Brent Ehrler can trace his failure to make the Top-12 cut at last week's Lake Havasu Bassmaster Elite Series to a single fish on day 1 that never made it into his boat.
"I broke off a big one on one of those cages," he said, referring to the man-made habitat structures that have been placed all around the lake. "It was a 4-pound fish.
"It was my third bite that morning. There was a perfect opening in between two cages, and I pitched in between there and it bit and I set the hook. It started running to the left cage, so I pulled real hard, then it went straight to the right cage and broke me off.
"With spinning gear and light line, there really wasn't much I could do there," he continued. "When I was retying, that fish was jumping out in the middle of the bay. For the rest of the tournament, I caught everything that mattered."
He was edged out by 1 ounce for the final 12-cut position – Jonathan VanDam claimed that after an 18 1/2-pound bag propelled him all the way from 52nd place. However, it was his third straight strong showing after an 87th-place bomb in the opener at the Sabine River and it pushed him up to 9th in the Angler of the Year race.
He focused on the habitats only on extremely windy day 1, then sight-fished for the remainder of the derby.
"I caught a couple off of beds on day 3, but most of them I was catching were cruising around in the spawning areas. I think most were post-spawn because they were pretty skinny."
The Big Bite Lookback, which focuses on the angler who's first out of the final cut at each tour-level event, is brought to you by the great folks at Big Bite Baits.
