In the prior 36 years of BASS history, no angler has ever won the Bassmaster Classic in his home state. Boyd Duckett of Demopolis, Ala. faced that hurdle today at Alabama's Lay Lake. There was another hurdle too: Kevin VanDam, maybe the most dominant angler in the history of the sport, was the leader.
VanDam rocked 19-14 on day 2 to take the lead under cloudy conditions. But today was sunny – made for flipping – and that's when Duckett went to work. Before a rabid Alabama crowd, he slapped a 17-13 sack down on the scales – the heaviest weight of the day – and took over the top position.
That put him past Skeet Reese, who stuck a 15-14 bag today, and left only VanDam to weigh in. When VanDam's sack settled out at 12-05, Duckett threw his arms in the air and the packed Birmingham Convention Center erupted in celebration.
Duckett, fishing his first-ever Classic, edged Reese by 6 ounces, and VanDam by 3-06. His bag included a 6-09, an almost unthinkable day-3 fish on a beat-to-death lake. He also weighed the big fish of day 1 (and of the tournament) – an 8-02 toad.
Federation qualifier Terry McWilliams caught a big 17-06 bag on day 3 and moved up from 9th to finish 4th.
Gary Klein, who began the day in 6th, caught 15-10 today and finished 5th.
In the end, the tournament came down to the sun, and flipping. When it shined, Duckett flipped up kickers and weighed 19-plus and 17-plus. When it was cloudy, he only caught 10-15.
The river, as many predicted, was too fickle to hold for 3 days. And even though VanDam and Duckett both threw a rattlebait, it was Duckett's big-stick flipping, which he used to cull up each day, that prevailed.
His 48-10 winning total means he averaged just over 16 pounds a day.
Duckett didn't exactly sneak up: He was pegged as the "X-Factor" long before the Classic began. Rather, he stomped through the event, and always seemed to be the one to beat. He led day 1, ceded that lead temporarily on day 2, then shut the door today on two powerhouse anglers.
Also note that he didn't qualify through the Bassmaster Elite Series – he got his berth through the Bassmaster Southern Tour.
He's a local about to turn pro, who in one small moment in an Alabama coliseum, became one of the storied few to win bass fishing's greatest event.
Duckett Lives Dream
Duckett has lived in Alabama since 1991, but he didn't attend any of the festivities surrounding the previous Classics in the Birmingham area.
Duckett's dominance wasn't total, but he weighed more than 17 pounds 2 of the 3 days, and that was the difference.
"Many years ago, I said I wouldn't go to a Classic until I got to fish in it," he said. "This is every angler's dream and I'm really tickled about the home-state angler thing.
"I think there were eight of us starting out, and we all thought how great it would be to win in Alabama. We thought this might be the best chance ever because there were so many of us who knew the lake so well. I had a lot of confidence that I could win long before we came here (for practice)."
He said his key was to "follow the fish" each day and not get hung up on what they'd been doing previously. He caught a limit with a Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap each day, and then culled up with his flipping stick and a Berkley Powerbait Chigger Craw.
"I wanted to fish with an open mind, and I found a lot of places (during the tournament) that I'd never fished before. I like to fish that way – I don't like to practice and get my head stuck thinking this is what they're going to do, and then have them not do what you want them to do."
He stressed that although he had vast knowledge of the lake, he wasn't the hometown favorite.
"I've fished a lot of tournaments around here, but Russ Lane used to beat me most of the time."
2nd: Reese Feels the Pain
For today anyway, Reese considered himself the highest-finishing loser.
"Second place hurts," he said. "You don't get that many opportunities to win the Classic unless you're (VanDam).
"I've had Top 10s in this tournament, so I've had some success, but I also know that this was a golden opportunity this week. I can't say I let it slip away because I performed to the best of my ability, I fished my strengths and I don't have any regrets.
"Boyd just flat beat me," he added. "When you jack a 6-pounder on the last day of this tournament, you know you've got things going your way."
