Shaw Sacks 20-14, Leads Vatalaro By Ounces

Day 3 at the final regular-season event of the 2008 FLW Tour at the Detroit River was a story of feast or famine.

Two pros, Alvin Shaw and Vic Vatalaro, got downright gluttonous on their way to assembling the only two 20-plus-pound limits to hit the scales in the third quarter of competition.

Everybody else, on the other hand, looks like they were left to pick through the bones and crumbs.

Shaw's 1st-place limit of 20-14 makes him the only angler in the Top 10 to break the 20-pound barrier every day of competition. It also makes him the odds-on favorite to walk away with the trophy tomorrow. But don't tell Vatalaro that.

Vatalaro turned in the heaviest limit of the tournament on day 1. He followed that up with a deceivingly light limit in the 16-pound class yesterday. But today he poured it on again in convincing fashion with another 20-01 total. And on top of that, his partner Mark Frickman tanked 19-04 from the back of the boat to claim the co-angler title.

From there the leaderboard starts to look a little less impressive. A distant 4 pounds back in 3rd place is Floridian J.T. Kenney with 16-14. Three pounds behind him is local river runner David Reault with 13-09.

Another hometown angler who struggled in the St. Clair river today, Mark Modrak, holds down the 5th-place position with a scant 12-09.

Here's a look at the Top 10 layout. Total weight is followed by distance from leader in red.

1. Alvin Shaw: 5, 20-14
2. Vic Vatalaro: 5, 20-01 (0-13)
3. JT Kenney: 5, 16-14 (4-00)
4. David Reault: 5, 13-09 (7-05)
5. Mark Modrak: 5, 12-09 (8-05)
6. Kim Stricker: 5, 11-15 (8-15)
7. Michael Bennett: 3, 8-12 (12-02)
8. Keith Combs: 3, 8-01 (12-13)
9. David McCrone: 2, 6-15 (13-15)
10. Keith Monson: 3, 6-14 (14-00)

As forecasted, a nasty blob of thunderstorms dropped a healthy dose of rain and filled the sky with electricity today. Several of the Top 10 pros said they had to seek shelter and cited their lost time on the water as a primary reason for not being able to turn in a more competitive limit.

A glance at the standings might mislead you into thinking this event has turned into a two-man race between Shaw and Vatalaro. But as was proven today, the weather can extinguish a seemingly hot bite in a hurry.

Take the example of 1st-place cut qualifier David McCrone. Blustery conditions kept him pinned in the eastern end of Erie, and the 6-15 pound bag of two smallmouths he showed up with today looks tiny compared to the two 20-pound limits he scored the first 2 days.

Also notable is 3rd-place competitor J.T. Kenney. He's also fishing Erie and said he only got to work his fish a little over an hour today prior to the storms rolling in. If he's able to sit and cull on those fish tomorrow, it's likely his bag will come in a good bit heavier than the one he turned in today. And that same scenario could be true for several other pros as well.

More wind is predicted for the final day of competition, but the strong storms that stifled many pros' plans today are expected to disappear after the early morning hours tomorrow.

Shaw and Vatalaro are the safe picks, but there are few fisheries with better mega-sack potential than Lake Erie, and that means no lead is ever safe.

Shaw Stoked

"I tell you what - it's coming together for me out there," Shaw said about his day on the water. "You always have those tournaments where you kill 'em in practice and then struggle come tournament day. But this one is working out just right."

Day 3 was more of the same for the North Carolina pro. He's bouncing around on a few small key spots within the radius of a larger area.

"It's really all about location here more than anything else," he said. "I wish I could tell you what I'm fishing, but it's hard to put a finger on it with your electronics because you're always rocking and rolling out there."

Dragging a tube is a way of life on these waters, but he's doing something a little different that he thinks might be earning him a few more big bites.

"I really don't know how to explain it," he said. "I'm working the bait - not dragging it. It's just something that kind of came together for me. I'm pulling that tube up to a piece of grass and then I just hold it there. Then I pull it free and that's when I'm getting those big bites."

