| 

FWC LIVE BLOG: Championship Sunday

Category: Tournament

 Aug 18th, 2013 by OutdoorsFIRST 

Modified Aug 18th, 2013 at 12:00 AM

There’s never been a two-time FWC champion …
3:01 p.m. CDT

… let alone a two-time back-to-back champion. Wheeler has been pretty vocal about his desire to be the first two-time winner. Got a peek at his fish when he came in, he has a couple of big ones.
-Joel Shangle

Watch out for Wheeler
4:36 p.m. CDT

	Defending FWC champ Jacob Wheeler might be a darkhorse to overtake Thrift and Tharp this afternoon.  (Joel Shangle)

I never made it out to the slough where defending Forrest Wood Cup champion Jacob Wheeler has parked the past couple of days, but word is that Wheeler whacked at least one 4-pounder and a couple of 3s.

After stumbling out of the gates with just over 7 pounds on Day 1, Wheeler has made a serious run at the top 5, with 13.7 and 14.4 the following two days.

He went into the day trailing Brian Thrift by a little over 4 pounds,but it wouldn’t be a shocker to see Wheeler bring 15 pounds to the stage this afternoon.

Just, heads up: pay attention when Wheeler weighs in.
-Joel Shangle

Um, uh, yeah.
7:06 a.m. CDT

Well, apparently all you have to do is wait until the field is smaller and the weigh-in show at the FWC improves greatly. Good job FLW. Casn’t wait to see who yards this one out.
-Dave Landahl

So far….The weigh-in show has been pretty slow, even ponderous at times. Not entertaining. I’m not sure what the cause is. Hopefully later today we are treated to a crisp program that allows the anglers to speak to the stage emcee and not get hustled off to be interviewed elsewhere and in turn diminishing the interest to the viewer.
-Dave Landahl

Scheide backs up his Twitter feed with 13-plus pounds
5:39 p.m. CDT

Ray Scheide’s cheering section is easily the most visible, thanks to the chartreuse shirts, but they have good reason to cheer today: Scheide just weighed in 13-plus pounds to take the lead.

Social media had reported throughout the day that Scheide was putting some decent fish in the boat, and it turns out that social media does not lie. Ever.
-Joel Shangle

Slow start to weigh-in
5:22 p.m. CDT

Brian Thrift made sure that the festivities kicked off with some energy yesterday when he weighed in 18-7 in the first few minutes of Day 1 weigh-in.

So far, no big bags to cheer. As FLW emcee Chris Jones has pointed out several times today: tougher day today.
-Joel Shangle

	College angler Paul Clark was the first angler to weigh in today on Day 2 of the Forrest Wood Cup. (Brandon Shangle)

“Jersey Boy” camped out at mouth of a slough
2:27 p.m.

	Adrian Avena parked at the mouth of a slough for the second day in a row. So far so good for the Jersey Boy. (Joel Shangle)

So far in the 2013 Forrest Wood Cup, “Jersey Boy” Adrian Avena appears to be about as far from a run-and-gun angler as you can possibly be.

We found the Mercury pro camped out at the mouth of the same slough where he caught 40 to 50 fish yesterday – a spot he’s referred to as his “$500,000 spot” – and he shows no signs of pulling the trolling motor and dropping the big Mercury to run anywhere.

Hard to argue with the results so far, though: he was fourth going in to today, and as he told us yesterday after weigh-in, he’s convinced that a consistant daily limit of 13 to 14 pounds will put him in contetion to win the Cup.
-Joel Shangle
 
Ehrler, Rose flipping, Lefebre fishing a shakey head
2:22 p.m. CDT

	Dave Lefebre was one of the few anglers we saw all morning who didn’t hape a flippin’ stick in their hands. Here Lefebre holds out in the middle of the Red River, working a shakey head. (Joel Shangle)

Making the rounds on Pool 5 of the Red River today, we’ve seen a handful of anglers doing exactly the same thing: flipping, and catching small fish.

First angler we saw out of the Red River South Marina in Bossier City was Mercury pro Dave Lefebre, who was fishing what appeared to be a shakey head and small plastic, hovering out in the middle of the river in between fellow Mercury pros Mark Rose and Brent Ehrler.

