Currently 5th in AOY Points
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Missed opportunities and a few costly lost fish put Brent Ehrler of California outside the 5-man cut for the final day of the FLW Tour’s third stop, this one last week on the Loudon and Tellico lakes in east Tennessee.
“I did alright and can’t complain too much,” he said. “I should have made the cut easily but on Day 2 I had some things go wrong. Lost one the first day on a hookset, lost four on second day and only weighed in 3, and the final day I lost a couple that would have culled out some weight.
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“Based on the bites I had, I should have qualified probably for third place. Only one of those I lost was on a bed and I couldn’t catch it. I worked on it for a really long time, hung it once and it was on Day 2 when I only had 3 fish. It was a 3 1/2 pounder and I missed the cut by 4 pounds. That one and the others would have put me in.”
Sometimes the wheels just seem to come off and for Ehrler, Day 2 was like that.
“I worked on one fish for three hours and couldn’t catch it, so I had no fish at 10:30 and had to do something,” he said. “I went to another area and on the second flip jumped off a 2 ½ pounder. I started throwing a crankbait and five minutes later lost another one that never showed but was just digging hard. Then I ran to another area and caught a keeper, lost another one and then had one eat a swimbait that pulled off right at the boat.”
“It was one of those days when it just snowballed. I was fortunate to catch the 7 pounds that I had. But that’s the way it goes.”
Ehrler mixed up sight-fishing with flipping and covering water with the swimbait and a Lucky Craft RC 1.5 in Sexy Chartreuse Shad. The third day was better but those fish that broke his heart the day before came back to haunt him.
“It was weird with no limit on the second day but I had one by 8:30 the third morning,” he said. “I probably caught 10 or 12 keepers and lost at least two more that would have helped me.”
Tough tourney for Thomas
Food poisoning and bass being in a post-spawn funk didn’t help Joe Thomas, who said his mid-field finish was “kind of like kissing your sister.”
“To be honest my biggest issue was I got food poisoning the night between the first and second days, and the second and third days were pretty rugged for me,” he said. “But the fish were in a post-spawn funk they get into right after they come off the beds. There were some going on (the beds) but most were coming off and they didn’t want a reaction bait.”
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Post-spawn fishing can be tough for everyone, even the best bass pros. Thomas said the 7-10 day recovery period after the fish spawn is a difficult time to get good bites.
“We were catching a lot of small fish, the 8-12 inchers, and the bigger females were in the recovery period,” he said. “The bigger males probably were guarding fry, and we also had some stained water. They have to recover before they feed on gravel points and then move to the main lake in their deeper (summer) patterns.”
“Right now they want something slow and dragged on the bottom, mostly, and you just have to be patient. Smallmouth spawn earlier and will start to look up at topwater baits a couple of weeks later. On day 3 I had a big bass blow up on a Sammy but he didn’t get the bait. That was the difference between me making money or not making money.”
Gagliardi disappointed
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Anthony’s normal confidence took a bevy of kidney shots with a tournament that didn’t meet his expectations. “It didn’t go good for me, for sure,” he said. “Finishing 75th isn’t good for me at this time of year. I usually do pretty well on those lakes. “Things weren’t quite as far along as I anticipated. There weren’t that many fish pulled up (bedding) and then some came on as the tournament progressed, but it was difficult for me to find some. I was able to catch the few I found and when I went looking, I was just one of the guys who didn’t come across any.” Gagliardi focused on largemouth, instead of the fickle smallmouth that can dash hopes and dreams. He said he had the bites to finish in the money but not much more than that, and was still aggravated with his finish. “I was mostly sight fishing and went in with the intent to do that,” he said. “I was throwing a wacky worm and a swimbait a little bit, and when one did show itself I could get back and sight fish. That’s pretty much what I did for the entire time.” |
Gagliardi is on the bubble for the FLW Cup championship with two regular-season tournaments remaining, at Ouachita in Arkansas next month and then Guntersville in June to wrap the season. FLW Outdoors officials canceled the season-opener in Louisiana and with only five events, the next two will be critical.
“I still definitely have a shot,” he said. “I’m at about 35th and they take the top 30 and double-qualifiers, so I’m one spot out from that. I should be able to secure a berth in the Cup. Things will change a lot, too. This was only the third tournament and after second or third event in a given year, it’s not really a foreshadowing of a championship field. It’s just a snapshot. I’d anticipate that after these last two … the field will be a little different (in the standings) that is showing up there now.”