The lock and the clock. Those were the final obstacles Denny Brauer had to overcome today to win the Arkansas River Bassmaster Elite Series.
They dinged him a little – just as they did nine other anglers in the Top 12. But unlike some of his competitors, he had plenty of weight in his livewell to withstand the 6-pound penalty for being 6 minutes late to check-in – a delay caused by the presence of a barge.
The veteran from Missouri pulled more than 13 pounds from the Pine Bluff pool on day 4, but netted just 7-05 after the penalty adjustment. Still, his 52-02 total was plenty to secure his 17th career B.A.S.S. victory and first in 5 years.
Aaron Martens, who spent the tournament in the Little Rock pool and thus eliminated the locking issue, bagged 10-11 today to finish 2nd with a 45-01 total. Gerald Swindle, who's had a phenomenally consistent season since a bomb in the opener at the Harris Chain, caught the day's biggest bag, netted 7-12 after the penalty and ended up 3rd with 40-08.
Ish Monroe, who joined Martens as the only un-penalized anglers on the final day, sacked 6-15 and ended up 4th with 36-09. John Murray's day-4 weight was almost entirely negated by the penalty, but he still finished 5th with 35-09.
Here's a look at the totals for the remainder of the Top 12:
6. Jonathon VanDam: 34-08
7. Matt Reed: 33-08
8. Tim Horton: 32-10
9. Billy McCaghren: 30-07
10. Kevin VanDam: 30-04
11. Greg Vinson: 29-15
12. Jason Quinn: 28-02
Nine of the 10 competitors who suffered weight reductions had locked twice downstream to the fertile waters of Pine Bluff Harbor. Horton locked only once, but was in the same predicament as the others as the 3 p.m. check-in time approached while the lockmaster worked feverishly to clear the barge.
The situation injected a good bit of drama into what would otherwise have been a fairly uneventful final day. Brauer had entered the day with a 10-pound lead and caught another solid bag, but it got smaller every minute after the clock struck 3, and it looked as if Martens' conservative strategy might pay off.
In the end, Brauer's day – and his week – had been too strong.
Brauer said this win was special because he doesn't know how many more opportunities he'll get.
New Angler-of-the-Year (AOY) leader Kevin VanDam was among the contingent whose entire bags were nullified by the penalties (they didn't contain 6 pounds worth of fish to begin with). The others were McCaghren, Vinson and Quinn.
KVD, who's won three straight AOYs and six overall, will carry a lead of 55 points over 2nd-place Edwin Evers into this week's regular-season finale at Alabama's Lake Wheeler. For the full standings, click here.
Brauer Choked Up
> Day 4: 5, 7-12 (20, 52-02)
The 62-year-old Brauer, who'd been frustrated by Jonathon VanDam's unwillingness to give him additional room in the area they shared at Pine Bluff in light of his tournament-leader status and JVD's day-1 zero, said the win was probably the "most emotional" of his long career.
"It was like an elevator – there were so many ups and downs all week," he said. "I actually caught my fish easier today and I fished better and I was able to put some things out of my mind.
"Then (on the return trip) we got through the first lock fine and we get to the second lock, and the nightmare started. I was thinking that I hadn't won one in 5 years and when I finally got myself in position to do it, it was going to be taken away right there by a barge. I was frustrated, but I didn't say any bad words or anything. I just sat there hoping and praying."
He said it would've been extremely distressing if the delay had been long enough to cost him his entire bag (and thus the win), but in reality it would've been nothing more than a bad break.
"When you make that run, you expect something to happen (over the course of) 4 days. If I would've lost, I would've had to man-up because I knew going in that it could happen.
"Every win is very, very special because they're so hard to get on this tour. For years I carried the albatross of never winning the Classic, and then I won it (in 1998) and I started thinking that it won't be getting any better. I'd gone 5 or 6 years without winning and I'm getting old and there won't be that many more opportunities, so it's very nice to win this event."
The victory gained him an automatic berth in next year's Classic and also moved him up to 24th in the points. He hopes to stay within the cutoff (which will land somewhere in the high 30s) through this week's finale in order to open up a Classic slot for another Elite angler.
The renowned flipper caught most of his fish for the week casting a 3/4-ounce Strike King football jig into water that was 6 feet and deeper – he said the flipping sticks never came out of his rod locker. He was the only competitor to weigh a limit on all 4 days.
Full details of his winning pattern, as well as those of the other top finishers, will be posted soon.
After all the late penalties were assessed, the 10-11 bag that Aaron Martens caught was the best of day 4.
2nd: Martens Stayed Conservative
> Day 4: 4, 10-11 (19, 45-01)
The possibility of a lock delay such as occurred today was precisely why Martens chose to focus on the Little Rock pool. That decision allowed him to finish higher than all but one angler.
"It's pretty cool," he said. "Those guys missing the lock added some excitement to the day, or else it would've been a blowout for Denny. It made things more interesting.
"That was the reason I didn't go – plus I was catching them so good in the Little Rock Pool. It got tougher today, though – I'd been getting three times that many bites."
His bag wouldn't have been short had he not lost a good fish that worked its way into some sort of plastic pipe before coming unhooked.
"It was fun, but it was a lot of work today. The other days were a lot easier, but today everything changed."
