Michael Bennett is only 23, but he's already in his 4th season on the FLW Tour. He's proven he belongs at the sport's top level by qualifying for every Forrest Wood Cup he's been eligible for.
Now he's proven that he can win at this level, too. The Californian caught a day-best 12-15 sack today at the Lewis Smith FLW Tour in Jasper, Ala. to finish with a 2-day total of 27-08.
He beat out rookie Scott Canterbury of Alabama by a little more than 3 pounds. Canterbury bagged 11-14 today and ended up 2nd with 24-05.
Florida's Koby Kreiger caught 10-05 today to finish 3rd with 20-00 and become the new Angler of the Year leader. Luke Clausen of Washington finished 4th with 10-09 today and a 21-05 total, and Alabama's Greg Pugh landed in 5th with a 10-05 bag today and a 20-00 total.
Here's how the bottom half of the Top 10 looked when it was over:
6. Darrel Robertson: 17-01
7. Jason Christie: 16-04
8. Brandon Coulter: 13-15
9. Glenn Browne: 11-14
10. Danny Pierce: 7-10
Fishing conditions today were nearly ideal – there was a mix of clouds and sun, and not enough wind to take any technique or area out of play. Most of the lake's fish are still transitioning to the spawn, though, and remained tough to catch unless they were already in water shallower than 10 feet.
There wasn't a significant migration toward the bank in the wake of the strong storm that hit Friday, and that hampered those who were counting heavily on the sight-bite. A spawner was picked off here and there, but there weren't enough to make a day out of.
Bennett carried a lead of a little more than 2 pounds into today. He lost three keeper bites – just as he had on day 3 – but the five he boated were plenty.
Bennett Thrilled
Bennett is still in the formative stages of his career, but a Tour victory has nonetheless been a longtime goal.
"It's incredible," he said. "It's something I've dreamed about since I was a little kid. The money is awesome, but the win is the big thing.
He felt good about his day on the ride back to the launch, but didn't know whether he'd done enough to close out the victory.
"I thought I might've left the door open – I didn't think I had quite as much weight as I did, and I thought there was a good chance someone could beat me. There were really only three guys with a legitimate shot, but the conditions were really nice and I though one of the bed-fishermen might have caught a couple of good ones.
"At least I felt I performed to a level where they had to beat me. I hadn't given it away."
His day started slowly – he had only one keeper at 9:00 – but then he caught three in a 20-minute period. Two of them came off the same dock and the other was a spawner he'd saved all week.
He weighed his two biggest spotted bass of the tournament today – a 4-pounder and a 3 3/4-pounder.
"I lost two that would have helped me, but I was just glad to catch five. They were the only five I caught all day."
Details of his winning pattern, as well as those for the other top finishers, will be posted soon.
Runner-up Scott Canterbury had a slow morning, but he finished with another solid bag.
2nd: Canterbury Persevered
Canterbury had trouble catching a limit all week, but still ended up beating 198 anglers.
"It was great – as good as I could imagine," he said. "In fishing, this is my biggest accomplishment so far."
He didn't have a fish until almost 10:30 today. Then he caught the first three from places he hadn't visited yet during competition. The other two came from pockets he'd been running.
Four of them came off of beds, and one of those was a 3-pounder.
"It was just as tough as it's been the whole time. The five keeper bites were all I had all day."
3rd: Kreiger not Bummed
Kreiger couldn't find much fault with his performance this week.
"I don't feel as good as if I'd finished 1st or 2nd, but it's still pretty good," he said. "I'm happy that I fished flawless for the most part – I never lost anything that would've helped me."
He had four solid fish in his well by mid-morning courtesy of a Bomber Long A and then went on a hunt for bigger specimens, but his search was futile.
"That's the one thing that's kind of puzzling," he said. "I went looking on the beds, but I never found anything big enough to fish for. I had to catch one keeper spot off a bed to finish my limit.
"Today's conditions were perfect and I had a couple of blowups on a frog, but they never did eat it. I'd seen a couple of big cruisers yesterday, but the only thing big that followed my bait today was a 30-pound striper."
4th: Clausen Okay with It
Clausen caught the same type of bag he'd weighed the previous 2 days and ended the day in the same place he started it.
"It's a good finish, and I'm happy with it," he said. "I wanted to win, but I wasn't on the right kind of fish to win. I wasn't around the big pre-spawn females – I was around a bunch of males."
He caught a limit of 2-pounders pretty quickly this morning and boated several keepers after that, but they only bumped up his sack by a few ounces.
"I lost a 3-pounder this morning that cost me. In hindsight, maybe I should have gone (away from the bank) more after I had a limit, but I figured I could stay in there and cull some.
"I caught one 3-pounder a day, and the rest were all 2-pounders."
Brandon Coulter achieved one of his primary goals for the season this week.
8th: Milestone for Coulter
Coulter, a Tennessean, set two goals for his second year on the Tour. He knocked off one of them this week and got a strong leg up on the other.
"In my first year, my goal was just to requalify because if I didn't finish in the Top 100 in the points, I would've been out the door," he said. "I made that one (he finished 98th), so this year I wanted to make a Top 10 and qualify for the Forrest Wood Cup.
"I'm already halfway there, so this feels great."
He caught all of his fish today on a Pop-R. They all bit between noon and 2:00 – after the sun came out.
He would've finished higher if not for a poor day 3 (3-15).
"We didn't have any sun that day and the fish never came up. Unfortunately, I didn't do a very good job of finding deep fish here."
Notable
> Day 4 stats – 10 anglers, 6 limits, 3 fours, 1 zero.
> Clausen was on his way to Andy Morgan's place in Nashville, Tenn. for a few days of turkey hunting prior to the Toyota Texas Bass Classic, which gets under way April 19.
> Florida's Glenn Browne led the cut, but managed just six fish over the weekend. The only spot he had confidence in was a creek mouth on the upper end of the lake. "I went back up there today and stuck with it, but it was even a little bit dirtier (from the recent rain)," he said. "I just kind of died with it, but it was the only place where I thought I had a shot and the kind of fish I needed."
Day 4 (Final) Standings
1. Michael Bennett -- Roseville, CA -- 5, 14-09 -- 5, 12-15 -- 10, 27-08 -- $100,000 + $25,000
2. Scott Canterbury -- Odenville, AL -- 5, 12-07 -- 5, 11-14 -- 10, 24-05 -- $50,000
3. Koby Kreiger -- Okeechobee, FL -- 5, 11-01 -- 5, 10-15 -- 10, 22-00 -- $40,000
4. Luke Clausen -- Spokane, WA -- 5, 10-12 -- 5, 10-09 -- 10, 21-05 -- $30,000
5. Greg Pugh -- Cullman, AL -- 5, 9-11 -- 5, 10-05 -- 10, 20-00 -- $20,000
6. Darrel Robertson -- Jay, OK -- 5, 9-15 -- 4, 7-02 -- 9, 17-01 -- $19,000
7. Jason Christie -- Park Hill, OK -- 3, 7-11 -- 5, 8-09 -- 8, 16-04 -- $18,000
8. Brandon Coulter -- Knoxville, TN -- 2, 3-15 -- 4, 10-00 -- 6, 13-15 -- $17,000
9. Glenn Browne -- Ocala, FL -- 2, 4-05 -- 4, 7-09 -- 6, 11-14 -- $16,000
10. Danny Pierce -- Greenbrier, AR -- 4, 7-10 -- 0, 0-00 -- 4, 7-10 -- $15,000
