The third day of the 2013 Forrest Wood Cup jump started by Forrest Wood himself presenting Jason Christy the Sportsman of the Year Award. From his well-known sportsmanship within FLW, to his outreach programs to get and keep young anglers in our sport, Jason has been involved with many different programs. When asked why he has such a great friendly outlook in life, Jason was quick to explain that all the time he spends on the water is very important to stay completive in this sport. “The rest of it is a simple fact; I was raised to treat people as I would like to be treated, to do the right thing and help others when I can.” Embarrassed when the director declared “Christy for President!” you could just tell he was caught a little off guard. He quickly recovered saying the first thing he would do as President would be to make sure gas was no more than $2.00 a gallon. The spectators responded with thunderous applause.
The next award was given to Richard Peck as FLW’s Co-Angler of the Year. Peck made five of the seven cuts this year, always staying right up at the top of the pack. Peck made it official that he plans to move to the front of the boat come 2014. Keep your eyes out for the new blood next year; he isn’t new to the competition, just the real-estate in the boat that he will be holding.
Andy Morgan – Andy was presented, by the entire FLW Kellogg’s Team, a check for $100,000.00 and the FLW Angler of the Year Trophy. Morgan has 55 top 10 finishes in his career. With a two day weight of 19 pounds 13 ounces, Andy brought just 8 pounds 2 ounces to the scales on day three. Referring to his chances to make the cut to day four, he had this to say, “I knew my goose was cooked!” He went on to thank all his sponsors, mentioning Bullet Boats and Zoom; he just couldn’t believe how many fish he caught the past three days thanks to Zoom.
Wesley Strader – Wesley had 20 pounds 4 ounces starting his third day of competition. He brought in another 10 pounds 3 ounces for a total of 30 pounds 7 ounces, but failed to become one of the top 10 anglers to move on to day four. He said he had been running to Pool 3, but just chickened out on the third day. “I only ran about 30 minutes away, but that just didn’t pan out.” Strader wanted to thank all his sponsors and give special thanks for Forrest Wood because, “…without him none of us would be out here.”
Jacob Wheeler – The 22 year old 2012 Cup Champion started day three with 20 pounds 11 ounces. He brought a hefty 14 pound 4 ounces to the scales, for a total weight of 34 pounds 15 ounces and a birth to the last day of the Cup. It was remarked that he was one of the few who was able to increase his weight day after day, and that he needed to be watched for the final day of competition. Jacob kept it short saying, “If I could just get a few good bites on day 4 I could take a run at this thing.”
Brent Ehrler – Brent started day 3 with 20 pounds 12 ounces and brought 7 pounds 11 ounces more to the scale today. However, it wasn’t enough to move on. He finished 20th overall, yet was very upbeat and continued to say just how happy he was to even be here, had a great time, but struggled on day three because the boat traffic washed out his plan making the water to muddy to fish. He just wasn’t ever able to overcome that setback and hates he missed the cut. He went on to thank Forrest Wood and tell everyone that the name Ranger still just gives him goose bumps thinking how awesome his boats have been, and all that Ranger has done for him as an angler.
Matt Arey – Kicking off his third day of the Forrest Wood Cup with 21 pounds, he brought 7 pounds 11 ounces in to finish for a total weight of 28 pounds 11 ounces. He knew it wasn’t enough to move up, but couldn’t say enough about Kistler Rods and all his sponsors out there and was sure to include his wife. Without them and their support there is no way for him to even be out here doing what he loves.
Kerry Milner – Starting his day with 21 pounds 3 ounces, his bag of 11 pounds 10 ounces upped his total weight to 32 pounds 13 ounces and 7th place going into day four. The BFL All- American Champion thought at the time his weight wasn’t enough to make the top 10, and wished he had made some changes in the day but was on top of the world right now. But, in saying that, his voice betrayed him and you could clearly see his strong desire to make the cut. He closed by saying he is looking to be back again in the future.
Troy Morrow – Troy finished day two with 21 pounds 9 ounces, adding his day three weight of 11 pounds 14 ounces, brought his total weight to 32 pounds 7 ounces and 9th place starting day 4. Troy stated he had some trouble today, “…not sure what went wrong, must have bumped the live well switch.” It was off for at least an hour, and that cost him four fish and a one pound fish care penalty. At the time he didn’t know he made the cut and knew it was a costly mistake. Even if he did make it, “It’s hard to overcome a 1 pound penalty with these guys. You can’t do stuff like this and expect them not to take advantage of it.”
Michael Neal – Fishing his first Forrest Wood Cup, Michael went into day three with 22 pounds and brought another 10 pounds 4 ounces to the scale for a total of 32 pounds 4 ounce. He took the last spot in the top ten that advanced to day four. He stated he sure hopes this wasn’t his last Cup. He believed “he was going to be the first man out of the cut, and wants to be back.” Neal, only 21 years old and the youngest angler fishing the Cup, was very hopeful to have a long FLW career and hoped that would continue to include Ranger Boats.
