Posted - June 22nd, 2008 7:30pm CST

Martin Finishes Second, Ferguson Falls to Third

Story by Dan O'Sullivan - Photos by  Matt Pangrac

Knoxville, TN – Art Ferguson, had steadily climbed the leaderboard at the fifth stop of the Wal-Mart FLW Tour at Ft. Loudoun – Tellico Lakes by camping on a spot he located on the second day. Ferguson’s Co-Angler hooked a keeper on a Carolina rig, and while he was working to unhook the deeply caught bass, Ferguson made a cast with a jig, and caught a three and a half pounder.

Over the rest of that afternoon, Ferguson produced an 18-pound 11-ounce limit off his sweet spot to move into fourth place, making his second top 10 cut of the season. As the top 10 moved to the third day, Ferguson once again capitalized on his offshore gold mine to catch 19 pounds, 2 ounces and move into the lead heading into the final day.

However, bass fishing has once again proved to be a cruel pursuit, as Ferguson was not able to keep the pace he had set. His final day performance was not enough to close the door, and he was taken over by two of his competitors.

Lynchburg, Virginia’s David Dudley, who battled boat traffic for much of the third day, managed to piece together a solid 15-pound, 2-ounce limit of Ft. Loudoun largemouth on the final day. Dudley’s steadiness throughout the event produced a final round weight of 29 pounds, 11 ounces to claim his fifth FLW victory and second at the FLW Tour level. His $125,000 champion’s payday brought Dudley’s career FLW earnings to $2,309,638.

Another angler who managed to maintain a steady performance throughout the week was Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla. The National Guard sponsored pro milked the waters of Ft. Loudoun for a 14-pound, 13-ounce mixed bag of smallmouth and largemouth to land in 2nd place. Martin’s total final round weight of 28 pounds, 7 ounces gave him his 16th top 10 in FLW competition, and his third runner up finish in FLW Tour competition. His $50,000 payday raised his career earnings to $828,403.

A veteran with 24 top 10 performances in FLW competition, Ferguson’s second a third day heroics put him in contention for his first win on the FLW Tour level. Despite starting the final day with almost a four and a half pound lead over Dudley, Ferguson’s four fish, final day weight of 7 pounds, 11, ounces gave him total a total of 26 pounds, 13 ounces for the final round; 2 pounds, 15 ounces short of victory. The St, Clair Shores, Mich. pro earned $40,000 for the week, raising his career total to $396,780.

In his second year on the Wal Mart FLW Tour, Knoxville, Tenn. pro Brandon Coulter earned his second top 10 finish of the season on his home lake. Despite a disappointing third day in which he only brought four fish to the scales, Coulter rebounded with the final day’s heaviest stringer to grab 4th place. His 17-pound, 2-ounce limit brought the home crowd to its feet as his 25-pound, 11-ounce total had him in the lead until the final three weighed in. His $30,000 payday raised his career earnings to $73,100.

Also in his second year on Tour, Hank Cherry of Maiden, N.C. improved on a 7-pound, 13-ounce third day performance that found him in 8th place with a solid 13-pound, 13-ounce limit that moved him into fifth place for the event, with a 21-pound, 10-ounce total in the finals. Cherry, who has earned nine top 10 finishes in FLW competition earned $20,000 for the week, bringing his career earnings to $115,559.

Another local pro, Craig Powers from nearby Rockwood, Tenn. also made good for the hometown crowd as he finished in 6th place by sacking a solid 10-pound, 10-ounce limit to round out the top six with 21 pounds, 6 ounces. His solid performance in his home state earned him $19,000 to raise his career earnings to $758,219. It was Powers’ 35th career top 10 finish.

On the Land O’ Lakes Angler of the Year front, Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn. finished 8th at Ft. Loudoun Tellico, and in doing so has opened up a 22 point lead over Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla. heading into the final event of the season at Lake Erie in Detroit, Mich.

Dudley: Slow Down to Set the Pace
The difference between Dudley’s day three and his final day was the fact that he chose to slow down and fish his area thoroughly. He reported catching many of his fish early in the event on crankbaits, but noticed that the aggressiveness of the fish had diminished. His response on Saturday was to move around looking for more schools, but a change in strategy netted him the weight it took to overtake a stumbling Ferguson.

“I caught all of my weight today off the same ledge I fished on the first two days,” said Dudley. “I caught eight to ten keepers off of it today, and it happened by slowing down.” What Dudley decided to do today was to pick up a Texas rigged worm and a football jig tipped with a Berkley chunk trailer and probe the area thoroughly.

“My best area was a clean spot on a ledge that had some current washing across it,” he explained. “It also had more of a boulder sized rock on it as opposed to smaller gravel, and it really held the fish in there.” He would cast the worm or jig in there to try and coax a strike from the spot. “Their aggressiveness lessened as the tournament went on, probably because there were less fish there to be competitive as I caught more of them.”

One of the adjustments he made on the final day was to pull off the area slightly to give it a chance to rest. “On Saturday, I ran around looking for new schools and it didn’t work out,” he said. “I fished the area pretty hard today with little rest periods in between.”

He revealed that the win in this style of tournament has significant meaning because it shows his effort at fishing deep the past two seasons has paid off. “I have worked really hard to better understand deep water fishing, and it paid off for me here, so that means a lot,” said FLW’s $2.3 million man. “That, and I can pay off a lot of credit card debt that I racked up over the season.”