Rose and Ehrler, while both flipping, were working on totally different habitat: Rose was tucked up at the mouth of a slough, dropping baits into the small openings of a thick, thick, thick pad field. Ehrler, on the other hand, was simply motoring along the opposite bank, picking tiny pockets in the much-less-dense vegetation.

Ehrler manage to pull one keeper before we pulled out and headed downriver.
-Joel Shangle

Shocker for Tharp and Thrift.
7:37 p.m. CDT

Both Randall Tharp and Bryan Thrift seemed genuinely surprised at their 18-pound bags today. Tharp claimed that 13 per day was what he though would be the winner and Thrift said he never dreamed of a limit of 18 pounds.

So far lots of dinks.
5:15 p.m. CDT

Lots of little limits so far. David Dudley enters the stadium to the Chicken Dance. Kooky, but fun!

Hmmm
5:10 p.m. CDT

Music is good at the FWC. Sure would be nice to hear a little more from the anglers.
-Dave Landahl

Anglers looking for a “difference maker” as 2013 FWC begins
6:51 a.m. CDT

	Jimmy Houston makes some final tweaks as he prepares to blast off onto the Red River. (Joel Shangle)

It seems like most of the pros competing in the 2013 Forrest Wood Cup are on fish, but are they the right size to win $500,000?

In most cases, no.

“I had maybe two quality fish in practice,” said Shimano pro Cody Meyer, who has finished second, seventh and 11th in the last three Cups, respectively. “It’s not going to be easy (to find bigger fish).

And what qualifies as “bigger fish” in this fishery? Anything over 4 pounds.

“If somebody can catch a 6- or 7-pounder, they can ride that to the Cup,” said Mercury pro Dave Lefebre. “If I get a 2-pounder, you’ll hear me scream. That’s how tough it is.”

Look for most boats to run into Pool 4, which is the next pool downriver from the launch at the Red River South Marine in Bossier City.
-Joel Shangle

Conditions should challenge pros on Red River
1:51 p.m. CDT

Just finished angler registration here at the Hilton Convention Center in downtown Shreveport, and, to a man, the anglers competing in the 2013 Forrest Wood Cup expect the Red River to fish tough, tough, tough this week.

“The water’s so hot right now, and we just had some rain come in and bring some mud from up north into the river as well,” said Mercury pro Brent Ehrler, the 2006 FWC champion. “The water has definitely gotten warmer, too – it’s like 95 degrees. I’ve never fished water that hot before. The fish are tough to catch, and if you’re catching a lot of fish, you’re not on the right fish to win. I’ve kinda struggled. I’ve eliminated some areas where I’ve caught a lot of fish, because I don’t feel like you want to just be consistent in this tournament. You have to go for the win.”

The defending champion, Rapala pro Jacob Wheeler, plans to throw almost every bait in the boat in the backwaters of the Red.

“I’ve had a few good bites, but it’s so inconsistent,” he said. “There’s just a lot of randomness. The guys who do well will have to make a lot of adjustments throughout the tournament. In practice, you might have caught them one way, you might have throw a jerkbait, but the fish are going to change constantly. I have 22 rods rigged up, and I might have them all on the deck by the end of the day.”
-Joel Shangle

Ready to roll on the Red River as anglers get ready for 2013 Forrest Wood Cup

	Who will hoist the trophy this year? (FLWOutdoors)

Greetings from Shreveport/Bossier City, La., and the banks of the Red River.

We’re about 17 hours away from the first blast off of the 2013 Forrest Wood Cup, and already developing stories that will bring you inside the Cup as never before!

Over the next four days, our road crew will be filing LIVE blogs, videos, photos and insight about the goings-on at one of the biggest fishing events in the world, and this blog will be one of your most active connections to the goings-on on the Red River as 46 pros compete for the biggest payday in professional bass fishing.

I touched down here in Shreveport, La. a day early yesterday – a little ragged from a wicked travel schedule from the Elite Series event on the St. Lawrence River – but am ready and rarin’ to start our coverage of the Cup. Who’s going to hoist the trophy, like Jacob Wheeler (above) did last year? We’ll find out in four days!

Angler registration is at 1 p.m. – I’ll be there to get exclusive videos and photos. Check this page often!
-Joel Shangle