Today Paul Elias won the Atchafalaya Basin FLW by catching 16-03, giving him 34-02 total and the win over West Virginia's Bill Chapman by 6-01. This is Elias' first win on the FLW Tour, and makes 5 wins and 42 Top 10s so far in his career.
"It's been almost 5 years since I've won a major tournament, and it starts working on your head," he said. "I thought maybe I didn't have the mechanics to do this anymore. But everything went well -- the Lord smiled on me. This is a sweet victory.
"I just had a hump I'd been trying to get over," he added. "I'd been close, but I'd always screwed it up." One time he thought he left a potential win on the table was last week at Lake Seminole, where he finished 9th. The difference this week was "I caught most of the fish that bit.
"Last week I wasn't fishing for many bites and I knew that. I was fishing for quality bites. But I feel like I left 20 pounds on the table, and when you do that, you blow it. This week I was very fortunate because I had an area that I saved. It was really risky -- I wanted to go there the first two days, but I held off because I thought if I bore down on what I was doing I could make the cut. And it worked.
"I fished for two days (days 3 and 4) in a place that hadn't been fished," he said. "That was probably the key to winning." And winning "feels great. It was a very sweet victory. My wife, my daughters and my son are here, and they've never seen me win before so it was great."
(The details of Elias' winning patterns will be up soon.)
Chapman Happy With 2nd
The heavy rain forecast for today didn't appear, but there were scattered showers and clouds -- yet the biggest change in the conditions was the 12-18 inch rise in water levels over the past 36 hours. That's what affected Chapman.
"The water came up about a foot to a foot and a half where I was fishing," he said. "I'd been catching them out of really heavy cover, but I think they scattered today. I had to really work to get the 6 keeper bites I got today."
He'd caught 15 and change every day except today, but today weighed in 12-05. Even if he had 15 again, he would've been 3 pounds short of Elias.
"I'm happy with 2nd," Chapman said. "Paul beat me fair and square. He had great bag today."
Lefebre 3rd by 3 Ounces
It only took five tour events for Pennsylvania rookie Dave Lefebre to crack the Top 10. He finished 3rd today by just 3 ounces -- and didn't know it.
Because of the FLW Tour's fish-by-fish weigh-in -- one angler weighs one, then another, and so on -- he didn't know what his weight was or what anyone else's was, for that matter. When told he was just 3 ounces shy of 2nd (a $15,000 difference), he said: "Wow. I didn't know that."
But he's nonetheless "really happy" about his finish. "I wish I'd been in 2nd obviously, but it feels good to know the fish I lost yesterday and today didn't cost me winning it."
Also, "just to be in the Top 10 with those guys -- like Paul Elias, Gary Klein, Dwayne Horton and Jack Bell -- just to be there was amazing. I get to talk to Larry Nixon tomorrow (for the FLW TV show). That's real exciting. I've never met him or anything."
Millsaps: Happy and Disappointed
"I'm a little bit happy and a little bit disappointed," said 4th-place finisher Jimmy Millsaps. "it was my third time in the Top 10. Now I have a 3rd, a 4th and a 9th. But (a win) will come. I'll put it together."
He added that he "needed the points" from this finish. "I had a rough tournament at Okeechobee."
Adding to his disappointment was that although he caught "probably the same number of keepers" today as yesterday (around 10), today he lost two fish, something he hadn't done on previous days. "I lost one on a spinnerbait and a 3 1/2-pounder flipping," he said. He weighed in "two small fish" so the ones he lost "would have really helped."
Klein's Spot Petered Out Today
Gary Klein weighed in less weight each day, and today finished 6th after weighing in 4 bass for 9-02. But considering that he motored all the way from Lake Seminole and had just one day to practice, his performance was stellar.
"I feel really good about it," he said. "To pull off what I did with only one day of practice, I feel very good.
