By BassFan Staff

When Buddy Gross pulled his boat into a slip at McFarland Park on Sunday afternoon, there was a sincere look of consternation on his face. The man who’d dominated the Pickwick Lake FLW Tour for the first 3 days was suddenly sweating it.

He sipped water, sat and stared off into space, played with his daughter, Bella, and tried to keep himself occupied either with conversation or by putting his rods away and rehashing the day in his mind. Inside, he was afraid he’d blown a nearly 15-pound lead on the final day of a Tour event. He did not want to be called a choker, but with only two fish in his livewell, he knew he’d left the door open for someone to pass him.

Complicating matters from an emotional standpoint was a final-day surge turned in by Michael Neal, Gross’ traveling partner who occupied 2nd place all week.

That worried look of Gross’ finally went away about 5 o’clock Central Time when the only two fish he caught today registered 4-14 on the scale. That was enough to catapult him past Neal and wrap up an emotional win for the 43-year-old rookie from Ringgold, Ga.

Gross finished with 74-05 while Neal’s 16-08 effort gave him 71-04, clinching a second career runner-up finish at Pickwick for the Dayton, Tenn, native. Gross is the third first-time Tour champion in four events this season.

“Today has been the biggest roller coaster of my life,” said Gross. “It was a long ride back to weigh in today – I really thought I was coming back for a 2nd-place finish. Michael (Neal) is a true competitor and is the best fisherman that I know, and I knew that I had to catch at least 10 pounds to feel safe. Thank the Lord that I caught two, and it worked out like it did.”

Scott Suggs cracked 18-00 today and finished 3rd with 65-01 while Jamie Horton took 4th with 64-14 after sacking 13-09. Mike Surman’s 20-00 stringer was the biggest of the day and moved him up from 8th to 5th with 63-11.

Here's a look at how the rest of the Top 10 finished up today:

6. Barry Wilson: 57-13
7. Wesley Strader: 56-2
8. Travis Fox: 56-00
9. Stephen Patek: 50-13
10. Peter Thliveros: 49-07

Sunday was another grind for most of the finalists as only six anglers caught limits. The conditions and post-spawn fish that weren't fully into their schooled-up summer mode and seemed reluctant to bite made for a challenging backdrop on a lake known for its big fish. A steady west wind and a general lack of consistent current left some scratching their heads.

On a lake known for its massive schools of bass, a lake he’d not wet a line at before last Sunday, Gross gave everyone an education on fooling chunky post-spawn fish into biting. He did it with baits he loves throwing in the late spring/early summer at Lake Guntersville and Lake Chickamauga, but the key was throwing them near eelgrass. A bucktail jig and a fluke rigged on a scrounger head were his key producers all week. Details of his and the other top finishers’ patterns will be published at a later date.

The next Tour event won’t be until June 9-12, when the scene shifts to Kentucky Lake for what’s sure to be an offshore ledge shootout.

Windy Spell Saved Gross

> Day 4: 2, 4-14 (17, 74-05)

Last October, Gross and his wife both left their jobs after they learned the company they worked for was going to be sold.

“My wife and I were supposed to have the opportunity to buy it and it never came up so when I quit I didn’t have a job to go to,” Gross said. “Within a week, my wife also quit.”

At the time, Gross, whose given name is Buddy, had already qualified for the FLW Tour in 2016 through the Southeastern Division of the FLW Series. He told his wife he wanted to give it a shot.

“She said, ‘I think you should,’” Gross recalled. “I knew I could fish and I knew I could compete, but I was on a budget. Some of the people that were on stage (today) with me gave me the money to go fishing. We just put their names on the boat even though they didn’t care if they were on there. They believed in me and wanted me to go fishing.”



FLW
Photo: FLW

Buddy Gross caught just two keepers on Sunday, but they were enough to seal up his first FLW Tour win.

He bombed at Lake Okeechobee and Lake Hartwell, then delivered a 21st-place finish at Beaver Lake to save his season. His financing had run out and he used the check he earned at Beaver to underwrite the Pickwick event.

