By B.A.S.S. Communications Staff
ORANGE, Texas — A marathon, not a sprint. You’d be hard pressed to find a more fitting phrase to describe Pat Schlapper’s wire-to-wire win in the Bassmaster Elite Series event at the Sabine River.
Schlapper set the early mark with a Day-1 limit of 12 pounds, 2 ounces. The pro from Eleva, Wis., would follow with daily weights of 8-7, 8-9 and 9-10 for a winning total of 38-12.
Outdistancing Patrick Walters by a margin of 2-4, Schlapper collected the top prize of $101,000.
“This means a lot to me that my friends and family surprised me and showed up,” said Schlapper, whose brother passed away last year. “This is for my family and my brother.”
A week after 62-11 earned him a 32nd-place finish in the event at Lake Fork, Schlapper endured the notoriously challenging Sabine River’s stingy ways.
“I caught my fish a few different ways; I had figured out different things and knowing when to do (each one) was the key,” Schlapper said. “I think one of the biggest reasons I outfished a lot people in the area is that I was fishing a lot faster.
“A lot of people were fishing really slow, but I was just covering as much water as I could. I think that made a big difference.”
With cloudy, windy weather creating classic largemouth feeding conditions, Schlapper enjoyed his best morning of the week. Getting off to a quick start, Schlapper had a limit that went a little more than 9 pounds by 9 a.m.
As soon as he reached his first spot, he experienced an intense flurry that jump-started his big morning.
“It was unbelievable the way that happened this morning,” Schlapper said. “That was actually the first spot that I found (in practice). I pulled in and the wind was just perfect to throw a Brazalo clacking buzzbait. It had a big gold blade and a black toad on the back.
“I just got to whompin’ on ’em for about 20 minutes and they were all quality fish. I missed one, but the rest of them choked it.”
Schlapper did all of his Day-1 work on the foundations holding a set of elevated pipes that crossed a canal off Taylor Bayou. On Day 2, he fished the pipe crossing, but also worked open bank.
Days 3 and 4 mostly comprised bank-fishing, where he targeted grass, wood and undercut points. The first three days, Schlapper caught fish on a homemade 3/8-ounce Do-it Molds compact finesse jig with a Big Bite Baits chunk trailer, a dropshot and a Texas-rigged creature bait.
“I felt really good going into this tournament for some reason,” Schlapper said. “I was super confident, super calm. I feel like I made all the right moves and all the right decisions.
“I love the Sabine River.”
Walters, of Summerville, S.C., finished second with 36-8. With his first three days yielding limits of 7-6, 7-2 and 9-9, respectively, Walters entered Sunday in 10th place. Finishing strong with 12-7 – the event’s second heaviest (behind John Crews’ 12-9) – Walters gained eight spots.
Describing the key to his final-round success, Walters said: “Decision-making. The Sabine is all about making decisions. You put some baits in your hand that you feel confident in and covering a lot of water until you find the fish.”
Walters caught most of his fish on a spinnerbait. Given the level of fishing pressure his main area had received, the final round presented an opportunity to make a bold decision that worked out as well as Walters could have ever hoped.
“I had been catching all my fish in Taylor Bayou, but today, I didn’t see it happening,” Walters said. “It wasn’t going to pan out because we had beaten it too much. The second day, there were 78 boats over there.
“That was way too many people over there, so I decided to stay close and fish close. The water had been dropping and clearing up and we just ran into them. I lost one good one, but I can’t complain.”
Japan's Kyoya Fujita finished third with 36-8. (Ties are broken by heaviest single day weight.) His daily limits went 8-8, 11-3, 8-9 and 8-4.
Fujita, who placed fourth last week at Lake Fork, caught his fish on a Texas-rigged Jackall Pine Shrimp and a Neko-rigged Jackall 4.5 Yammy. Spending most of his time targeting reeds in Taylor Bayou, Fujita kept his foot on the trolling motor.
“I did not catch my fish on forward-facing sonar; I caught all of my fish power-fishing,” Fujita said. “Speed is important. I made more casts, more casts, more casts to cover water.”
John Crews of Salem, Va., won the $2,000 Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors for his 4-14 on Day 2
Jay Przekurat of Plover, Wis., leads the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings with 544 points. Chris Johnston of Otonabee, Canada is in second with 502, followed by Fujita with 494, Trey McKinney of Carbondale, Ill., with 487, and Will Davis Jr. of Sylacauga, Ala., with 480.
Day 4 (Final) Standings
1. Pat Schlapper -- Eleva, WI -- 20, 38-12 -- 104 -- $101,000
Day 1: 5, 12-02 -- Day 2: 5, 08-07 -- Day 3: 5, 08-09 -- Day 4: 5, 09-10
2. Patrick Walters -- Eutawville, SC -- 20, 36-08 -- 103 -- $21,000
Day 1: 5, 07-06 -- Day 2: 5, 07-02 -- Day 3: 5, 09-09 -- Day 4: 5, 12-07
3. Kyoya Fujita -- Yamanashi, JAPAN -- 20, 36-08 -- 102 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 08-08 -- Day 2: 5, 11-03 -- Day 3: 5, 08-09 -- Day 4: 5, 08-04
4. Taku Ito -- Dalton GA -- 19, 36-02 -- 101 -- $12,500
Day 1: 5, 11-01 -- Day 2: 4, 05-06 -- Day 3: 5, 08-04 -- Day 4: 5, 11-07
5. Kyle Welcher -- Valley, AL -- 20, 35-03 -- 100 -- $11,750
Day 1: 5, 07-11 -- Day 2: 5, 07-00 -- Day 3: 5, 11-03 -- Day 4: 5, 09-05
6. Cooper Gallant -- Bowmanville, ON -- 20, 34-03 -- 99 -- $11,000
Day 1: 5, 10-02 -- Day 2: 5, 10-03 -- Day 3: 5, 07-05 -- Day 4: 5, 06-09
7. Stetson Blaylock -- Benton, AR -- 20, 31-09 -- 98 -- $10,500
Day 1: 5, 11-05 -- Day 2: 5, 05-14 -- Day 3: 5, 07-01 -- Day 4: 5, 07-05
8. David Mullins -- Mt Carmel, TN -- 20, 31-09 -- 97 -- $10,300
Day 1: 5, 06-13 -- Day 2: 5, 06-15 -- Day 3: 5, 11-00 -- Day 4: 5, 06-13
9. Justin Hamner -- Northport, AL -- 19, 31-09 -- 96 -- $10,200
Day 1: 5, 10-05 -- Day 2: 4, 05-12 -- Day 3: 5, 08-06 -- Day 4: 5, 07-02
10. John Crews Jr -- Salem, VA -- 18, 30-06 -- 95 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 05-07 -- Day 2: 5, 12-09 -- Day 3: 5, 07-01 -- Day 4: 3, 05-05
