Clausen Sacks 19, Edges Ike By 1-13

The final day of the Potomac FLW Tour Open in Maryland was essentially a battle between three strategies. First there was day-3 leader Mike Iaconelli, who moved and fished a mix of hard cover and grass. Then there was Luke Clausen, who camped in a single area and fished coontail through every stage of the tide. Lastly there was 3rd-place Bobby Lane, who flipped milfoil.

It was a virtual certainty that one of those three pros would weigh 18 pounds today, and whoever did would likely be the winner.

In the end, Clausen's 'camp coontail' prevailed. His small area produced multiple kickers and Clausen cashed out with a 19-pound limit – the heaviest of the day – and claimed his third tour-level victory

with a 69-14, 4-day total. It was his first tour-level victory since the 2006 Classic.

Clausen, a former Bassmaster Classic and Forrest Wood Cup champion, didn't face a big decision today. He said yesterday that he was married to his coontail area, and would live or die there.

Iaconelli's 16-08 limit today delivered another crushing runner-up finish for the Elite Series pro. Ike has now finished 2nd in four tour-level events since his most recent win (2006), and two of those 2nds were at the Classic and Forrest Wood Cup in a single year.

Despite Ike's reputation as perhaps the best tidal angler in the sport, he ultimately fell victim to an area that not only produced Clausen's win, but also accounted for the two heaviest sacks of the day and Bryan Schmitt's 4th-place finish. Perhaps Clausen's win provides the final evidence that the Potomac is now a spot, not a pattern fishery.

After a strong start, Lane's milfoil area faded significantly over the final 2 days and his 15-04 limit today, although a pound better than his day-1 weight, was a long way from contention. He finished 4 1/2 pounds behind Clausen.

Schmitt, a local BFL- and EverStart-level pro, won an EverStart here last year. Schmitt fished near Clausen all 4 days and weighed the second-heaviest bag of the day at 17-03, which allowed him to hold onto his 4th-place position.

Michael Williamson, a Tour rookie from Arkansas, improved a spot to finish 5th with a 15-02 limit today. This was his first tour-level cut.

Iaconelli and Lane are both now en route to Little Rock, Ark. for the upcoming Arkansas River Elite Series. They've both hired drivers to help and hope to make most of tomorrow's opening day of practice.

Clausen's Hard Work Pays Off

> Day 4: 5, 19-04 (20, 69-01)

By the measure of purse and prestige, this win may pale next to Clausen's Classic and Cup victories. But this one feels as good as either of those championships, Clausen said, because those two victories came fairly quickly in his career. This win, on the other hand, took 5 grueling years to achieve. And those 5 years were punctuated by a severe case of fishing elbow that required surgery.

"Man, this is amazing," Clausen told BassFan shortly after weigh-in. "I haven't won one since winning the Classic, and it feels great. It's just surreal. It almost feels like a huge relief.

"It'd been so long since I won the Classic, I started to wonder if it would ever happen again. You make a Top 15 or 10 and think you have a chance, but then things don't work out. It's an amazing feeling to win. You almost forget what it's like until you do it again."

His key today, he said, was "a few really big bites," and he's a little stunned that he got them, while Ike and Lane didn't. "It could have happened to anybody today, and it's a pretty amazing feeling to know nobody else caught them. It's a pretty good feeling. And Ike is probably as good as they get on this river and knowing tidal fisheries."

According to Clausen, a much higher than normal tide occurred this morning. He caught a quick limit on that tide, and as he pitched his plastic again, a fish blew up on it. That clued him in and he changed to a swim-jig. On his first cast with the swim-jig, he roped a 5 1/2-pounder. As the water fell, he changed to flipping and caught another big fish around 1:00 to all but seal the deal.

Still, he was anxious on the trip in. He didn't think he'd caught 18 pounds, and he was pretty sure somebody else did.

