Before today, Denny Brauer was the only angler to follow up a Bassmaster Classic victory with a Bassmaster Tour-level win. He did it in 1998, when he won the Maryland Top 150. Today, Takahiro Omori matched Brauer's benchmark with a victory at the Toho Bassmaster. The event came down to the final moment, when he needed 5-13 to beat Walker's limit. Omori's four fish weighed 8-01 and he edged out Walker by a 2-04 margin.

Walker's 11-07 limit – the only limit weighed today – brought his 4-day total to 48-07. Jeff Reynolds weighed four fish for 8-13 (42-01 total) and finished 3rd. Fourth place went to Ron Shuffield who

caught two fish for 3-14 (37-08 total). Terry Scroggins finished 5th with two fish (3-08, 36-06 total) and Gerald Swindle was 6th with only 1 fish (2-05, 35-15 total). Of a possible 30 keepers, the Top 6 weighed a total of only 18 fish.

Omori Excited

"I feel awesome," Omori said. "I just tried to focus on my own fishing. I didn't think I had it won."

Omori had cashed a check in 18 straight events, until last week's Okeechobee FLW, where he finished 146th. That was one of the worst tournaments of his career, and talk of a Classic letdown had already begun.

But he came back with a vengeance at Toho. The otherwise humble eyes of the champion were focused and intense.

"Yesterday, I got a lot more bites. Today was warmer, and there was sunshine, but actually I only had four bites, so today was tough on me.

"I'm fishing good. I feel like I'm fishing my best ever. This seems like the peak of my career."

Details of his winning pattern, and the patterns of the other top finishers, will be posted soon.

2nd: Walker Frustrated

"I feel terrible," Walker said, who also finished 2nd at the 2003 Harris Chain Bassmaster. He was the only Top 6 angler to catch a limit each day.

"I don't know what I could have done different," he said. "I caught fish every day, and that's usually what it takes – especially on day 4.

"I needed that big fish, and it didn't happen. I caught five yesterday, and today. (Omori) had a bigger fish on the first day – that's what did it. Otherwise, I would've got him."

He said he's not excited about 2nd. "I don't like finishing 2nd. I've never won. You won't find anyone to sympathize with you for finishing 2nd a lot, unless they've been there.

"But the reason I feel worse than other times is I think of this as a missed opportunity. If you can catch one more big fish at every tournament, all of a sudden you can go to making $1 million instead of one-third of that. The financial difference is amazing. The tournaments are loaded heavily for 1st place."

He said he thinks a win will come. "I'm coming too close to not hit the mark. I'd just like it if it would get here a little sooner rather than later.

"A win motivates you. It happens to a lot of guys. Once you win, you seem to do well for a while after that. It takes you to another level of fishing, and you get much stronger mentally."

3rd: Reynolds Happy With Start

"I feel excellent," Reynolds said. "It's a great way to start the year.

"I didn't have a lot of bites in practice. But the way I caught them in the tournament was different. I was flipping mats in practice, but used a worm in the tournament.

"I was fishing real slow today and staying in a couple of areas. My spot didn't get muddied up, but the wind hurt me – it was too hard to fish the spot in the wind.

"I caught my first fish on my second cast today. I put him in the boat and thought it would be a great day. That was the first bite I got before 10:00 since the tournament started.

"It was so tough out there, I should have been thinking about the (Harris Chain Bassmaster) – maybe I could have gotten a head start up there."

4th: Shuffield Feels Fortunate

"I feel great," Shuffield said. "It's always great to start out the year at the top. I'm used to starting out a lot lower down. This has been a real good first tournament."

He said yesterday that in the best case, he could catch 8 to 10 pounds today. "That was if I could catch five," he said. "I only got three bites today.

"It's one of those things. I didn't realize my water would continue to mud up. That turned them off. I was real fortunate to get the three bites I had.

"The strange thing was, I caught fish pretty quick on day 1. On the second day, I didn't catch them very quickly at all. On the last two days, I caught no fish before 10:30.

"And all the bass I caught were males. They were in prespawn, and were staging to move in. I'm not sure if it was a spawning area – maybe they were just doing it out of habit."

5th: Scroggins Likes Points

"After the first tournament of the year I'm 5th in the points, so I feel good," Scroggins said.

"I was fishing an area with a lot of big fish. If I could've made them bite, it might have been a different story. I had a good chance to come back. This is Toho, and 30-pound bags are common."

He said the changes in wind direction may have hurt his bite, but fishing pressure was the biggest factor. "There was just too much pressure on these fish. They're practicing for the FLW out there, and a big tournament launched this morning.

"I still had my water – things just didn't work out. I just went down to my best area today and flipped all day. I left it at 12:00 because I hadn't caught a fish. I came back to Toho to see if I could catch a few more."

6th: Swindle Smells

"I had two bites all day," Swindle said. "I broke my rod on one, and I caught the other. I flipped every square inch of grass in this place. If you smell something on me it's hind end because the lake handed it to me all day."

He said he was never on a pattern. "Today I worked the wheels off and threw at everything I could. I fished water I hadn't been on in years. I finally had to come back to the ramp to catch the one fish I had.

"I'm disgusted. I'm aggravated. I fished a six-boat tournament today and I came in dead last."

Notable

> Day 4 stats – 6 anglers, 1 limit, no zeroes.

> BASS played Japan's National Anthem before weigh-in, in recognition of Omori.

Day 4 (Final) Standings

1. Takahiro Omori -- Emory, Texas -- 18, 50-11 -- 315 -- $102,000
Day 1 -- 4, 13-06 -- Day 2 -- 5, 17-15 -- Day 3 -- 5, 11-05 -- Day 4 -- 4, 8-01

2. David Walker -- Sevierville, Tenn. -- 20, 48-07 -- 295 -- $38,000
Day 1 -- 5, 11-12 -- Day 2 -- 5, 13-12 -- Day 3 -- 5, 11-08 -- Day 4 -- 5, 11-07

3. Jeff Reynolds -- Platter, Okla. -- 18, 42-01 -- 290 -- $25,000
Day 1 -- 4, 9-05 -- Day 2 -- 5, 11-12 -- Day 3 -- 5, 12-03 -- Day 4 -- 4, 8-13

4. Ron Shuffield -- Bismarck, Ark. -- 17, 37-08 -- 285 -- $20,000
Day 1 -- 5, 6-12 -- Day 2 -- 5, 17-11 -- Day 3 -- 5, 9-03 -- Day 4 -- 2, 3-14

5. Terry Scroggins -- Palatka, Fla. -- 15, 36-06 -- 280 -- $15,000
Day 1 -- 5, 11-08 -- Day 2 -- 4, 13-07 -- Day 3 -- 4, 7-15 -- Day 4 -- 2, 3-08

6. Gerald Swindle -- Hayden, Ala. -- 16, 35-15 -- 276 -- $16,000
Day 1 -- 5, 10-04 -- Day 2 -- 5, 11-02 -- Day 3 -- 5, 12-04 -- Day 4 -- 1, 2-05

Big Bass

> Day 4 -- Jeff Reynolds -- Platter, Okla. -- 3-07 -- $1,000
> Day 3 -- Gerald Swindle -- Hayden, Ala. -- 6-03 -- $1,000
> Day 2 -- Michael Iaconelli -- Runnemede, N.J. -- 8-04 -- $1,000
> Day 1 -- David Mansue -- Robbinsville, N.J. -- 9-04 -- $1,000