Lucky Craft’s Brent Ehrler Wins FLW Tour Championship

Birmingham, Ala. (August 7, 2006) – Logan Martin Lake was the host of this year’s Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship, where 48 anglers competed for a first place prize of $500,000. Thirty miles east of Birmingham, anglers fished a large expanse of water, covering more than 15,000 acres.

The FLW Tour Championship is very different than most bass tournaments of its kind. Anglers compete in bracket-style competition, with the first two days of competition determining the top 24 pros continuing on to day three, fishing again in the same bracket-style format. Twelve pros then advance to the final round (day four), where the weights are cleared and it is anybody’s to win.

After six qualifying events, the top 48 anglers competed on what was also the host of the 2004 FLW Championship, and Lucky Craft’s Brent Ehrler brought home the coveted prize with a day four weight of 15 lbs., 1 oz.

This was Ehrler’s second year fishing the tour, and his first time qualifying for the championship. The California native has had his share of accomplishments, winning the 2004 Stren Series Championship (formerly the ‘Ever Start Championship) and being crowned 2003 Stren Series Western Division Angler of the Year. This weekend added one more to the ever-growing list for this young angler – 2006 ‘Wal-Mart FLW Tour Champion.’

“It’s amazing and so unexpected,” an excited Ehrler said. “I wanted to qualify for the FLW Championship, but there really wasn’t a thought in my mind that I could go out and actually win it.”

Ehrler found a pattern in practice that was working well for him, until some untimely news just two days before the tournament made the first-time qualifier extremely nervous.

“I got onto a great topwater bite the first few days of practice,” Ehrler explained. “I was catching them very early in the morning on the Lucky Craft G-splash and the Gunfish. I would get on the water around 6 a.m., and catch anywhere from about five to 10 fish. The topwater bite would slow down after about 7 a.m., and I would only get one or two more bites.

“But two days before the tournament, I found out we weren’t launching until 7 a.m.,” Ehrler continued. “It really scared me, because I was catching them good before 7 a.m., but after that, it disappeared. By the time the tournament started, I wasn’t very confident in any areas I had found. I only had a couple I could run to, but wasn’t expecting to catch them there.”

Ehrler did what any good angler in this situation would have done – kept working at it and looking for new places to fish. The first day of the tournament, he ran around a lot and hit several different places, bringing in a decent five-fish limit of 9 lbs., 15 oz. Day two turned out about the same, with Ehrler bringing in another five-fish limit, making his two day total 20 lbs., 11 oz.; enough to win his bracket and move on to day three.

“I won my bracket for the first two days and then the second bracket, which was the third day of the tournament, I actually caught them pretty good,” Ehrler said. “I slowed down and started concentrating on one or two key areas. I had one area where I caught my biggest fish of the tournament. By the fourth day, I thought I would just fish there, because there was no reason to bounce around to the other places if I could catch five in this one area. I knew I had the potential to catch a big stringer in the one particular area.”

On day three, Ehrler found himself up against Ramie Colson Jr., fishing for a spot in the top 12. A total weight of 13 lbs., 4 oz put Ehrler in 10th after day three, and gave him a chance to fish against some of the best anglers in the world for a half-a-million dollars.

Weights were cleared and he stuck to a couple primary patterns and baits to bring home the big check.

“I basically had a couple main patterns,” Ehrler explained. “First was the early morning topwater bite around seawalls that I found in practice. The second pattern was fishing offshore around humps or points with a worm. The key to those areas was the brush. The other pattern was fishing around boat docks, which ended up being my primary area. It was a stretch of about eight or ten boat docks that, for some reason, had a lot of fish around it.

“I’d fish each dock with a plastic worm,” Ehrler continued. “Then I’d have a stretch of about 50 yards before I got to the next dock, and I’d throw the RC 1.5 (in Copper Green Shad). Instead of just running from dock to dock, I’d throw the RC 1.5 in the stretch between docks, making about 10 – 20 casts until I got to the next dock. I actually caught several fish throughout the week doing that very thing. The RC 1.5 is one of my favorite shallow-water crankbaits. I could keep the boat in the three to eight foot range, and still be close to hitting the bottom with that bait.”

Ehrler barely fished deeper than eight feet all week, which seemed a strange occurrence, as the water was over 90 degrees every day.

“It was somewhat confusing for me, because the water temperature in the early morning was already 86 degrees,” Ehrler said. “In the afternoon, it was around 92 degrees. I can’t believe the fish were in two to eight feet of water. Back home, in California, if the water temperature is that warm, you aren’t going to catch them any shallower than probably 25 feet of water.”

Ehrler was overwhelmed and excited to have won this week’s championship, and was so glad to have been able to share the experience with his family and friends.

“My family was there for the championship. It was the first time my whole family has been able to come out to a tournament, and to do well with them there was amazing.

“Also, I wouldn’t be fishing the FLW tour if it was not for Lucky Craft,” Ehrler concluded. “I wouldn’t have fished last year, or this year, and I wouldn’t have won this tournament without Lucky Craft.”

Provided by Cox Group

Copyright 2006 LUCKY CRAFT, INC.
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