Justin Lucas appeared to be headed toward his third straight finish in the lower half of the pack at last week's Potomac River FLW Tour Major. A pedestrian 12 1/2-pound sack left him in 90th place after day 1 and he didn't have a single keeper in his livewell at 10:30 on day 2.
"I decided to just go do something different and start over right then," he said. "So I ran into Mattawoman Creek, which is an area known for good fish, and caught the biggest fish of the tournament (a 6-05) right away. That gave me all the confidence in the world to stay in there and get four more good bites.
"I was in the last flight, so I had like 5 hours left in the day, and I was able to put my head down and put the trolling motor down and pitch to every place I thought there might be a bass.
"A lot of times when you panic and start running around, things turn out worse," he continued. "But after catching that 6-pounder I settled in and got focused on four more bites, and I actually ended up getting 12 or 15 more."
His 18-11 sack that day moved him up to 20th place – the last slot inside the first cut. A bag that was just 5 ounces lighter on day 3 propelled him to 5th, and he caught 16 1/2 pounds on the final day to end up 2nd – just 3 ounces behind winner Scott Martin.
The runner-up finish was easily the best of his 3-year pro career.
The Sunline Strong Performer, which focuses on the angler who makes the most significant single-day move in the standings at each tour-level event, is brought to you by the great people at Sunline.
