By Sean Ostruszka
Special to BassFan

Seven anglers. Three spots. One hour to fish. Yeah, there was plenty of drama at the cutline to close out Group A’s Qualifying Rounds.

While there was no drama about who would hold the top spot – Kurt Mitchell didn’t have to catch a fish today and still won Group A – the other 24 anglers in the group at the FLW Pro Circuit TITLE Championship all still needed to do work to try and grab the remaining nine openings. Five pros punched their tickets to Friday quickly, and a sixth thought he had and ended up sweating it out at the end.

Evan Barnes (90-00 total), Casey Scanlon (89-05), Grae Buck (81-11), Greg Bohannan (72-02) and Matt Stefan (68-05) all were able to rest pretty much after Period 1. Joshua Weaver also had to feel pretty comfortable for the majority of the day with 59-13, but as this format showed, no lead is truly safe, and he ended up surviving in 9th by little more than 2 pounds.

That left Rusty Salewske, Jon Canada, Ron Nelson, Troy Morrow, Barron Adams, Tyler Stewart and Scott Dobson fighting it out for the final three spots, and it seemed every one of them was making runs and within the cut at one point or another in the final hour. Yet, when the dust cleared, it was Salewske (64-07), Canada (63-03) and Nelson (58-09) who moved on, with Morrow being first man out with 57-06.

“I wanted to make it easier than that, but that was hard,” said Nelson, who was the Pro Circuit Angler of the Year.

It wasn’t any easier for the other contenders.

Salewske started the day in 16th and didn’t look like he had any chance at fishing the Knockout Round when he broke off his only bite in Period 1, as the windy conditions that should’ve helped the bite most certainly did not help him or most everybody else. Fish catches were much harder to come by throughout the day, with long stretches where no anglers were catching anything; a shocking sight on a fishery known for producing quantity.

Fishing was so tough for Salewske he said he wasn’t seeing anything on his electronics and he couldn’t even get gobies to nip his dropshot. Out of sheer desperation toward the end of Period 2, he went back to the spot where he broke off the fish in Period 1.

“I caught four quick right as the period ended,” said Salewske. “The whole break I was just hoping there were more there, and you saw what happened (he caught over 31 pounds in Period 3).

“I never let myself think I was out of it. I knew it could happen quick, and it did.”

While Salewske had to make a valiant comeback, Canada and Nelson both waffled in and out all day, with both making key moves that put them ahead in the end.

Canada was fishing in the same area as Salewske to start and struggled to get bit, though he lost one he figured was around 6 pounds at the boat.

“That one made me want to throw up," he said.

At the beginning of Period 2, Canada decided it was time to hit a spot he was hoping to save for Friday. Thing was, he needed it today to get to Friday.

“The format definitely made me make that move,” says Canada. “I figured I needed to catch some fish, and I knew they’d be there.”

Once in his new area in the harbor, Canada got on a roll and was able to pull away from the cutline in the final hour of Period 3.

That left one last opening, which really came down to Nelson or Morrow.

Nelson jumped into the Top 10 early in Period 1, but the added wind dirtied up the water in his area, prompting a risky 45-minute run in Period 3 out into Sturgeon Bay. The risk paid off, as he and Morrow traded blows multiple times in the final hour of the day, with that last blow going to Nelson.

The two hooked up almost simultaneously with about 10 minutes to go, with Nelson landing his just before Morrow. So when Morrow weighed his fish he thought he’d overtaken Nelson, only to realize Nelson was still barely ahead. Morrow never was able to get that last bite and Nelson hung on, and in doing so, he officially made it to the third day of competition in every Pro Circuit event this season.

“I expected it to be close,,” says Nelson. “If I was short, I can deal with it, but it was a great feeling to get the official word that I’d closed the deal. I was super happy.

“I’m really looking forward to Friday with the wind changing. At some point I’m going to start catching them instead of grinding like I’ve been. Hopefully it’s Friday.”



Weather Forecast

> Thurs., August 27 – Partly Cloudy – 81°/62°
- Wind: From the NNW at 7 mph

> Fri., August 28 – Showers – 69°/58°
- Wind: From the E at 10 mph

> Sat., August 29 – Mostly Sunny – 73°/55°
- Wind: From the NNW at 16 mph

Group A Qualifying Round 2

(Figure at far right indicates weight of angler's heaviest fish for the Qualifying Rounds)

1. Kurt Mitchell -- 33, 119-10 -- 3, 8-05 -- 36, 127-15 -- 5-10

2. Evan Barnes -- 20, 61-10 -- 9, 28-06 -- 29, 90-00 -- 4-12

3. Casey Scanlon -- 17, 57-00 -- 11, 32-05 -- 28, 89-05 -- 4-09

4. Grae Buck -- 17, 63-00 -- 6, 18-11 -- 23, 81-11 -- 4-11

5. Greg Bohannan -- 12, 39-07 -- 10, 32-11 -- 22, 72-02 -- 4-08

6. Matt Stefan -- 14, 47-01 -- 6, 21-04 -- 20, 68-05 -- 4-10

7. Rusty Salewske -- 6, 20-01 -- 13, 44-06 -- 19, 64-07 -- 4-10

8. Jon Canada -- 9, 26-12 -- 10, 36-07 -- 19, 63-03 -- 4-14

9. Joshua Weaver -- 12, 37-01 -- 8, 22-12 -- 20, 59-13 -- 4-00

10. Ron Nelson -- 8, 24-11 -- 10, 33-14 -- 18, 58-09 -- 5-00

The following anglers did not make the cut and will not advance to the Knockout Round

11. Troy Morrow -- 10, 31-09 -- 7, 25-13 -- 17, 57-06 -- 4-08

12. Barron Adams -- 8, 21-03 -- 10, 31-02 -- 18, 52-05 -- 3-15

13. Tyler Stewart -- 9, 26-06 -- 8, 25-03 -- 17, 51-09 -- 4-01

14. Scott Dobson -- 6, 18-09 -- 11, 32-11 -- 17, 51-04 -- 4-10

15. Miles Burghoff -- 1, 3-02 -- 14, 42-01 -- 15, 45-03 -- 4-08

16. Scott Ashmore -- 5, 18-11 -- 5, 20-10 -- 10, 39-05 -- 4-14

17. James Niggemeyer -- 10, 33-04 -- 1, 3-05 -- 11, 36-09 -- 4-10

18. Jeremy Lawyer -- 6, 20-09 -- 5, 16-00 -- 11, 36-09 -- 4-02

19. Jim Moynagh -- 4, 13-07 -- 7, 21-07 -- 11, 34-14 -- 5-05

20. Lendell Martin Jr. -- 5, 15-13 -- 3, 12-06 -- 8, 28-03 -- 5-06

21. Kerry Milner -- 5, 15-07 -- 4, 12-10 -- 9, 28-01 -- 4-00

22. Jason Abram -- 6, 21-05 -- 2, 4-15 -- 8, 26-04 -- 5-06

23. Darrel Robertson -- 2, 6-03 -- 4, 14-14 -- 6, 21-01 -- 5-06

24. Clayton Batts -- 3, 8-11 -- 4, 10-12 -- 7, 19-07 -- 3-07

25. Tom Monsoor -- 0, 0-00 -- 3, 6-15 -- 3, 6-15 -- 2-08