Robbie Dodson, the 3rd-place finisher at the just-completed Pickwick FLW Tour Major, topped a trio of anglers who moved inside the Forrest Wood Cup cutoff at the event. Dodson came in at No. 58 in the Angler-of-the-Year (AOY) race, but ended up at No. 39. Due to double-qualifiers, the Top 40 in the final standings gained berths to fish at Arkansas' Lake Ouachita next month.
Others who earned slots at Ouachita were rookie Shawn Murphy of Kentucky, who moved up from 46th to 37th with a 23rd-place finish in the tournament; and Brandon Coulter (pictured), who climbed from 48th to 38th with a 27th-place showing.
John Cox, the winner at the Red River earlier this year, fell from 28th to 41st in the standings with his 75th-place finish in the tournament, but he'd already qualified for the Cup by virtue of topping the points list on the 2010 Eastern FLW Series. Others who dropped below the cutoff were rookie Micah Frazier (59th in the event, 40th to 44th in the AOY race) and 2010 Cup champion Kevin Hawk, who was disqualified along with his co-anglers following day 2 for having inadvertently fished in Tennessee waters, which were off-limits for the tournament. Hawk came in at 38th in the points and ended up at 87th.
One notable angler who'll be absent from the Cup this year is Anthony Gagliardi, who finished 88th in the points. The 2006 Tour AOY had qualified for the previous eight championship events.
