Why is Luke Clausen so good at such a young age? Maybe it's because he possesses patience that's ordinarily found in anglers much older than his 27 years.

He won the FLW Tour Championship (FLWTC) a year-and-a-half ago by fishing slowly with a worm. He did the same thing last week at Florida's Lake Toho for a wire-to-wire victory in the Bassmaster Classic.

"I'm part of a new generation of anglers," he said just before he headed off to the traditional Champion's Toast. "I think you're going to see a lot more guys win when they're still young."



Maybe so. Age – at either end of the spectrum – isn't nearly the factor in bass fishing that it is in a lot of other sports. If an angler can find the right fish and figure out how to catch them, it makes no difference how many candles were on his last birthday cake.

But how many of the young guns have the ability – or even the inclination – to fish as methodically as he does? After his most recent win, perhaps a lot more should give it a try.

He became the seventh angler to lead the Classic all 3 days, the fifth to have won the championship on both tours and the youngest ever to amass more than $1 million in earnings. His 56-02 total also broke the record for highest Classic-winning weight in the five-fish limit era.

Here's how he did it.

Practice

Classic anglers were forced to make some important decisions. They had free run of four lakes in the Kissimmee Chain (Toho, Kissimmee, Cypress and Hatchineha), and there were fish in all three phases of the spawn (some were on beds, others had been there and done that, and still others had yet to partake in the annual reproduction ritual).

During pre-practice, which took place the week prior to the tournament, Clausen located a good group of spawners in an area called Jack's Slough, in the southeastern corner of Kissimmee. When he went back on the official practice day (2 days before the tournament), he knew he was onto something big.

He discovered that they were suckers for a Mann's HardNose Worm. He could catch them by dragging the worm slowly across lily-pad roots.

"I could feel the roots down there," he said. "They're almost like a log – they're about 8 inches around. There were random beds on the roots, and some of them were 10 feet or so away from the pads.

"I knew there were some fish in there, but I really didn't know it was that good," he said. "I'd throw the worm out and I kept getting a backlash, and then (before I could untangle my line) a fish would be swimming off with it through the pads.

"I fished maybe 60 percent of it and I got about 30 bites. That day, I think I could have caught 40 pounds."

Competition

Day 1: 5, 29-06
Day 2: 5, 14-15 (10, 44-05)
Day 3: 5, 11-13 (15, 56-02)

There's a common refrain used in every sport that features multi-day, cumulative-score tournaments: You can't win them on the first day. That's true, but Clausen's massive day 1 sack sent him well on his way to victory

His 29-06 stringer – the heaviest for five fish in Classic history – gave him a lead he wouldn't give up (although at that time it was only a 5-ounce advantage over Preston Clark). Among the 16 keepers he caught were a 7-07 and four that went 5 pounds or better.

He could have surpassed the 30-pound mark, but chose to save some fish for the next 2 days. "I just caught the 29 pounds and left."



Mann's Bait Co.
Photo: Mann's Bait Co.

Luke Clausen won the Bassmaster Classic with a junebug-color Mann's HardNose Worm (shown above).

He caught a 6-pounder on his third cast of day 2, but the rest of the day was relatively slow. Jack's Slough wasn't nearly as fruitful as it was a day earlier and he lamented not leaving it sooner to search for more productive water.

Weights were down throughout the field though, and his 14-15 bag boosted his lead to 4 1/2 pounds.

He did try a new area to begin day 3, which featured the arrival of a cold front that brought rain and 25 mph winds. But the only event of note in that locale occurred when the cameraman who was riding with him fell into the lake.

He went back to Jack's Slough and caught a 5-13 on his first cast and another keeper on his next cast. He boated two more about 20 minutes later and filled out his limit with a spinnerbait fish out of Toho at the end of the day.

He didn't think his 11-13 bag would be enough to win, but his closest pursuers suffered through brutal days. Ron Shuffield caught just three of his 13 bites and Terry Scroggins, who'd weighed an intimidating 28-06 bag on day 2, caught just 7-11 after the powerful winds muddied up his big-fish spot.

Journeyman Rick Morris made a strong charge with a 13-11 bag, but like everybody else, he finished more than 5 pounds back.

Winning Gear Notes

> Worm gear: 7'0" heavy-action G.Loomis MBR844 IMX rod, Shimano Chronarch 100 casting reel (6.3:1), 16-pound SunLine Sniper fluorocarbon, 5/0 Owner Z-Neck offset worm hook, 6" Mann's HardNose Worm (junebug).

> The HardNose Worm was responsible for 13 of his 15 weigh-in fish. In addition to the one on the spinnerbait, he also caught one on a dropshot rig. "It just kept blowing on the worm, so I pulled out a spinning rod, rigged up a dropshot and caught it. It was about a 2-pounder."

>“The HardNose feature of the worm was a major part of my success," he said. "I was mostly fishing lily pads, and the V-sections of the pads are notorious for hanging up your bait. The harder plastic in the head kept my worm from sliding down the hook. From an efficiency standpoint, this was a big factor."

Notable

> Main factor in his success – "Just fishing very slow and thorough."

> All of his fish from Jack's Slough were caught in water that was 3 to 4 feet deep.

> He'll fish the Pickwick FLW, which begins Wednesday. He's 9th in the FLW points through two events.

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