“I told a buddy of mine who was one that helped me get here, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do if I don’t get a check at Pickwick. I wouldn’t be able to go to Kentucky Lake,’” Gross said. “He said, ‘You’re going to Kentucky.’ I said okay. He told me I was going to finish the season because he believed in me. I’ve had so many people that believed in me and put me in this deal and by God’s grace we kept making it somehow. … This means more than you’ll ever know.”

As impressive as Gross’ weights were over the first 3 days, he felt like he was playing with house money. It was a crapshoot whether he’d get more than a couple bites off his best area, where bigger fish would group up near scattered eelgrass where shad would spawn.

“I really thought I was out of fish yesterday, then I went to another place and caught three on four casts over 4 pounds,” he said. “I figured I’d found my backup. I felt like I could go there today and catch 20 pounds.”

Neither place produced a keeper today.

“If I got 10 (pounds), I knew I could breathe easy,” he added. “Then I got to the first place and don’t get a bite. My new place I didn’t get a bite and I was like, ‘Oohh.’”

He then went to areas he hadn’t fished since practice. He was merely looking for keepers at that point. That’s when he slipped behind Kroger Island and picked up a spinnerbait just in time for the breeze to kick up. He boated two keepers, but that was all he could muster.

“I caught two right off the bat there and while I was sitting down retying, I saw some more come up and jump and it was over before I could stand back up,” he said. “It was just meant to be. That’s all I can tell you.”

2nd: Tougher Day for Neal

> Day 4: 5, 16-08 (20, 71-04)

Neal tried to mess with Gross at the dock this afternoon, asking him what he’d caught, but revealing very little about how he’d done. Neal knew his stringer weighed in the neighborhood of 16 pounds and he needed Gross’ fish to be squeakers to have a shot at it. When the outcome went Gross’ way, Neal had to settle for a fifth career Top-5 finish and second this season.

“I saw what he had,” he said. “I knew he’d beat me. There’s no way. I weighed all of mine and I knew I had 16 something. I was one bite away from winning, but that’s part of it, I guess.”

If he had to retrace his steps during the event, he says going all the way to the Pickwick Dam was possibly his undoing.

“The first 3 days, I ran to the dam even though I said I wasn’t going to do it,” he said. “I did it anyway and caught one fish down there in 3 days. Every time I went past Indian Creek, I was wasting time. If I had all that back to do over again and spent that time back up there where I ended up catching all of my fish, I think it could’ve been different.”

FLW
Photo: FLW

Michael Neal wishes he hadn't spent so much time on the lower end of the lake this week.

He caught his two biggest fish of the day in the final 10 minutes to close the gap. Otherwise it was a grind. His best baits this week were a 1-ounce bucktail jig along with a Big Bite Baits BB Kicker swimbait.

“Today was terrible,” he said. “Today was the worst fishing day I’ve had since I’ve been here. I thought I had three places with fish on them and by the end of the day I had two. I went and looked at probably 20 other places that either had fish on them in practice or didn’t but I felt like they’d come to what I caught them off of last time, but I never found anything.”

3rd: Suggs Made Most of It

> Day 4: 5, 18-00 (19, 65-01)

Under optimal conditions, Suggs thinks he could’ve given Gross a run for the win this week. Instead, he battled winds that blew against the current and repositioned the fish, making them a little more difficult to target. Still, he was pleased with how he started and finished the event.

“It’s above my expectations,” he said. “I really thought that going into this deal, I had a couple sweet spots and really thought that if they ran water I could’ve done what Gross did. When you look at the quality of the fish I weighed in, if they ever ran water, which would’ve put those fish where they needed to be, it could’ve been great.”

Today, he got the calm conditions he desired, similar to day 1 when he stuck three quality fish. He caught a good fish there today and then adjusted when the breeze picked up.

He alternated between a swing-head jig with a Zoom Z Craw trailer and a new deep-diving Berkley crankbait called the Dredger while mixing in a spinnerbait and swimbait.

“All of my fish came in the 10- to 12-foot range right off the bottom,” he said. “They were all off shell beds.”

4th: Horton’s On a Roll

> Day 4: 4, 13-09 (19, 64-14)

With his second Top-4 finish of the season, Horton is officially a contender for the Angler of the Year. He’s up to 4th in the standings, 50 points behind leader Jeff Sprague with two events to go.