His livewell was full by 10 a.m. today, which he said was key because his bite slowed down some after the storms subsided

"I did catch my biggest fish after the storm today, but overall the bite was better before the rain came."

His only win on the FLW tour came at Lake Wheeler in 2005. About what it would mean to secure a victory on a northern fishery where he's traditionally struggled, he said: "It'd be a tremendous win to be able to prove to yourself that you can beat these northern guys.

"Clapper really knocked our socks off last year," he added. "It'd be nice for a good ol' southern boy to come up here this year and return the favor. Hopefully I've got a little bragging rights after this one is over."

3rd: Kenney Got 'Em Quick

It took J.T. Kenney a little over an hour to get to his fish on Lake Erie this morning, but once he arrived, he didn't have to wait long for the action to start.

"My co-angler and I both put a limit in the boat pretty quick," he said. "I wish I could've stayed out there a lot longer. I only got to cull once, and then I looked up and saw that storm coming and I got scared.

"I'm not afraid to admit it. That storm was scary."

Kenney cut his teeth on the weedy, bowl-shaped lakes of Florida, but he seems to have the brown fish figured out fairly well. He's managed several Top 30 finishes on northern lakes throughout his career.

"I don't know, this vertical stuff just makes sense to me," he said. "The first time I came here I got out deep, looked at my graph, dropped a bait down and caught a fish. For some reason I just have an easy time fishing that way."

That's exactly how he's amassing his limits in this event. "I'm just looking for arches on the depth finder," he noted. "I'm seeing most of my fish on the screen before I catch them."

The dropshot has been his primary producer. But unlike many other anglers in the field who are relying on Berkley Gulp! gobies, leeches and minnows on their dropshots, Kenney's opting for the larger 5-inch Gulp! Jerk Shad to fool his fish.

"I just thought they'd want a little bigger bait," he said. "Plus everybody else has been throwing those smaller baits so I just wanted to give them something different.

"I think the other important thing is that I'm using 4-pound Spiderwire fluorocarbon," he added. "My co-anglers have caught some good bags, but I've out-fished them every day, and I think it's because of the light line."

Erie is his first option tomorrow, but he's skeptical about whether or not the wind will let him get to his fish. If he can't make it to his a-spot, he'll try to fall back on a bite he found in the river.

"It's nothing great," he said about his backup bite. "I really hope I can get out on Erie, but if not I'll just bounce around and try to put a limit together.

"I feel pretty good as it is," he added. "This tournament just caps off a good year for me. I'll take a Top 10, but I'd rather have a 1st."

4th: Reault Couldn't Relax

David Reault, a hard-hitting local whose only tour-level exposure has come in the form of four prior FLW events - three on this fishery and one at Kentucky - said making his first FLW Tour Top 10 cut might have gotten to him a little.

"My nerves were acting up today. At the end of the day I was pushing pretty hard, and I just didn't execute well. I had a few problems with the boat, too. That kind of stuff and dealing with the cameras - it was just different. It didn't feel right."

When he says he didn't execute well, he means he blew several opportunities that would’ve allowed him to cull up to a sack he estimates could've put him in 3rd place behind Vatalaro.

"I was getting good fish to come up and bite, but I just couldn't stick 'em," he said. "It was just a little bit of nerves and everything else going on."

But he feels like he got most of the jitters out of his system today and expects a better performance out of himself tomorrow. "I wish I could go back out there right now," he said. "Now that I've got a day behind me I just feel more comfortable about everything. I'll be disappointed if I don't improve tomorrow."

He made it to the Top 10 by alternating between an open-water spot on St. Clair and targeting shallow fish in the St. Clair River. The jerkbait has been his primary weapon.

"I'm able to cover a lot of water with that jerkbait," he said. "It's not like a dropshot where you have to drop it right on them. If you put it within 30 or 40 feet of them and they want it, they'll jump on it."

5th: Modrak's Fish Pressured

"I think a big part of my problem was the fact that a local tournament launched out of St. Clair today," said Michigan pro and St. Clair stalwart Mark Modrak.

