Scheide Smokes Field, Wins By 13 Pounds

Arkansas rookie Ray Scheide smoked the bass and the competition today to win the Okeechobee FLW. He boated 21-09 -- the biggest limit today by 9 pounds and the biggest limit of the last 2 days -- to beat runner-up Chris McCall by exactly 13 pounds. To put that in more perspective, only three limits over 13 pounds were caught the past two days -- and Scheide had two of them.

David Dudley finished 3rd with 22-11, Japanese phenom Shinichi Fukae was 4th with 20-07 and second-year tour pro Dave Lefebre finished 5th with 19-07.

Scheide Cool, But Excited

"It's just unbelievable," Scheide said. "I don't know how to describe it in words.

The hoopla and the money are unbelievable, but that's all second to when I called my wife and talked to her. She was watching (the weigh-in) at a Wal-Mart, but the first time talking to her was just awesome.

"I owe it all to her. She risked a lot. I was the main means of support when I was an electrician, and I had good insurance. But they made me choose work or fishing, and (he and his wife) made the decision to let me live my dream."

He kicked that dream into fifth gear today, and showed potential for being able to handle the mental side of the game. Even though he's a rookie, who also had the mental burden of leading after day 3, he stayed cool. "I was excited inside, but I just wanted to go out and finish this deal," he said.

He caught 10 keepers today. His biggest was 7-plus, then he had a 6-pounder, a 4 1/2 and two 3-pounders. "I had all those fish by 10:30 in the morning," he said. "I caught myself relaxing for a moment, and then thought, Dude, you have to finish the deal. I convinced myself it wasn't enough and fished my heart out until it was time to go in.

"It blew me away (the low) weights (that) came in. I don't know. Maybe I had the biggest heart today."

What's he going to do for an encore? "I have no idea," he said. "I don't think I can top it. I'll try to make a habit of (doing well), but I know how hard that is."

> He cashed out his retirement plan to be able to afford to fish this year.

> He caught his fish using spinnerbaits and flipping soft-plastics. The details of his winning pattern will be up soon.

McCall Feels Fortunate

McCall would have needed almost 23 pounds today to beat Scheide, but managed just 9-11. Still, it was a good finish, which he said "feels very satisfying.

"It was a good week. I hate that I came up short, but Ray had a heck of a day today. You can't take anything away from the day he had, but I'm real satisfied."

He figured he didn't have enough to win. "I just kept expecting someone to catch one of those 20-pound sacks. The odds were that someone would have one.

"I felt fortunate to finish 2nd because David (Dudley) had a good sack today,"

Dudley Not Thrilled

"I felt like I lost," Dudley said about finishing 3rd. "If I don't win, I feel like I've lost. So I was a loser."

He caught 7 keepers sight-fishing today. "When you're sight-fishing, you don't go out and light up the world catching fish because you're seeing what you can catch," he noted. "I could possibly have had 15-16 pounds today, but I wanted to secure a limit of around 12 pounds (he had 11-15). I got that fairly easily, and I could've (culled up) half a pound here or there, but I knew that being that far behind, the only way to play catch-up was to keep looking and hopefully come across a big anchor fish. But I never did."

He mentioned that he lost a fish yesterday that cost him 2nd. "I was sight-fishing and saw a 3-pounder on the bed. I picked up a rod that had 10-pound test on it. I was using it to cast, but I was trying different baits on (the 3-pounder). I picked up the rod with 10-pound test because I was too lazy to switch (that bait to another rod). I always sight-fish with 17-pound-test," he said. "So I cast to her, and in my head I'm saying, 'Don't set the hook hard, don't set the hook hard.' But what do I do? She bit, I set the hook hard and broke her off. I had a 12-incher yesterday so that's 2 pounds right there (he finished 2nd by 6 ounces)."

> Dudley's $500,000-winning Rabbit Dog spinnerbait is now in Wal-Marts. Asked if the bait meets his standards, he said: "It is the exact spinnerbait that I throw. There's not a lick of difference. I said I would agree to (let Wal-Mart sell) this spinnerbait, but only if it was to my exact standards."

Lefebre Not Thrilled Either

On finishing 5th, Lefebre said: "I guess it's a good start, but I'm a little set back. I really thought I was going to do better after everyone was struggling yesterday. The door was open."

Losing the ability to sight-fish in his area hurt him. "I lost my sight-fishing part of the deal, and that's how I was thinking I was going to shine," he said. "I thought I'd catch the bigger ones doing that. And when you don't know exactly where a bed is -- because you have to let (the bait) sit there - it's tough."

He wasn't far from the main lake, and yesterday's strong winds colored his water. "It didn't get muddy. It just got to where you couldn't make out the beds at all. I was having to try to read the grass and figure out where they were."

> Today was the first day he flipped. He caught three bass flipping mats near bedding areas.

Notable

> Conditions were fairly good today. There wasn't much wind, and the air temperature was a little chillier, but it wasn't cold enough to knock the bass off the beds. Some fish also were moving in, but obviously the big ones weren't.

> With one exception (James Parker's zero today), all the Top 10 anglers either weighed a limit or just one fish over the last two days.

> Tony Christian had his catch DQd yesterday for leaving his partner, said FLW Outdoors PR chief Dave Washburn. Christian apparently left his co-angler in the boat (while it was on land) to go and watch the weigh-in. This violates an FLW rule which states: "Partners must remain together at all times and within sight of each other until the weigh-in slip is signed in order for their catch for that day to be counted." Washburn said: "He made a mistake. You're not supposed to leave your partner's side until after you weigh in. It was just a mistake on his part." Washburn said that the rule violation wasn't raised by another contestant. Rather, tournament director Bill Taylor saw Christian and made the decision.

> This is the second time in 2 years that a rookie has won the Okeechobee FLW. JT Kenney won it in 2002.

Final (Day 4) Standings

1. Ray Scheide -- Russellville, Ar -- 5, 14-08 -- 5, 21-09 -- 10, 36-01 -- $100,000
2. Chris McCall -- Jasper, Tx -- -- 5, 13-06 -- 5, 9-11 -- 10, 23-01 -- $35,000
3. David Dudley -- Manteo, Nc -- 5, 10-12 -- 5, 11-15 -- 10, 22-11 -- $20,000
4. Shinichi Fukae -- Osaka, Japan -- 5, 10-02 -- 5, 10-05 -- 10, 20-07 -- $16,000
5. Dave Lefebre -- Union City, Pa -- 5 10-05 -- 5, 9-02 -- 10, 19-07 -- $14,000
6. Billy Bowen Jr -- Ocala, Fl -- 1, 1-01 -- 5, 12-08 -- 6, 13-09 -- $11,000
7. Dean Rojas -- Grand Saline, Tx -- 5, 8-06 -- 5, 5-01 -- 10, 13-07 -- $10,000
8. James Parker -- Fayetteville, Nc -- 5, 9-06 -- 0 0-00 -- 5, 9-06 -- $9,000
9. Larry Nixon -- Bee Branch, Ar -- 1, 0-13 -- 5, 7-05 -- 6, 8-02 -- $8,000
10. Rick Lillegard -- Atkinson, Nh -- 1, 1-11 -- 1, 2-06 -- 2, 4-01 -- $7,000