Finishing one spot ahead of the great VanDam was little consolation.
"I was looking forward to going head to head with Kevin today because when yhou beat him, you beat the best. It seems like we've had a lot of little battles, and more often than not, he gets me."
3rd: VanDam Disappointed
VanDam suffered from a head cold all week and said he was completely spent after battling throughout day 3 to catch a 12-05 bag. And naturally, he was disappointed that he didn't notch his third Classic title after starting the final day with the lead.
"I didn't leave anything out there," he said. "I thought I fished to the best of my abilities and I felt good about the adjustments I made.
Duckett's flipping bait was the Berkley Powerbait Chigger Craw (top) – a lure the company designed specifically for the Classic. He also cranked an orange/brown-back Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap (craw color shown).
"If there was one day I could have over, it would be the first day (which he ended in 19th place). I should have been a little more hardheaded and stuck to my pattern. Other than that, I fished really well. I only lost one fish the whole tournament."
He's yet to win a Classic in Alabama, but he enjoys competing in them.
"This is a great lake, and I love fishing down here and I love the Coosa River system. It wouldn't bother me if they had the Classic around here every year."
4th: McWilliams Accepts 'Plan'
McWilliams represented Indiana, and the Central division, as a BASS Federation Nation qualifier.
A 17-06 final-day bag moved him up, but not enough. He finished with 45-03 total (3-07 behind Duckett).
He fished a hotwater discharge from a powerplant all 3 days, and finally left with 2 hours of fishing time today to try something else.
"The Lord had me here for a reason," he said. "I'm not sure what it was, but it wasn't to win the Classic. He gave me a platform to represent the Federation, the state of Indiana, my family, and most of all my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
"He had me here for some reason. Hopefully I did what I was supposed to do."
About his finish, he said: "I'm not happy about it. I didn't win. I came down here to win. Of course, 49 other guys came down here to win too.
"I stumbled yesterday, and couldn't overcome it today.
"To finish where I finished against the competition here, I thought I did very well. And hopefully I helped the Federation. A Top 5 fishing against 49 of the top people in the world at the Bassmaster Classic – I feel that's pretty good."
6th: Wirth Happy
Kevin Wirth caught 2 more pounds than he did yesterday and moved up to finish 6th.
Skeet Reese had a stutter in his voice when Duckett surpassed him – he was emotional, and said he finally knew how Aaron Martens felt.
"To be honest, I'm really happy," he said. "Sure you want to win, and I had myself in a decent position the first day and yesterday.
"Today I caught all I could. I just kept moving in and trying to find some real quality fish. I never could. But it's not like I stayed out and wasted time and put myself behind."
He added that he feels "real comfortable" with the way he fished. He only lost one fish that would have made a difference – a flip-fish.
7th: Scroggins Short Again
Florida's Terry Scroggins went into the final day with a chance to win for the second year in a row. And again, that last day was a struggle.
"I'm just disappointed because I thought I had a chance to win the thing," he said. "The weather was pretty good for what I was doing, but I just didn't catch them."
His 8-10 bag today left him an ounce more than 9 pounds shy of Duckett.
"I thought it was going to be a good day to start, especially when the cloud cover went away early. The wind was a little strong, but other than that, everything was good.
"If I had the same conditions, I don't think I'd do anything different."
8th: Kennedy Accepts Blame
This was Steve Kennedy's first Classic, but he finished in a familiar position – the Top 10.
He weighed 9-12 on the final day for a 38-05 total.
"It was awesome to be here, and awesome to be in Birmingham," he said. "It's not our home water, but it's home for us.
"I don't feel like I fished well," he added. "I don't feel like I made good decisions. Scroggins and I ended up sharing water. I got in 1 hour behind him the first day. If I'd went there first, I probably would have had the stuff to myself, or been more in the hunt.
