Posted -  April 4th, 2008   8:41pm CST

Canterbury 2nd, Kreiger Takes Over AOY Lead

Story by Matt Pangrac - Photos by Dan O'Sullivan

Jasper, AL – When the sun finally broke through the overcast skies above Smith Lake on Sunday afternoon of the FLW Tour’s second stop of the 2008 season, California pro Michael Bennett was the only one left standing. With a solid weekend performance of 14 pounds, 9 ounces on Saturday and 12 pounds, 15 ounces on Sunday, Bennett bested second place finisher Scott Canterbury by over three pounds to take the Smith Lake title and a cool $125,000. 

The opening day saw Terry Baksay jump into the lead with a 14 pound, 14 ounce limit of spotted bass. Going into cut day, the field was still wide open as 50th place was just over three pounds out of the Top 10 cut. 

Friday, the anglers were greeted by downpours and cloudy skies, hindering the site fishing bite many anglers were on. Baksay, unable to duplicate his day one performance fell out of the Top 10, only able to find two keepers. The day’s big movers were Glenn Browne and Greg Pugh who jumped into the weekend cut with limits of 15 pounds, 2 ounces and 17 pounds, 11 ounces respectively. 

On Saturday, the ten remaining anglers faced a cold front and a high of only 60 degrees. The elements didn’t seem to affect Bennett much, as he weighed in the weekends heaviest sack topping the 14 pound mark. 

With less than 4 pounds separating the top four competitors heading into the final day, execution would prove to be crucial. The morning started slow for Bennett, but once the sun began to peek out from behind the clouds, Bennett took advantage of each of his five keeper bites, holding off Canterbury, Kreiger, and Clausen to take the title. 

The next stop on the FLW Tour will take place April 24th-27th on Lake Norman and will mark the midway point in the season. 

Bennett Takes the Title
Entering the final day with a 2 pound, 2 ounce lead over second place Scott Canterbury, Michael Bennett knew that it would take a solid performance to seal the deal and walk away with the first FLW Tour victory of his young but profitable career. The Duracell pro did not disappoint, toting the days heaviest sack of 12 pounds, 5 ounces to the scales Sunday. With a weekend weight totaling 27 pounds, 8 ounces, Bennett walked away with $125,000 and the accompanying hardware. 

Bennett’s victory was a demonstration of versatility and adaptability. Bennett opened the tournament on Thursday targeting bedding spotted bass located on main lake and secondary points. On Friday, when his bed fish fizzled, Bennett targeted pre-spawn bass. Bennett rode the pre-spawn bite right through the finals into the winners circle. 

“On Saturday, I started where I left off on Friday and had eight big bites and landed six of them.” Bennett told The BZ. “Today was a struggle. I only landed five keepers. I was targeting secondary points with docks in 40 to 80 feet of water. I had about 25 docks and several key stretches that I fished several times throughout the day.” 

The California pro’s weapon of choice was a Berkley Gulp Sinking Minnow which he fished on a slack line around the docks. “The fish were positioned differently each day on the docks.” said Bennett. “Today, every good fish was on the front side of the dock. I never could catch them the same way two days in a row. All I could do was fish every angle and hope that I got bit.”

Canterbury Lands in Second 
Scott Canterbury entered Sunday in second place looking for enough quality bites to overtake Bennett. While Canterbury was unable claim the title in just the second FLW Tour event of his career, the 11 pound, 14 ounce limit he brought to the scales on Sunday secured second place for the Alabama rookie. 

A self proclaimed power fisherman, Canterbury exploited his strengths by fishing a Lunker Lure buzzbait in creek pockets to catch quality largemouth. “It was random cover. I would start on the point of the pocket in the creeks and I would just go down the bank with the buzzbait.” said Canterbury. “I wasn’t fishing for a bunch of fish but I knew that if I got five bites on the buzzbait, they would be the right fish.” 

Canterbury’s grinding performance was especially impressive considering the fact that he received word his wife was diagnosed with cancer during the practice period for the tournament. 

Kreiger Capitalizes for Third
Koby Kreiger’s 10 pound, 15 ounce performance on Sunday was enough to remain in the third place slot. Like many of the other anglers in the field, Kreiger focused on bedding fish for the duration of the event. “I fished flawlessly the whole week so I don’t know if there was anything better that I could have done.” Kreiger said of his performance. 

“I got to throw a top water and sight fish all week and that’s my two favorite things to do so I couldn’t ask for anything more.” Kreiger waked a Bomber Long A along the bank to locate spawning bass. Once the bass showed itself, the Florida pro utilized a variety of soft plastics including a Zoom 8” lizard to induce a bite. “If the fish didn’t eat the Long A, I would ease up and catch them off the bed. I did that every day.” said Kreiger. 

Clausen Shakes for Fourth
On Saturday, Luke Clausen predicted that it would take a six pound bite to have a shot winning. The big bite never materialized on Sunday, but Clausen found enough fish to finish fourth. While Clausen focused mainly on bedding fish throughout the event, he was able to take advantage of some aggressive schooling fish on Sunday.

“My primary pattern was swimming a Fat Dover Crawler on a 3/32 ounce shakey head down the bank for bedding fish.” Clausen told The BZ. Reflecting on his performance, Clausen had few regrets. “It’s hard to tell, but I probably could have come down to the dam and culled through a lot of spotted bass. I wasn’t on the kind of fish that Michael was to win.” 

Pugh Runs and Guns for Fifth
Greg Pugh jumped one place from Saturday to finish in fifth with a limit tipping the scales at 10 pounds, 5 ounces. After realizing the potential for a big bite from bedding fish, Pugh focused his attention to sight fishing. “I love to sight fish, so once I saw them moving up on the beds there wasn’t anything else that I did.” said Pugh. “I was running and looking in the backs of the pockets for big largemouth. I found a lot of fish but they were all about the same size.”

Pugh used a PJ’s finesse jig to entice his bedding fish to bite. “It was a good tournament but it just wasn’t my time.” said Pugh. “I lost one three pound fish in a tree but other than that, there was nothing that I could have done better on the last two days.” 

Robertson Rounds Out Top Six
The only angler in the top six who did not weigh in a limit on Sunday, Darrel Robertson spent the majority of Sunday running and looking for spawning fish in pockets and coves. “I caught some fish yesterday around retaining walls and only caught one keeper there today.” Robertson said. “I started running spawning pockets and ended up catching three spotted bass on a wacky rigged Berkley worm.” 

Robertson’s top six finish was made more impressive by the fact that his practice period garnered little success. “Typically, if I don’t have a really good practice I run myself to death.” said Robertson. “Here, I found an area and bait that I though the fish would bite and I didn’t run around a lot.”

FINAL STANDINGS