By Sean Ostruszka
Special to BassFan
It’s not how you start a fight. It’s how you finish it, and Brian Latimer did just that.
While 10 anglers launched on the final day of the FLW Tour event on Lake Seminole, it quickly turned into a heavyweight fight between Latimer, Braxton Sezter and Sheldon Collings. The three traded blows all day long, landing one big fish after another. At various points during the day, all three held the lead via FLW Live’s updates.
Yet, it’s what transpired after the live coverage ended that sealed the deal, as Latimer – who only had three fish when coverage ended – caught two fish in the final hour to bring in 21-03, edging out the other two competitors with a four-day total of 80-15.
After live coverage cut off, he went sight-fishing. He found two quickly and got both to bite on the first pitch ... and then lost them both. He got frustrated and ran back out to his flat and stuck his final two fish with about 30 minutes left in his day.
“I have fished for so long, and I always knew that I could do this,” an emotional Latimer said on the weigh-in stage. “I didn’t do well, for a long time. This is not an easy sport. But I knew I could do it, and I kept going. All I’ve ever wanted to do was fish for a living. To win the $100,000 is great, but to finally have my trophy … that is so awesome.”
Setzer (20-12 on day 4, 78-14 total) and Collings (20-00, 76-02) both got plenty of shots in to finish in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. However, the biggest bag of the day came from Terry Bolton. After squeaking into the top 10 on a tiebreaker, he cracked 27-02 to jump up into 4th with a 72-06 total.
Rob Kilby had a legitimate shot going into the final day, but his shallow backwater pattern died. He ended up bringing in a limit worth only 7-05 to fall to 5th with 62-14.
Rounding out the rest of the top 10 were Scott Martin (62-10), Miles Howe (59-06), day-2 leader Bradford Beavers (55-08), Joshua Weaver (51-01) and Hunter Freeman (49-02).
Since the second day of the tournament, Latimer had been telling friends and family he was on the winning fish on a large flat up the Flint River. He wasn’t getting a lot of bites flipping a Z-Man Palmetto Bug to milfoil heads sprouting up amongst the hydrilla, but the bites he was getting were the right ones. He just had to be patient.
“You would not believe the amount of time I spent this week not catching fish,” Latimer said. “I really had to stay focused.”
Day 4 was much of the same, as he didn’t have many bites, and worse, he lost some key ones, most notably a giant just before 11 a.m. that prompted him to lay down on the deck for a period. He said he should’ve had a limit by around 11:30 a.m. if he’d been able to land everything that bit.
He said by 11:30 a.m. because right around then he got a flurry of bites that included a 6-pounder and a 4.
“All week long, when I did get bit, I rarely only got one bite,” Latimer said. “It usually came in flurries.”
That held true for those last two fish, as well.
As for the other two contenders, both certainly got in their blows.
Setzer started it off when he caught a 4-pounder on his second cast dragging a Texas-rigged Zoom Speed Worm on a 3/4-ounce weight, but his school of offshore fish wouldn’t fire up like they had the day earlier. That prompted a switch.
“I just wasn’t feeling the worm,” Setzer said. “The baitfish were up higher today, and there were fish popping. So I put on a swimbait on a 1/4-ounce Nichols Ball Head Toothpick and got it going. I caught four or five real quick.”
Unfortunately, in that flurry he lost a 6-pounder that he doesn’t know how came unbuttoned. He said that fish – and his day 2 when he brought in only two fish – will probably haunt him for awhile, but he wouldn’t change anything.
“It was a roller coaster of a week, between an awful practice to leading after the first day to the miserable second day,” Setzer said. “So to have a shot at winning today, it’s been an incredible week.”
The same could be said for Collings, who made a run at being the youngest winner in the history of the FLW Tour.
“Today was a fun day,” Collings said. “I fished clean; didn’t miss a single fish. I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I just didn’t have enough.”
It wasn’t from lack of trying, as Collings had a flurry just before 9 a.m. where he landed a 6-, a 5- and a 2-pounder in three casts on a white/chartreuse vibrating jig. After a lull, he then landed another giant just before noon that put him in the lead on the live leaderboard. Unfortunately, it just wouldn’t be enough.
“It was a race between the three of us,” Collings said. “[Latimer] just ended up pulling it out.”
Notable
> Day 4 stats – 10 anglers, 8 limits, 2 ones.
Day 4 (Final) Standings
1. Brian Latimer -- Belton, SC -- 19-1 (5) -- 17-11 (5) -- 23-0 (5) -- 21-3 (5) -- 80-15 (20) -- $102,500
2. Braxton Setzer -- Montgomery, Al -- 25-15 (5) -- 7-11 (2) -- 24-8 (5) -- 20-12 (5) -- 78-14 (17) -- $30,200
3. Sheldon Collings -- Grove, Ok -- 23-14 (5) -- 17-0 (5) -- 15-4 (5) -- 20-0 (5) -- 76-2 (20) -- $25,100
4. Terry Bolton -- Benton, Ky -- 14-4 (5) -- 14-13 (5) -- 16-3 (5) -- 27-2 (5) -- 72-6 (20) -- $20,000
5. Rob Kilby -- Hot Springs, Ar -- 23-3 (5) -- 15-12 (5) -- 16-10 (5) -- 7-5 (5) -- 62-14 (20) -- $19,000
6. Scott Martin -- Clewiston, Fl -- 16-7 (5) -- 16-0 (5) -- 14-6 (5) -- 15-13 (5) -- 62-10 (20) -- $18,000
7. Miles Howe -- San Juan Capistrano, Ca -- 19-13 (5) -- 12-15 (4) -- 12-10 (5) -- 14-0 (5) -- 59-6 (19) -- $17,000
8. Bradford Beavers -- Summerville, SC -- 25-2 (5) -- 18-12 (5) -- 2-12 (2) -- 8-14 (5) -- 55-8 (17) -- $16,500
9. Joshua Weaver -- Macon, Ga -- 13-4 (5) -- 21-3 (5) -- 14-7 (5) -- 2-3 (1) -- 51-1 (16) -- $15,000
10. Hunter Freeman -- Monroe, La -- 17-9 (5) -- 17-12 (5) -- 12-5 (4) -- 1-8 (1) -- 49-2 (15) -- $14,000