"Coming back, I thought I had a chance, but I was real pessimistic," he said. "I thought I needed one more good fish. I thought I only had 16 pounds or so. But then Bobby looked in my bag and said, 'You've got 18 pounds,' and I started thinking maybe I had a really good shot."

When asked to compare this win to his Classic and Cup titles, Clausen said: "This one's more of a relief than anything. I put so much pressure on myself to do well. I work my butt off, fishing as hard as I can, to not win for that long is really frustrating. To have it finally come together, it's really rewarding.

"Those (two other) victories seem like they came a lot easier than this one. Obviously they're bigger titles and purses, but somehow they seemed easier to win. It took me 5 years to win this one."

Clausen threw a mix of baits this week, but overall, plastics were key. He threw all Z-Man ElaZtech products, including a Texas-rigged Finesse worm, ZinkerZ, prototype craw and various creatures. Critical, he said, was that all were the ElazTech baits except the ZinerZ float, and many of his fish were spawning, thus they reacted to the tail-up plastics. He also threw a Z-Man ChatterBait and unnamed swimjig. Details of his winning pattern, plus pattern information for the other top finishers, will be published soon.

2nd: Iaconelli's Grass Bite Faded

> Day 4: 5, 16-08 (20, 68-01)

A portion of Ike's one-two punch worked today – he caught good fish at high tide off hard cover. But when the water dropped, his grass bite never came through.

"It was a tough tournament," he said. "I ran around a lot and tried to fish the tide. I tried to adjust. When I saw that flood tide, I tried to fish a lot of hard targets. It worked and I caught a lot of big ones.

"But my main spot, the grass, just didn't produce like it needed to."

3rd: Lane Decided Against Change

> Day 4: 5, 15-04 (20, 65-05)

Although Lane's milfoil bite faded yesterday, he resisted the temptation to change today. On his way to his primary area this morning, he nearly bypassed it for a different starting spot. At the last minute, he nixed that plan, headed into his primary area and started to pitch.

"On my second pitch of the morning I caught a 4-pounder, and I was kind of committed at that time," he said. "I told myself, there's probably enough fish here to win. If they're going to bite, I can win this tournament right here. I promise you there's a 22- to 25-pound bag lying down there.

"It just wasn't my time to win," he added. "You can put yourself in position and when it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. I'm hungry for a win. Seconds and 3rds and 4ths are fun, but everybody forgets 2nd and 3rd. You want 1st place. Am I disappointed? Yeah. But all in all this was a good week. This river's been good to me."

4th: Schmitt 'Honored'

> Day 4: 5, 17-03 (20, 64-12)

Even though Schmitt won the EverStart here last year, he didn't have to battle the likes of Clausen, Ike, Lane and David Dudley.

Schmitt fished next to Clausen all 4 days.

"I'm happy, and I was honored to fish against and be in contention with these guys," Schmitt said. "Today I capitalized on every bite, and I just didn't get the right ones. Luke, without a doubt, I have the utmost respect for him. He put his head down and went to it. I probably caught eight fish to his one, but he got the right bites.

"And I think he knew I had a pretty good bag early, and he didn't let it get to him. He put his head down and really did well. He caught the right fish. He didn't come in on me. I didn't come in on him. I left it all out there. I'm satisfied – very satisfied."

Also notable: He blew his lower unit on day 2 and lost half a day. "I don't think you can win against these guys if you lose half a day," he said.

5th: Williamson Started Late

> Day 4: 5, 15-02 (20, 61-06)

Williamson, a rookie, made his first Tour cut this week. He was concerned this morning when he was fishless at 8:30, but he landed three big ones around 11:30 in the same place, which helped him mentally.

"All week long I've been throwing a (Buckeye) Spot Remover 1/4-ounce shakey-head with a Senko in watermelon-blue," he noted.

Additional Notes

Following are quotes from the 6th- through 10-place finishers, gathered from today's weigh-in.