Adrian Avena – Adrian became the first man out of the top ten after the day three cut. He started with 22 pounds and brought in 10 pounds 3 ounces for a total of 32 pounds 3 ounces. At weigh-in he didn’t know it, but he missed the cut by 1 ounce. Also more to come on this man in another article covering day four, be sure to follow up and learn just what kind of sportsman Adrian is and what it cost him. Adrian said on stage that his weight was “tight on the bubble”, but couldn’t believe the phenomenal fishery the Red River was, “I caught a ton of fish over the last 3 days, a ton, just not all the ones I wanted.
JT Kenny – JT has now fished eight Forrest Wood Cups. His start on day three was 22 pounds 2 ounces, but with only an additional 8 pounds 9 ounces to total 30 pounds 11 ounces put him in 13th place. Kenny is the Straight Talk Pro for FLW, he talked about missing the big bite, but how it sure was great to be here catching a bunch of fish; unfortunately a lot of small ones for him this week.
Mark Daniels – Mark had 23 pounds 2 ounces at the end of day two, but his catch of 6 pounds 8 ounces pushed him to 17th place in the 2013 Forrest Wood Cup. Daniels knew he was out since he missed getting his fifth fish. You just can’t have those kinds of mistakes and make the cut.
Robbie Dodson – Starting day three with 23 pounds 7 ounces, he brought in another 9 pounds 14 ounces for a total of 33.5 pounds and starts day four in sixth place. Dodson talked about how fished clean all week but today he went and missed his first five fish. He said “I finally put my first fish in the boat and it was a good one, it calmed me down some”. He hopes to be back because he believes his five missed fish today would have been a heck of a good bag.
John Cox – John ended in 16th place on day three with a total of 29 pounds 10 ounces in 16th place, he started out with 23 pounds 15 ounces but only managed 5 pounds 11 ounces. He knew he make the cut, but caught a bunch of fish all day, saying, “The bigger bite never came.”
Tom Monsoor – Making his 5th Forrest Wood Cup, ended day two with a weight of 24 pounds 11 ounces, but picked up another 7 pounds 9 ounces for a total of 32 pounds 4 ounces. Monsoor loves his job. “Fishing is my favorite thing to do next to making the top 10”, getting a laugh from the tournament director and crowd alike. His weight put him in 9th place for the start of day four and he took time to thank Forrest Wood and Erwin Jacobs for letting him make a living at fishing.
Mark Rose – Mark started day three with 24 pounds 13 ounces. He added another 9 pounds 9 ounces for a total of 34 pounds 6 ounces that put him right in the middle of the top 10 in fifth place. Rose fell behind the eight-ball today. Figuring he would need 12 pounds a day, he came up short. He said, ”I’ll continue to scratch and claw all day tomorrow to look for even bigger bites.”
Ray Scheide – The dancing fisherman continued his on stage dance for the third day in a row. He had 25 pounds and 3 ounces at the end of day two, and brought in 8 pounds 5 ounces on day three, for a total of 31 pounds 11 ounces and 12th place over all. However, that didn’t stop Scheide from hitting the stage dancing, this time he brought along five ladies to dance right along with him. Once the festivities died down, he figured he missed the cut, “The fifth fish hurt me today! Not having it hurt”, he said about only putting four in the boat.
Larry Nixon – The general is back! Larry started out with 27 pounds 9 ounces and brought in another 8 pounds 5 ounces for a total of 35 pounds 14 ounces. This was good enough for third place going into the final day, and taking away the day three lead from Wheeler. Nixon described the slow day on the water, “What a struggle, everything turned muddy and I just went flipping. Flipping is my strength!” He continued with a shrug of the shoulders, “My best area just shut down”. Nixon stayed in his spot until 9 or 10 A.M. and was sure glad he did because he was proud of those five bass today.
Bryan Thrift – Brian has fished seven Forrest Wood Cups. He had 29 pounds and 7 ounces to start day three, and his 10 pounds and 3 ounces was enough to take the lead away from Larry Nixon. His 39 pounds 10 ounces put him in first place by more than four pounds going into day four. However, Tharp, the leader after day two, still had to weigh in. Thrift was able to hold that lead and stay in 1st, after Tharp weighed in,by a mere 4 ounces. Thrift said it was nothing but a grind today (referring to day three). He was using shaky heads to get the bite today, and figures he will have to move around a lot on day four and planned on hitting some pads and other stuff he hasn’t even fished yet.
Randall Tharp – The two day leader had 18 pounds 8 ounces day one and other 11 pounds 3 ounces day two for 29 pounds 11 ounces. The Red River gave him another 9 pounds 7 ounces on day three. He said his 39 pounds 2 ounce total and the fact that he fell to second place going into day four, “Has made things awful, awful close with the guys right now.” His concern continued, “Whoever can find the better bite tomorrow even if they start out in 10th place, could take it all.” He continued “The fish are there on this river, we have all seen it and I hope to see it again tomorrow”.
Fishing Never Felt So Good!
See You On the Water!
Ronald S. “Fogy” Fogelson, MSgt USAF (Ret)
Administrator Ultimatebass.com
Kistler National Pro Staff
Okuma Reels
El Grande Lures
Lead Pro Staffer KaRu Lures Elite Tungsten