"A lot of the spots I've been fishing up there got pretty beat up before I ever got to them today. There were several spots I tried to visit this morning, but they already had boats on them."

Yesterday he noted that his fish were already timid anyway, and the additional traffic from locals today locked their jaws even tighter.

"When you get guys going over those river fish that aren't familiar with catching them, it can really mess things up."

The time he lost sitting under a bridge while waiting out the storm didn't help, either. "I've been in a lot of bad lightning situations, but this one was real bad. We saw lightning hit the water about a mile from us and this big pillar of steam went up in the air. It was pretty amazing, but it was scary. I don't mess around with lightning."

About the adjustments he plans to make for tomorrow, he said: "I may have to just leave all the areas I've been fishing and try completely new spots. I've been fishing this lake for over 20 years, so I've got plenty of spots I can try.

"What was weird today was that I caught a ton of fish, but they were all about 13 inches," he added. "Those fish haven't been on my spots the past few days, which tells me I need to look at something different tomorrow."

Of course, he'd like to find a way to slip into 1st place, but admitted "that's a little unreal. Alvin and Vic got a pretty good jump on us today. I think I can catch JT, though. I'd like to go out tomorrow and catch 17 pounds.

"This is all the greatest thing in the world to me, though. I really don't care what happens. I'm up on cloud nine just to be in this position."

Additional Notes

Following are some highlights from today's weigh-in.

> 2nd: Vic Vatalaro (5, 20-01) – "I caught all (my fish) off one spot today. I have to thank my teammate Richard Lowitzki. He clued me into this spot. I don't think Rich realized how good that spot really was, but I'm sure glad he told me about it."

> 6th: Kim Stricker (5, 11-15) – "All of us that fished shallow today - the weather really made us struggle. The bite was already hard to come by, but that storm made it even worse."

> 7th: Michael Bennett (5, 12-02) – "I don't know what happened. I thought my area had a lot more fish in it, but I just didn't catch them today. I know there are big ones out there, but I think they moved a little bit today and I didn't adjust with them. I've got the potential for a 22- or 23-pound sack, but I could never get on them today."

> 8th: Keith Combs (5, 8-01) – "I changed it up a little today. I had a real tough time fishing my spot in Erie, so I went to St. Clair. I made a gamble and it just didn't work out. I'd like to get back out there on Erie tomorrow. Hopefully the wind will let us do that."

> 9th: David McCrone (2, 6-15) – "I've been running about 70 miles to get my fish. There was no way I could've done that today. I just ran to the first island I saw and started fishing."

> 10th: Keith Monson (3, 6-14) – "The lord has blessed me this tournament. I'm not good on big water, and this place is big. I just stumbled on a place last week that had a lot more fish on it than I thought. I'm tickled to death to be here. The lightning ran me off the water today. Hopefully we'll get 'em tomorrow."

Notable

> Day 3 stats – 10 anglers, 6 limits, 3 threes, 1 two.

> "I was fishing from my knees holding on for dear life to my seat pole," Kenney said about his day 3 Erie experience. "We were bouncing up and down the whole time. It's brutal out there."

Weather Forecast

Here's the weather forecast for the final tournament day. For more weather information, including satellite and radar imagery, visit OutdoorsFanWeather.com.

> Sun., July 13 - Partly Cloudy - 83°/61°
- Wind: From the W at 14 mph

Day 3 Standings

1. Alvin Shaw -- State Road, NC -- 5, 20-14

2. Vic Vatalaro -- Kent, Ohio -- 5, 20-01

3. JT Kenney -- Port Charlotte, Fla. -- 5, 16-14

4. David Reault -- Livonia, Mich. -- 5, 13-09

5. Mark Modrak -- China Township, Mich. -- 5, 12-09

6. Kim Stricker -- Howell, Mich. -- 5, 11-15

7. Michael Bennett -- Lincoln, Calif. -- 3, 8-12

8. Keith Combs -- Del Rio, Texas -- 3, 8-01

9. David McCrone -- Minnetonka, Minn. -- 2, 6-15

10. Keith Monson -- Burgin, Ky. -- 3, 6-14