By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

Winning an FLW Tour event at the Potomac River in Maryland 3 years ago was a big thrill for Tom Monsoor. Winning the second-ever FLW Pro Circuit Super Tournament while sleeping in his own bed was on a different level entirely.

"I just can't believe it," said the 71-year-old resident of La Crosse, Wis. after his victory on the upper Mississippi River. "Nothing is as cool as winning here at home. I'll remember this forever."

He broke his own record as the oldest angler to prevail at FLW's top level, becoming the first to achieve the feat as a septuagenarian. He edged out Jacob Wheeler, the No. 1 angler in the BassFan World Rankings and the winner of the previous Super Tournament at Lake Chickamauga, by 1-12.

Monsoor's 12-10 stringer on day 4 gave him a 54-10 total on a fishery that surrendered quality bites grudgingly throughout the week. Wheeler caught a day-best 13-02 to finish with 52-14.

David Walker ended up 3rd with 52-05 (11-13 on day 4). Zack Birge was 4th with 50-15 (10-00) and Tyler Stewart rounded out the Top 5 with 50-07 (10-14).

The bottom half of the Top 10 was led by Cody Meyer with 48-12 (11-03). Bailey Boutries was next with 48-11 (10-14), followed by Clark Reehm with 48-09 (10-15), Kyle Hall with 48-07 (9-07) and day-1 leader Scott Wiley with 42-06 (one fish for 2-01).

Monsoor took over the lead on day 2 and never relinquished. His vast experience on the river (he also has an FLW Series victory and six BFL wins on the system dating to 2000, not to mention numerous triumphs in local derbies) undoubtedly served him well under the tough-bite conditions.

"It's funny, the first big tournament I won here my good stuff all went to heck and i just went fishing," he said. "That's what I did this time, too. I'm the luckiest guy in the world to get to do what I love."

His final-day bag was comprised of four largemouths and a hefty smallmouth. He lost a big fish at the boat that he thought might've killed his chances for victory.

"That set me back for about an hour," he said. "Why didn't I just lift it into the boat, which is what I usually do? If I'd have had that one, I'd have had over 13 pounds, which was what I thought I needed to have a chance.

"I guess maybe I didn't need that one. Maybe God took care of me."

The win moved him up to 16th in the Angler of the Year (AOY) race with one regular-season event remaining, making him a certainty to qualify for the season-ending TITLE championship at Sturgeon Bay in his home state.

As usual, his primary offering was a swimjig with a Yamamoto Swim Senko trailer. He also scored with two other jigs – a football-head and a Bitsy Bug-type.

Wheeler expressed no dismay about coming up just short in his quest for his fourth victory of 2020 (in addition to the Chickamauga event, he's also prevailed on the Bass Pro Tour and FLW Series this year). He's pocketed a cool $160,000 from the two Super Tournaments.



FLW/Sean Ostruszka
Photo: FLW/Sean Ostruszka

Runner-up Jacob Wheeler spent most of the week throwing a frog, but couldn't keep some of his better bites hooked up.

"Oh yeah, I'm happy about it – I wasn't sweating it at all," he said. "I came in with my 13 pounds and I was like, 'What, nobody else caught 'em?' I asked Tom what he had and he said they were all 2 1/2-pounders and I told him that if he had 12 pounds, he had it (won).

"It was a tough week, but I enjoyed it. Mentally it was just a grind and I lost so many bass that I wanted to vomit; there were some big ones that I had hooked for just a second and they'd come off, and a lot of other people had the same thing happen. I know how to catch bass on a frog pretty well and I understand the different types of frogs and what they do and I changed hooks and all that, but I couldn't keep the fish pinned."

Walker endured an extremely slow morning and early afternoon, but finally got things going in the final 2 hours.

"I had two fish at 2 o'clock – one line-burner and one 2 1/2-pounder – and I moved out to some areas that I'd fished the first day when they were just a little too shallow," he said. "I was hoping something had gotten better. I knew the water level was up, but I didn't know if the fish had moved up from the outside edge or if they'd left altogether.

"At my first stop I had one that sharked (toward) a swimjig and then just faded away. I picked up a frog, and on my next cast it was on. I caught four in 15 minutes, including that biggest one (a 4-pounder), and then I had to go in.

"I really wish I hadn't been as stubborn as I was," he concluded, "but doing what I was doing earlier was what got me here."

Notable

> Day 4 stats – 10 anglers, 9 limits, 1 one.

Day 4 (Final) Standings

1. Tom Monsoor -- La Crosse, Wi -- 14-3 (5) -- 14-8 (5) -- 13-5 (5) -- 12-10 (5) -- 54-10 (20) -- $125,000

2. Jacob Wheeler -- Harrison, Tn -- 14-14 (5) -- 12-4 (5) -- 12-10 (5) -- 13-2 (5) -- 52-14 (20) -- $35,000

3. David Walker -- Sevierville, Tn -- 12-10 (5) -- 12-13 (5) -- 15-1 (5) -- 11-13 (5) -- 52-5 (20) -- $30,000

4. Zack Birge -- Blanchard, Ok -- 11-7 (5) -- 16-6 (5) -- 13-2 (5) -- 10-0 (5) -- 50-15 (20) -- $25,000

5. Tyler Stewart -- West Monroe, La -- 12-3 (5) -- 15-0 (5) -- 12-6 (5) -- 10-14 (5) -- 50-7 (20) -- $22,000

6. Cody Meyer -- Auburn, Ca -- 13-7 (5) -- 9-7 (4) -- 14-11 (5) -- 11-3 (5) -- 48-12 (19) -- $21,000

7. Bailey Boutries -- Daphne, Al -- 13-12 (5) -- 14-2 (5) -- 9-15 (5) -- 10-14 (5) -- 48-11 (20) -- $19,000

8. Clark Reehm -- Elm Grove, La -- 11-6 (5) -- 15-1 (5) -- 11-3 (5) -- 10-15 (5) -- 48-9 (20) -- $18,000

9. Kyle Hall -- Granbury, Tx -- 10-15 (5) -- 14-8 (5) -- 13-9 (5) -- 9-7 (5) -- 48-7 (20) -- $17,000

10. Scott Wiley -- Bay Minette, Al -- 15-3 (5) -- 12-12 (5) -- 12-6 (4) -- 2-1 (1) -- 42-6 (15) -- $16,000