Bryant Smith of Castro Valley, Calif. closed out a wire-to-wire win at the Clear Lake Western FLW Series on Saturday with a 12-08 bag that gave him a 3-day total of 53-15. Smith, who's margin of victory over runner-up Clayton Eslick was nearly 8 1/2 pounds, earned a prize package worth $76,271, including a new Ranger Z521C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.
“Believe it or not, I didn’t sleep much last night,” said Smith, who earned his first career FLW Series win as a boater after four prior top-10 finishes. “I had a 6-pound lead to start the day, but we’re on Clear Lake and that’s one fish here. I knew the caliber of anglers that were behind me and I knew that they were going to catch them. To come out of here today with my first win is pretty special.”
Smith said that he caught all of his fish throughout the week on a green-pumpkin and watermelon-colored Yamamoto Senko, wacky-rigged with a 3/32-ounce nail weight in the tail.
“I was fishing docks all over the lake, as many as I could hit, casting to every single piling,” he said. “I think the key for me was my efficiency – precision casting with a Dobyns Champion 734C rod. I was fishing slow, but doing it very fast.”
Smith estimated that he caught around 80 to 90 keepers on the Senko throughout the week.
“I’m usually the guy who throws reaction baits,” Smith said. “I’ve gotten my butt kicked so many times by guys slowing down and throwing Senkos. I put that one rod in my hand this week and pitched to every dock piling that was in front of me.”
1. Bryant Smith: 53-15
2. Clayton Eslick: 45-09
3. Jimmy Reese: 44-07
4. Kyle Grover: 43-11
5. Ken Mah: 43-09
6. Wayne Breazeale: 43-09
7. Clayton Meyer: 41-13
8. Travis Huckaby: 41-04
9. Richard Dobyns: 41-01
10. Gerry Johnson: 39-05
