Western anglers have a pretty good track record in the Forrest Wood Cup. Luke Clausen, Brent Ehrler and Michael Bennett have all won FLW’s top prize and many other left-coasters have also faired well in this major event.
This year’s edition was held on Lake Ouchaita in Arkansas and after the first day it looked like we may have another western winner. Ish Monroe, Luke Clausen and Alabama’s Cali-transplant Mark Daniels Jr. were all in the top ten. In the end, only Daniels Jr. fished the final day.
Here is a recap of how they all did and some insight into what they were doing.
Mark Daniels Jr. 9th place – 32lbs 1oz
Mark Daniels Jr. was the highest finisher of the west coasters and actually found the winning area. He shared water all week with eventual winner Brad Knight and received many comments and compliments for how he handled the final day, allowing Knight some additional water in their area since he was far enough back. He caught fish with a drop shot and topwater bait.
Luke Clausen 17th place 24 lbs 12oz
Clausen had a good first day and was in 8th place with 13lbs 1oz. He dropped each day and never had another limit. Lost fish and an overall lack of bass doomed him in the event. He spent most of his time throwing topwaters down the bank and noted how he was never able to find a pattern for where the fish were relating as some would come from steep banks and some in the backs of pockets.
Ish Monroe – 19th place 23lbs 2oz
Ish was one of two anglers to catch over 15lbs on the first day and his 15lbs even had him in second. He caught his fish on a River2Sea Rover and S-Waver and was culling quality fish all day on the first day. He was never able to duplicate it and his catches dropped each day with just two fish on both Day 2 and Day 3.
Cody Meyer - 31st place 14bs 13oz
On paper this event looked like it would set up perfectly with for Cody with many fish offshore in deep brushpiles, but it didn’t work out for him. He admittedly never found anything of substance and was forced to try just about everything in his repertoire to try to get the Arkansas bass to bite. He had a small limit the first day (8lbs 6oz) and just three fish the second day.
Roy Hawk - 37th place with 11lbs 10oz
The highlight of Roy’s event was probably the fact that his son Sunny won the co-angler division and took home $50k. As one of two father-son duos fishing this event, they received some media coverage and attention at the event, but Roy himself had a disappointing event considering he has done well on Ouchaita in past trips (7th in the 2010 FLW Tour and another 7th at the 2010 Rayovac Central event). He had 8lbs 13oz on the first day and two for 2lbs 13oz on the two days he fished.
It will be at least another year before a west coast angler wins the Forrest Wood Cup, but the five we had fishing made some noise and made the west proud.
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