"It was a bad decision for the first morning, but it usually takes 2 or 3 hours to figure out where everybody is – what's available and what's not."
9th: Nice Boost for Quinn
Jason Quinn had a good final day (14-02) that gave him a Top-10 finish, and he considered it a good way to kick off 2007.
"I feel all right," he said. "It's a good way to start the season. I would have liked to have won, but I took a real good swing at it."
10th: Rojas Feels Good
Dean Rojas suffered through two terrible days of fishing with the flu, but turned a corner this morning and felt better. He caught 13-06 today and finished with 37-13 total.
"I feel good about it," he said. "I've been sick all week – fighting everything. So it was good to finish on a good note and have a Top 10.
"One of these days I'm going to win the darn thing," he said.
11th: Wurm Met His Expectations
Mike Wurm was never really on much, but he maximized what he had. He caught 13-01 today, and finished with 37-09 total.
"It's probably the best I could have expected," he said. "You always want more, but from my practice, and my time on the water during the Classic, it was probably the best I could have done.
"I never did find a largemouth bite."
12th: McClelland Overcame Hurdle
Mike McClelland caught 10-13 today and finished with 37-05 total.
"When you come to the Classic, you can't help but be disappointed when you don't put yourself into position to win on the last day," he said.
"I will say one thing, this is the first Classic where I got to fish on the final day. I did overcome a hurdle I haven't been able to overcome, so I feel pretty good about that."
Notable
> Day 3 stats – 25 anglers, 24 limits, 1 three.
> BASS estimated a crowd of between 14,000 and 15,000 at the final-day weigh-in.
> Federation Nation National Championship winner Royce Dennington, a high-school teacher from Oklahoma, finished 21st. He was thrilled to make the cut for two reasons – the extra money (he got $2,400 more than if he'd been outside the Top 25 after day 2) and the chance to circle the arena in his boat at the day-3 weigh-in. "When I've watched the Classic on TV, I've always thought about how great it would be to do that."
> Much of the tackle referenced above is available at the BassFan Store. To browse the selection, click here.
Day 3 (Final) Standings
1. Boyd Duckett -- Demopolis, Ala. -- 15, 48-10 -- 300 -- $502,000
Day 1: 5, 19-14 -- Day 2: 5, 10-15 -- Day 3: 5, 17-13
2. Skeet Reese -- Auburn, Calif. -- 15, 48-04 -- 295 -- $45,000
Day 1: 5, 17-08 -- Day 2: 5, 14-14 -- Day 3: 5, 15-14
3. Kevin VanDam -- Kalamazoo, Mich. -- 15, 45-04 -- 290 -- $41,000
Day 1: 5, 13-01 -- Day 2: 5, 19-14 -- Day 3: 5, 12-05
4. Terry McWilliams -- Greenfield, Ind. -- 15, 45-03 -- 285 -- $30,000
Day 1: 5, 15-09 -- Day 2: 5, 12-04 -- Day 3: 5, 17-06
