(Editor's note: This is the second of several installments in a new series titled Cup Q&A. These interviews focus on pros who qualified for next week's Forrest Wood Cup, to be held in Hot Springs, Ark. at Lake Ouachita.)
Scott Suggs doesn't know how many tournaments he's won at Lake Ouachita, but it's a bunch. He's entered three team tournaments there this year and won them all.
He's lived within an hour of the lake for all of his 41 years and has fished there an average of at least once a week since he was 2. Obviously, he's one of the hometown favorites for next week's Forrest Wood Cup.
He was strong during the first half of the FLW Tour season, but limped into the championship with a 42nd-place finish in the Angler of the Year (AOY) race. He was 165th at the Potomac River and 137th at the Detroit River to conclude the campaign.
Only the Top 40 in the points were guaranteed Cup berths, but he got in with room to spare due to a substantial list of double-qualifiers. Now he'll see if he can keep his streak of 2007 Ouachita victories alive and pocket $1 million in the process.
BassFan: Are you excited about the Forrest Wood Cup coming to your home lake
No, because I know how tough the fishing is going to be, and one of the biggest mistakes I made at Lake Hamilton (another Arkansas venue that hosted the 2005 FLW Championship) was getting overexcited, and that really hurt me. I made it through the first round (under the old bracketed format), and I had the fish to make it through the second round, but I got in too big of a hurry and didn't fish the way I should have.
I'm trying to use that as a learning experience, and I'm trying to just coast into this one.
(Note: He finished 19th in the 2005 Championship.)
So do you think hometown-favorite status is actually somewhat of a disadvantage?
I know it was last time (at Hamilton), and that's why I'm trying to put it in the back of my mind and just go out there and remain calm. If you get too excited and have too many places (to fish) and too much knowledge, it can backfire. I need to keep a clear and open mind through this whole deal.
I don't camp at tournaments, but I'm camping here. I'm in an unmarked vehicle and I'm using a boat that's not even mine (during practice). Whether I'm out there catching them or not, I want to keep everything to myself and not give anybody an idea of what I'm doing.
On the flip side, won't your knowledge of the lake itself be a benefit?
I have some out-of-the-way places – a brushpile here, a rockpile there, a certain point that holds good fish and different grass clumps here and there – and I'm hoping I'll be able to use them to my advantage. People don't realize just how many fish are in this lake, and having a few little hidden areas like that might help.
Suggs ended the FLW Tour season with his two worst finishes, but that lack of momentum doesn't concern him.
You ended the season with two rough outings in a row. Does that lack of momentum concern you?
No, that doesn't bother me at all – they were both due to Mother Nature. I felt like I was going to make the cut in both of them.
At the Potomac, we had an unbelievable tide change overnight. And up at Erie, the wind blew 35 or 40 mph on the first day and muddied all my areas up. On the second day and I went out and caught 16 pounds in an hour and a half and took my time coming back in just to make sure I made the championship.
It hasn't affected my confidence at all – I have as much as I ever did.
What would a victory in this event mean to you?
I wouldn't be able to describe it. It'd be life-changing, of course, but what would mean the most would be winning for all the people who come up to me and tell me how they've followed me through the year – the hometown fans.
I think I'd enjoy that part more than anything else.
How has your practice gone so far?
If it takes 10 to 12 pounds to make the (Top-10) cut, then I'll make the cut. If it takes more than that, I might be in trouble.
I got lucky (on Thursday) and caught a 4-pounder and a 5-pounder. If you can get a couple of those type of fish, you can make the cut with ease."
Notable
> Suggs' best finish on Tour this year was a 5th at Norman.
> One of his many Ouachita wins was an Arkie Division BFL in 1997.
