Kris Wilson of Montgomery, Texas caught a five-bass limit that weighed 24-01 on Saturday to close out a wire-to-wire victory at the Sam Rayburn Reservoir Southwestern FLW Series. Wilson’s three-day total of of 72-08 was enough to earn him the victory by a 13-15 margin over runner-up Josh Bensema of Willis, Texas, and earn him $37,586.
“Coming into this event I expected the fish to be in the bushes, but it really evolved as the week went on,” said Wilson, who earned his second career FLW Series victory on Sam Rayburn. “I really focused on finding fish that were coming to me rather than leaving. And that ended up being about 300 yards out from the bushes.
“My main areas were mainly in the mouths of big coves, and the fish were set up on hard spots – ledges and points,” Wilson continued. “The key was that it had to have a hard bottom. I was running a lot of spots, but I had three spots that produced big fish each day.”
Wilson said he caught around 15 keepers each day. His main tactic was dragging a Carolina-rigged red bug creature bait that resembles a Zoom Brush Hog, poured by him and his tournament partner, Harold Moore. He also weighed in two keepers on chartreuse and blue-colored 6th Sense Lures C15 and C20 crankbaits.
Here are the final totals for the top 10:
1. Kris Wilson: 72-08
2. Josh Bensema: 58-09
3. Justin Morton: 50-00
4. Cole Moore: 47-06
5. Albert Collins: 47-01
6. Cory Rambo: 46-15
7. Dicky Newberry: 44-00
8. Matt Pangrac: 43-00
9. Bob Vote: 41-03
10. Eric Wright: 40-15