Martin: Tale of Two Tournaments
Martin started his event by targeting shallow cover with a Spro Little John crankbait, and while it was the predominant pattern that got him into the finals, he had to adjust for the last two days. “The shallow bite went away, so I had to put the Little John down,” The Clewiston, Fla. pro said. “I went looking for schools of fish on ledges, and when I found them, got them to strike with either a DD22 or Brian’s Bees crankbait.”

He revealed that he found his deeper schools positioned on top of ledges relating to shell mounds or beds, and that he felt the smallmouth he caught, were spawning. “They were on top of the ledges, and they were all over the shell beds; big ones,” he said. “I can’t think they were doing anything other than spawning up there.”

He also said that his retrieve was key to triggering strikes, particularly from the smallmouth. “I was really moving these baits pretty quickly,” he said. “I had my Abu Garcia Revo reels working as hard as they could making the lure scoot through and reflect off of obstructions.” Some of his strikes came as the lure broke free from the cover on the way back to the boat.

Part of the key was to allow his line diameter to help him. “I was fishing eight to ten foot deep and if I found heavier cover on the ledge, I would upsize my line so I could power the lure through it,” he said. “I had three rods rigged up with 10, 12 and 17-pound –test Berkley 100% Pure Fluorocarbon so that I could transfer easily.”

Ferguson: Timing was Everything
Ferguson had been the hero for the second and third days off of his magical spot, but it wasn’t to be today. “The first two days I was there, I must have just hit it right,” he said. “But I pulled on it today, caught two fish in the first 45 minutes; one of them was my biggest fish, and I thought I could do it there; I guess I just stayed too long.”

He revealed that he stayed on his prime spot until 10:30 before making any moves. “I left it and came down river to a little bend in the channel and caught two more fish,” he said. “In hindsight, I should have stayed and caught one more there, because it probably would have put me in 2nd place.”

He returned however, to his best area hoping to pull a couple more of those quality fish that had put him in position to win. With a half an hour left, he started seeing some factors coming together that he thought would turn on the fish. “The clouds came in, and the current started moving, so I got excited,” he said, thinking he was going to pull out some last minute heroics. “I got two real hard bites on the jig, but they didn’t hold on to it, so I came back in to check in.”

Ferguson reported catching all of his fish this week on a 5/8-ounce green pumpkin / crawdad football jig from Hook, Line and Sinker in Rogers Ark., and a Carolina rig tipped with a Yamamoto Swimming Senko.

Coulter: Lost it on Day Three
A local from Knoxville, Coulter knew what it would take to win, and he knew hat he had let it slip out of his hands on day three when he weighed in four keepers. “You can’t leave the door open like that with those three guys behind you,” he said of Dudley, Martin and Ferguson. “Those guys have so many top 10 performances between them, and they know how to close things out when they have a chance.”

He said that he caught all of his fish on two lures, a jig that he’d nicknamed the Callie Jig because his daughter had helped him pick out the colors, and a jigging spoon. Ultimately the spoon got him some additional bites, but also cost him as well. “I lost some good fish on it yesterday, and lost four more on it today after I caught my biggest fish,” he said. “But, I don’t think they would have responded to anything else, so I did what I could.”

The key to his pattern was to fish areas that had a point or a ledge next to a bluff that provided deep-water access. He said that he had five places today that he rotated between. “I picked my best five and rotated between them today,” he revealed. “I got a little wide-eyed yesterday with so many good spots open, and tried to do to much; today I stayed with my subtle little niche deals.”

“I would have like to have done better yesterday, but I caught almost 18 pounds in front of 30 spectator boats in my hometown today; I did all I could today to have a shot, it was an awesome day.”

Cherry: Bucking Deep Trends
A Native of North Carolina, Cherry is known for his shallow water prowess, so he stuck to his guns instead of chasing deep fish off ledges. “I did go to a shaky head for a little bit today, but after thinking about it, went back to may jig,” he said.

His approach was to target boat docks with flatter banks next to them with a white Brian’s Bees Dump Truck jig, and the difference between Saturday and Sunday’s results was boat traffic. “Unlike everybody else I needed some boat traffic to make some mudlines,” he said. “There wasn’t the amount of traffic on Saturday, but the cruisers were out today, and it made the mudlines like I needed.”

The dirty water came off the banks to about even with the front of the docks, and when he would swim the jig through to open water, he would get strikes there. “They would blast it,” he said. “I had to stick to what I do best to have a chance here, so that is what I did.”

Powers: Stayed on Top
Powers started the tournament with a Rebel pop ‘R in his hands, and he finished with it there as well. “I caught 80 percent of my fish this week on topwater,” he said. “It’s a great topwater lake, but most guys would never know it because they’re always out fishing ledges.”

He caught his first fish this morning on top, then flipped a second fish, but didn’t have a third keeper at 1:30. “I had fished deeper holes until early this afternoon without any success,” he said. “So I went back to my shallow stuff and caught my last keeper with two minutes to go.”

He said he didn’t focus on any one specific type of cover; instead, he fished it all. “I don’t have any glory holes out here,” he said. “If it looks good, I’ll fish it, and that’s what I did this week.”

Another one of the local anglers to do well on his home water this week, Powers revealed it was a lot of fun. “This was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” he said. “To do this well with my wife and family here, I couldn’t be any happier.”

FINAL STANDINGS