieville, who won the season's first FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Arkie Division tournament Saturday at Lake Dardanelle.
Wood caught 5 bass weighing 21-2 ounces to win $4,046.
"I was entered in this event as a co-angler, and I decided to switch over and compete as a boater on Friday morning, the day before the event," said Wood, who previously fished one season as a co-angler in BFL competition. "I knew that there were more co-anglers on the waiting list, and I had a pretty good practice so I figured I'd take a shot."
Wood said he fished the entire day at one dock that had some brush and cover nearby.
"The bass were after baitfish, and the wind was blowing perfectly to pin the bait against the dock and brush," Wood said. "There were a ton of bass -- I must have caught around 20 to 25 keepers."
Sports on 02/23/2017