5. Gary Klein -- Weatherford, Texas -- 15, 44-05 -- 280 -- $25,000
Day 1: 5, 11-06 -- Day 2: 5, 17-05 -- Day 3: 5, 15-10
6. Kevin Wirth -- Crestwood, Ky. -- 15, 41-04 -- 276 -- $22,000
Day 1: 5, 14-09 -- Day 2: 5, 12-08 -- Day 3: 5, 14-03
7. Terry Scroggins -- San Mateo, Fla. -- 15, 39-09 -- 272 -- $21,500
Day 1: 5, 17-00 -- Day 2: 5, 13-15 -- Day 3: 5, 8-10
8. Steve Kennedy -- Auburn, Ala. -- 15, 38-05 -- 268 -- $21,000
Day 1: 5, 12-02 -- Day 2: 5, 16-07 -- Day 3: 5, 9-12
9. Jason Quinn -- Lake Wylie, S.C. -- 15, 38-01 -- 264 -- $20,500
Day 1: 5, 11-00 -- Day 2: 5, 12-15 -- Day 3: 5, 14-02
10. Dean Rojas -- Grand Saline, Texas -- 15, 37-13 -- 260 -- $20,000
Day 1: 5, 13-04 -- Day 2: 5, 11-03 -- Day 3: 5, 13-06
11. Mike Wurm -- Hot Springs, Ark. -- 15, 37-09 -- 257 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 14-00 -- Day 2: 5, 10-08 -- Day 3: 5, 13-01
12. Mike McClelland -- Bella Vista, Ark. -- 15, 37-05 -- 254 -- $14,500
Day 1: 5, 12-05 -- Day 2: 5, 14-03 -- Day 3: 5, 10-13
13. Randy Howell -- Springville, Ala. -- 14, 36-15 -- 251 -- $14,250
Day 1: 5, 17-15 -- Day 2: 4, 9-09 -- Day 3: 5, 9-07
14. Ishama Monroe -- Hughson, Calif. -- 15, 36-12 -- 248 -- $14,000
Day 1: 5, 15-00 -- Day 2: 5, 12-05 -- Day 3: 5, 9-07
15. Jeff Kriet -- Ardmore, Okla. -- 15, 36-06 -- 245 -- $13,750
Day 1: 5, 12-10 -- Day 2: 5, 11-06 -- Day 3: 5, 12-06
16. Timmy Horton -- Muscle Shoals, Ala. -- 12, 36-00 -- 243 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 17-05 -- Day 2: 5, 12-06 -- Day 3: 2, 6-05
17. James Niggemeyer -- Van, Texas -- 15, 35-13 -- 241 -- $12,900
Day 1: 5, 13-07 -- Day 2: 5, 10-08 -- Day 3: 5, 11-14
18. Todd Faircloth -- Jasper, Texas -- 15, 35-11 -- 239 -- $12,800
Day 1: 5, 11-12 -- Day 2: 5, 11-04 -- Day 3: 5, 12-11
19. Jared Lintner -- Arroyo Grande, Calif. -- 15, 35-06 -- 237 -- $12,700
Day 1: 5, 14-06 -- Day 2: 5, 10-00 -- Day 3: 5, 11-00
20. Tommy Biffle -- Wagoner, Okla. -- 13, 34-11 -- 235 -- $12,600
Day 1: 5, 16-11 -- Day 2: 5, 11-11 -- Day 3: 3, 6-05
21. Royce Dennington -- Barnsdall, Okla. -- 15, 34-10 -- 233 -- $12,400
Day 1: 5, 9-15 -- Day 2: 5, 13-13 -- Day 3: 5, 10-14
22. Alton Jones -- Waco, Texas -- 15, 33-15 -- 231 -- $12,300
Day 1: 5, 12-06 -- Day 2: 5, 12-03 -- Day 3: 5, 9-06
23. Michael Iaconelli -- Runnemede, N.J. -- 15, 32-02 -- 229 -- $12,200
Day 1: 5, 13-09 -- Day 2: 5, 11-06 -- Day 3: 5, 7-03
24. Russ Lane -- Prattville, Ala. -- 15, 32-00 -- 227 -- $12,100
Day 1: 5, 13-13 -- Day 2: 5, 8-10 -- Day 3: 5, 9-09
25. Aaron Martens -- Leeds, Ala. -- 13, 30-09 -- 225 -- $12,000
Day 1: 5, 13-13 -- Day 2: 5, 13-02 -- Day 3: 3, 3-10
Big Bass
> Day 3 -- Boyd Duckett -- Demopolis, Ala. -- 6-09 -- $1,000
> Day 2 -- Kevin VanDam -- Kalamazoo, Mich. -- 5-07 -- $1,000
> Day 1 -- Boyd Duckett -- Demopolis, Ala. -- 8-02 -- $1,000