6th: Stetson Blaylock
"I've fished here a couple of times, but this is my first time as a pro. I know nothing about tides. I just found an area and stuck it out all day, every day. I caught all my fish on a Berkley Chigger craw. I was throwing green-pumpkin and black/blue. I had two little grass patches and I kept going between the two. Timing was everything. Today I caught my three biggest ones in an hour."

7th: David Dudley
"I threw a ChatterBait a lot this week, and (tipped it with) a brand new Berkley HAVOC (The Deuce) twintail grub. That grub was really kicking and you needed to have a lot of action, so it helped a lot. One the flipping fish, I was just using creature baits."

8th: Lance Vick
"The fish I found were on a grass flat and I stayed in one spot for 5 days and grinded on those fish. The first 3 days I capitalized on all the opportunities I had. Today I lost some key fish. They weren't the fish to win it, but to get to day 4 in an FLW event is absolutely amazing. I caught almost all my fish this week on a topwater frog."

9th: Chad Morgenthaler
"It's just an unbelievable fishery here. We caught 150 to 200 fish the last 4 days, and the tidal water has been the absolute key. More than that, I found one specific place I really relied on heavily the last 3 days. Today, it just wasn't going to happen in there. The low tide was the best for me, and it stayed high for most of the day today."

10th: Cory Johnston
"I had my bites, it just didn't work out. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong. I have no complaints. I'm in the Top 10. That was my goal. I couldn't ask for anything better."

Notable

> Day 4 stats – 10 pros, 9 limits, 1 four.

> Clausen's been sort of a wandering pro over his career. After starting in Washington, where he grew up, he spent a bunch of time in Arizona, then a bunch of time in the Southeast, and now he's back living in Washington in the town of Otis Orchards. He said he owns a home and a lake home there, and he's fixing up both. He flies to the tour events.

> Vick noted he caught a bunch of snakeheads – an invasive species from Asia.

> Today's event does not count toward the FLW Tour points. Instead, the Top 5 after the four Opens receive a berth in the 2012 Cup.

Day 4 (Final) Standings

1. Luke Clausen -- Otis Orchards, Wa -- 5, 15-03 -- 5, 17-00 -- 5, 18-07 -- 5, 19-04 -- 20, 69-14 -- $100,000 + $25,000

2. Michael Iaconelli -- Pittsgrove, Nj -- 5, 17-07 -- 5, 16-02 -- 5, 18-00 -- 5, 16-08 -- 20, 68-01 -- $35,000

3. Bobby Lane -- Lakeland, Fl -- 5, 17-03 -- 5, 18-08 -- 5, 14-06 -- 5, 15-04 -- 20, 65-05 -- $30,000

4. Bryan Schmitt -- Deale, Md -- 5, 15-07 -- 5, 13-02 -- 5, 19-00 -- 5, 17-03 -- 20, 64-12 -- $25,000

5. Michael Williamson -- Fort Smith, Ar -- 5, 11-07 -- 5, 17-12 -- 5, 17-01 -- 5, 15-02 -- 20, 61-06 -- $20,000

6. Stetson Blaylock -- Benton, Ar -- 5, 13-06 -- 5, 16-11 -- 5, 14-09 -- 5, 15-06 -- 20, 60-00 -- $17,000

7. David Dudley -- Lynchburg, Va -- 5, 16-00 -- 5, 14-06 -- 5, 15-15 -- 5, 11-11 -- 20, 58-00 -- $16,000

8. Lance Vick -- Mineola, Tx -- 5, 13-10 -- 5, 17-12 -- 5, 14-08 -- 5, 11-00 -- 20, 56-14 -- $15,000

9. Chad Morgenthaler -- Coulterville, Il -- 5, 15-05 -- 5, 16-04 -- 5, 12-11 -- 5, 11-03 -- 20, 55-07 -- $14,000

10. Cory Johnston -- Peterborough, On -- 5, 15-10 -- 5, 14-04 -- 5, 14-04 -- 4, 10-01 -- 19, 54-03 -- $13,000