4th: Monroe Locked Up
> Day 4: 4, 6-15 (18, 36-09)
Monroe spent the entire tournament in Pool 7 (one lock upstream from Little Rock) and had a lock-delay penatly on day 3, but got credit for his entire catch today and moved up five places in the standings.
"I'm very happy with this finish," he said. "I was really surprised when I pulled up at check-in and the only person I saw was Aaron. It didn't hurt my feelings considering it happened to me yesterday."
He got just the four keeper bites today.
"I had one swirl on the bait that I thought was a keeper, but that's the only one that could've hurt me. I also had one on on a crankbait for about half a second."
5th: Murray's Bite Shut Down
> Day 4: 3, 0-14 (17, 35-09)
The area that Murray fished in the Pine Bluff pool went cold on him today, but neither that nor the penalty kept him from logging his highest finish since 2008.
"It feels great," he said. "After this much time, you really appreciate getting there again. I had a really good time out there today and I soaked it all in and tried not to get caught up in all the other stuff."
He's not sure why the bite was so slow.
Gerald Swindle caught almost 14 pounds today, but nearly half that went away due to the late penalty.
"It was a totally different day. It was dead calm and I only caught one or two short fish and the three keepers, and we had an hour more than we had yesterday.
"I thought it was going to be really good, but it certainly wasn't for me. Maybe they weren't as active because there wasn't any breeze."
6th: JVD Bounces Back
> Day 4: 2, 0-09 (12, 34-08)
Jonathon VanDam was happy to break a five-tournament string in which he finished no higher than 71st.
"I was definitely in a slump, but the things I was doing (in those other events), I didn't think I was too far off on a lot of stuff," he said. "Things weren't going my way and I had a lot of lost fish and missed opportunities. It's nice to get out of that."
He caught only two keepers today, but one was a 5-pounder. He caught one that same size on day 3, and those tied for big-fish honors for the event.
He primarily threw a jig into brushpiles, but today he relied primarily on a Strike King Anaconda.
Notable
> Day 4 stats – 12 anglers, 3 limits, 2 fours, 4 threes, 2 twos, 1 one.
> Murray is traveling with his wife and 2-year-old son and chose to put off the 300-mile drive to Decatur, Ala. until tomorrow. He'll thus miss the first day of practice at Wheeler.
Day 4 (Final) Standings
1. Denny Brauer -- Camdenton, MO -- 20, 52-02 -- 320 -- $100,000
Day 1: 5, 14-10 -- Day 2: 5, 19-07 -- Day 3: 5, 10-12 -- Day 4: 5, 07-05
2. Aaron Martens -- Leeds, AL -- 19, 45-01 -- 295 -- $25,000
Day 1: 5, 10-08 -- Day 2: 5, 10-14 -- Day 3: 5, 13-00 -- Day 4: 4, 10-11
3. Gerald Swindle -- Warrior, AL -- 19, 40-08 -- 290 -- $20,000
Day 1: 4, 08-04 -- Day 2: 5, 12-07 -- Day 3: 5, 12-01 -- Day 4: 5, 07-12
4. Ish Monroe -- Hughson, CA -- 18, 36-09 -- 285 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 14-08 -- Day 2: 4, 06-07 -- Day 3: 5, 08-11 -- Day 4: 4, 06-15
5. John Murray -- Phoenix, AZ -- 17, 35-09 -- 280 -- $14,000
Day 1: 5, 11-07 -- Day 2: 5, 11-12 -- Day 3: 4, 11-08 -- Day 4: 3, 00-14
6. Jonathon VanDam -- Kalamazoo, MI -- 12, 34-08 -- 276 -- $13,500
Day 1: 0, 00-00 -- Day 2: 5, 15-10 -- Day 3: 5, 18-05 -- Day 4: 2, 00-09
7. Matt Reed -- Madisonville, TX -- 17, 33-08 -- 272 -- $13,000
Day 1: 3, 07-06 -- Day 2: 4, 09-01 -- Day 3: 5, 12-12 -- Day 4: 5, 04-05
8. Timmy Horton -- Muscle Shoals, AL -- 14, 32-10 -- 268 -- 12,500
Day 1: 2, 04-09 -- Day 2: 4, 09-03 -- Day 3: 5, 14-02 -- Day 4: 3, 04-12
9. Billy McCaghren -- Mayflower, AR -- 15, 30-07 -- 264 -- $12,000
Day 1: 5, 13-03 -- Day 2: 4, 11-04 -- Day 3: 3, 06-00 -- Day 4: 3, 00-00
10. Kevin VanDam -- Kalamazoo, MI -- 14, 30-04 -- 260 -- $11,500
Day 1: 5, 12-12 -- Day 2: 5, 12-15 -- Day 3: 2, 04-09 -- Day 4: 2, 00-00
11. Greg Vinson -- Wetumpka, AL -- 17, 29-15 -- 257 -- $11,000
Day 1: 5, 10-06 -- Day 2: 5, 10-15 -- Day 3: 4, 08-10 -- Day 4: 3, 00-00
12. Jason Quinn -- Lake Wylie, SC -- 15, 28-02 -- 254 -- $10,500
Day 1: 5, 07-09 -- Day 2: 4, 11-09 -- Day 3: 5, 09-00 -- Day 4: 1, 00-00