Had he finished off his limit today, he would’ve locked up 3rd, but he wasn’t in the griping mood afterward.

“I’m really pleased that I’m having a good year and fishing well,” he said. “I’ve been making good decisions. I’ve caught some big fish this year. I caught a 5-pounder every day of this tournament and that goes a long ways. Knowing you’re going to catch a 5-pounder some time during the day goes a long ways.

“I felt like I could start every morning with a 4- or 5-pounder on a shad spawn and I felt like I could catch one deep every day. I just felt like if I could just get a couple to go with them, then I could have a good tournament. That’s pretty much what I did. I caught a big one deep and a big one shallow every day for the most part.”

Two of his fish today were smallmouth. His key baits were a 3/4-ounce Nichols Lures spinnerbait and Strike King’s 6XD and 10XD crankbaits.

FLW
Photo: FLW

Mike Surman made up three more spots in the standings with his 20-pound bag.

5th: Surman Played in the Grass

> Day 4: 5, 20-00 (19, 63-11)

It wasn’t a numbers game for Surman this week, but he was around quality fish and today he got five of them in the boat. This was his best finish since 2007 at Lake Ouachita where he finished 4th.

“I figured out a couple long stretches of hydrilla that I was keying on,” he said. “I tried to expand on it, but it didn’t work so today I spent all day where I’d caught my better fish and I just beat on it.”

He set the hook on six keepers, which was more than what he’d been catching, but he was aided by a kicker in the 5 1/2- to 6-pound range today.

“Being from Florida, I’m a grass fisherman and I was happy they were still in there,” he said. “A lot of times here, they are all deep so I was happy to find some quality fish in the grass.”

Surman’s one-two presentation punch consisted of an out-of-production Gambler spinnerbait and a Yo-Zuri 3DB square-bill crankbait.

Notable

> Day 4 stats – 10 anglers, 6 limits, 2 fours, 1 three, 1 two.

Final Standings

1. Buddy Gross -- Ringgold, Ga -- 25-8 (5) -- 21-3 (5) -- 46-11 (10) -- 22-12 (5) -- 4-14 (2) -- 74-5 (17) -- $100,200

2. Michael Neal -- Dayton, Tn -- 23-0 (5) -- 14-14 (5) -- 37-14 (10) -- 16-14 (5) -- 16-8 (5) -- 71-4 (20) -- $30,000

3. Scott Suggs -- Alexander, Ar -- 21-5 (5) -- 15-2 (4) -- 36-7 (9) -- 10-10 (5) -- 18-00 (5) -- 65-1 (19) -- $25,000

4. Jamie Horton -- Centerville, Al -- 18-3 (5) -- 15-15 (5) -- 34-2 (10) -- 17-3 (5) -- 13-9 (4) -- 64-14 (19) -- $20,100

5. Mike Surman -- Boca Raton, Fl -- 15-13 (5) -- 14-1 (5) -- 29-14 (10) -- 13-13 (4) -- 20-00 (5) -- 63-11 (19) -- $19,000

6. Barry Wilson -- Birmingham, Al -- 15-13 (5) -- 15-11 (5) -- 31-8 (10) -- 13-1 (5) -- 13-4 (5) -- 57-13 (20) -- $18,000

7. Wesley Strader -- Spring City, Tn -- 13-13 (5) -- 15-9 (5) -- 29-6 (10) -- 14-06 (5) -- 12-6 (5) -- 56-2 (20) -- $17,000

8. Travis Fox -- Rogers, Ar -- 20-12 (5) -- 13-12 (5) -- 34-8 (10) -- 9-4 (4) -- 12-4 (3) -- 56-00 (17) -- $16,000

9. Stephen Patek -- Dallas, Tx -- 15-1 (5) -- 14-11 (5) -- 29-12 (10) -- 13-3 (4) -- 7-14 (4) -- 50-3 (18) -- $15,000

10. Peter Thliveros -- Saint Augustine, Fl -- 11-4 (5) -- 18-15 (5) -- 30-3 (10) -- 12-14 (5) -- 6-6 (3) -- 49-7 (18) -- $14,000