(Editor's note: This is part 1 of a 2-part Q&A with FLW Tour pro Luke Clausen.)

In just 5 years as a tour pro, Luke Clausen achieved what many pros could only dream of – he won both of the sport's major championships.

He reached the first milestone in 2004 at the FLW Tour Championship (now Forrest Wood Cup). His second came last year at the Bassmaster Classic. Four other anglers have done the double – Dion Hibdon, David Fritts, George Cochran, and Davy Hite – but each is a veteran. Among them, Hite's the spring chicken, with "just" 14 years of tour-level experience.

Clausen, on the other hand, is a comparative toddler. He won the top FLW purse in his sophomore season, then the Classic just 18 months after that.



In a much publicized move, he left BASS competition after his Classic win to fish the FLW Tour and Series, and this season marked his second under the FLW-exclusive umbrella.

His Tour stats this year were decent, but a little disappointing to fans who'd expected the two-time champ to take no prisoners.

He sat at 9th in the FLW Tour points with one event to fish, then bottomed out at the Detroit River when he missed the day-1 check-in time. After his 196th-place finish there, he dropped to 31st in the FLW Tour points, and through it all, his World Ranking dipped to 47th.

The Detroit River fallout was because of a gamble, and some stubbornness, he noted. But there was something else afoot too. He fished the whole year with a severe case of tennis elbow. He recently underwent corrective surgery on the elbow, but will miss the final FLW Series events of the season.

In the Q&A that follows, he talks about the elbow, his season, and some of the risks that didn't pay off. First, for reference, here's a summary of his FLW Tour finishes this season, starting with the most recent:

> Lake Ouachita (Cup) -- 32nd
> Detroit River -- 196th
> Potomac River -- 31st
> Beaver Lake -- 83rd
> Lake Norman -- 22nd
> Ft. Loudoun-Tellico -- 23rd
> Lake Travis -- 44th

BassFan: Talk about your elbow for a bit. You recently had the right one fixed, which is your casting arm, right?

Clausen: Yes. I had it done in Spokane (Wash.). They cut and reattached the tendon on my elbow. It was fraying off the bone. It was basically a case of severe tennis elbow. I'll be laid up for the rest of the fall. I'll be at the (FLW) Series tournaments for my sponsors, but I won't be able to fish them. And I'll be in physical therapy for 5 weeks.

Other pros, such as Larry Nixon and Mark Davis, had similar problems. Did you seek any advice from them?

I talked to both Larry and Mark, and they said, 'Get it done when you can.' This was the only time of year I could do it. I'll be missing four (FLW Series) tournaments, but that's a lot better than missing the whole season.

How does it all feel now, after the operation?

It actually feels a lot better than I thought it would. The first couple of days, it was really sore and swollen. I was on pain pills, but I stopped after 2 days. I was sick of feeling out of it.

I've been trying to stretch it and work on range of motion. It's pretty painful, but I can use the arm now. It only took a week or so until I was able to write, and put my fingers together. Now I can drink a soda (with the arm).

When did you first begin to notice problems with the elbow?

Last year before I won the Classic, when I spent five or six days trying to learn to fish with my left hand.

Since then, I've been fighting through cortisone shots, and my last shot was right before we went to Erie (the Detroit River). By the time we started, it was already starting to hurt again. The pain-free window had diminished a lot.

Did the elbow affect your performance at all this season?

It affected way I fished a little, but I'm not sure if that was for good or bad. I fished spinning gear a lot more than I needed to. At the Potomac, I was out there throwing spinning stuff in the grass, because I couldn't really flip.

Can you pinpoint how the injury occurred, or began to develop?

What started all this was flipping a big weight down in Florida. Before Okeechobee (in 2006), I flipped a 1 1/2-ounce weight for 12 or 15 hours a day for a couple weeks. That's when I started to notice the pain.

Have you looked at your mechanics? Is there a correction you could make to help avoid re-injury?

I really think the best case would be to worm-fish with my left hand, and take anti-inflammatories. Also stretching is important, and it's something I've never done. I have to do a lot of it now – stretch those tendons out before I actually go fishing.

Are you optimistic the elbow will be in good shape for next season?

I'm really optimistic, especially after how quick the recovery's been so far. It feels a lot better than I expected.

There's 3 1/2 months before the first tournament, so I feel pretty confident I'll be back in action by then. It'll take quite a bit of work, and quite a bit of physical therapy to get back to the point I was at before.

Do you think you'll be a little timid at first, once competition resumes?

No. I really anticipate my confidence being three times what it was. This year, I was throwing all light stuff, basically a Picasso Shakedown head and (Picasso) Pro Metal Texas-rig all year. And a lot of times, I wouldn't even fish docks because I couldn't skip. I had to fish that way to avoid the pain. So if I can get back to where it fells a lot better, I'll have a lot of confidence.

Notable

> About next year's FLW Tour schedule, Clausen said: "I like it. I do wish we'd go to more new lakes, because I typically feel better going to places I've never been. I tend to do better because I go in with a more open mind. But the crowds we've had have been awesome in the big towns. The number of fans coming out and learning about the sport – it's incredible."

– End of part 1 (of 2) -