"I feel good about the move I made today too. I'd found one area (his main area) that had some fish in it and really maximized that area. But I had adverse conditions there today and yesterday. Today we had a 1:50 check-in, and by 11:30 I had no fish -- and I was running about an hour each way. I looked at the map, found an similar area 8 miles away, ran down there and caught 4 for 9-02. So I'm satisfied given what I had to work with.
"With this type of water, I think if I had a week on it, I could have won it," he said. "I just didn't have time do what I needed to do."
Klein caught all of his fish on a 3/8-ounce Lunker Lure Rattleback jig (black/blue flash) topped with a shortened Berkley black/blue Power Craw trailer. He fished it on a 7' 6" Quantum flipping stick (medium-heavy), Quantum PT high-speed reel (6.1:1) and 25-pound Trilene Big Game.
Notable
> 5th-place finisher Andre Moore: "I'm happy with how I finished, but yesterday hurt me a little bit. It was really windy, and I couldn't really fish the way I wanted to. And while I was retying, my backseater stuck a 6-pounder. He ended up winning, which was cool for him. But I did a lot better than I thought I would before the tournament started."
> Before this win, Elias had three Top 10s in 6 full years on the FLW Tour. His latest was a 7th at Lake Ouachita last year.
> Only 3 of the competitors had more weight today than yesterday: Lefebre (3rd), Moore (5th) and Wes Thomas (7th).
> Is bass fishing an American sport? Today's top 5 are from Mississippi, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona. Also: two of the Top 10 in this event hail from Pennsylvania. When's the last time that happened at a tour event?
Final Standings
1. Paul Elias -- Pachuta, MS -- 5, 17-05 -- 5, 16-13 = 10, 34-02 -- $100,000
Days 1 and 2: 5, 12-14 -- 5, 14-12 = 10, 27-10
2. Bill Chapman -- Salt Rock, WV -- 5, 15-12 -- 5, 12-05 = 10, 28-01 -- $35,000
Days 1 and 2: 5, 15-03 -- 5, 15-09 = 10, 30-12
3. Dave Lefebre -- Erie, PA -- 5, 12-14 -- 5, 15-00 = 10, 27-14 -- $20,000
Days 1 and 2: 5, 15-12 -- 5, 15-12 = 10, 31-08
4. Jimmy Millsaps -- Canton, GA -- 5, 14-00 -- 5, 12-08 = 10, 26-08 -- $16,000
Days 1 and 2: 5, 13-04 -- 5, 13-13 = 10, 27-01
5. Andre Moore -- Scottsdale, AZ -- 5, 11-01 -- 5, 13-15 = 10, 25-00 -- $14,000
Days 1 and 2: 5, 15-00 -- 5, 14-03 = 10, 29-03
6. Gary Klein -- Weatherford, TX -- 5, 11-05 -- 4, 9-02 = 9, 20-07 -- $12,000
Days 1 and 2: 5, 16-10 -- 5, 12-14 = 10, 29-08
7. Wes Thomas -- Hanover, IN -- 4, 9-02 -- 5, 10-08 = 9, 19-10 -- $10,000
Days 1 and 2: 5, 15-01 -- 5, 15-12 = 10, 30-13
8. J.T. Kenney -- Frostburg, MD -- 5, 11-08 -- 3, 7-05 = 8, 18-13 -- $9,000
Days 1 and 2: 5, 17-02 -- 5, 12-00 = 10, 29-02
9. Jack Bell -- Kane, PA -- 4, 7-04 -- 3, 6-07 = 7, 13-11 -- $8,000
Days 1 and 2: 5, 12-15 -- 5, 15-01 = 10, 28-00
10. Dwayne Horton -- Knoxville, TN -- 3, 7-03 -- 1, 3-09 = 4, 10-12 -- $7,000
Days 1 and 2: 5, 14-00 -- 4, 13-05 = 9, 27-05
Like Elias, Gary Klein has had two Top 10s in the last two tour events.
