There's one event left on the FLW Tour and the Angler of the Year (AOY) race is jammed tight near the top. Here's a look at the Top 5 (total points are followed by distance from leader in red).
1. Jay Yelas: 898
2. Shinichi Fukae: 872 (-26)
3. Mark Davis: 860 (-36)
4. David Dudley: 853 (-45)
5. Andy Morgan: 843 (-55)
Prior to last week's Potomac River event, Morgan was within 7 points of Yelas. But a stinging 67th-place finish in Maryland dropped him nearly out of the race. Now, Morgan needs to make up 56 points on Yelas at the Detroit River to clinch. But he'd also need everyone in front of him to stumble somewhat too.
Remember, though, in 2005 Greg Hackney came up from 3rd to win FLW AOY, and Toshinari Namiki moved up from 4th to finish 2nd. But neither needed 55 points to do that – the margin was more like 20.
"It'll be a longshot," Morgan said of his chances at AOY. "I figure that to win the points, Jay will have to pretty much break down and not get back in. He's having a better year than I am, and I don't figure he'll slip. And I don't wish any bad luck on anybody at all."
And he definitely doesn't think Fukae will slip up. "Since the day after we left the Potomac, Shin's been there (at the Detroit River)," he said. "That's pretty hard to beat on a summer pattern, because things don't change much. He'll be all over them – I'm pretty certain about that. So I think my chances to win the points in the FLW Series are a lot better, with the limited practice, than anywhere else right now." (He's currently 1st in the Eastern FLW Series points after two events.–Ed.)
Another force aligned against Morgan is that he's just not strong on smallmouths, even though he's from Tennessee where brown fish are generally revered. "I don't like the Detroit river – I don't like smallmouth fisheries," he noted. "We've got smallmouth here on the Tennessee River, but I've never done well with them. If I catch one here, it's totally by luck. But I need to go and catch smallmouths, there's no question about that. I'll give it my all and see what comes out."
