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Clark Wendlandt Wins FLW Tour Potomac River

Clark Wendlandt Wins FLW Tour Potomac River

Even as tough as practice conditions were leading up to the Potomac River FLW Tour, there was a strong sentiment that anyone who could average 15 pounds per day during the tournament would put themselves near or at the top of the leaderboard come Sunday. Clark Wendlandt didn't plan it this way, but he validated those prognostications, catching 60 pounds even at the historic river that runs through Washington, D.C., to claim his fourth career FLW Tour win and end a 14-year stretch without a victory. He caught at least 14 1/2 pounds each of the first 3 days, including 17-13 on day 2, and then capped off the week with 12-14 to beat two-time Angler of the Year Andy Morgan by more than 4 pounds. While the almost 6-pound kicker he caught on day 2 was certainly his most important fish of the tournament, Wendlandt believes the outcome would've been different had it not been for the incredible show of generosity and sportsmanship by Shinichi Fukae on day 3. After Wendlandt experienced motor trouble on Saturday morning, Fukae, who was fishing nearby, insisted that Wendlandt finish the day out of his boat. Meanwhile, Fukae stayed with Wendlandt's disabled boat while it was towed back to the launch ramp, essentially forfeiting his chance to improve his place in the standings. "Without Shin, this win wouldn't have been possible," Wendlandt said. "I can't say enough about him. What he did (Saturday), giving me his boat, I cannot thank him enough." While many were fixated on fishing stretches of grass either on the main river or in the many creeks that empty into the Potomac, Wendlandt caught the majority of his fish off of hard cover flipping a jig and throwing a bladed jig with a shad-imitator trailer. "Even on good days, I was only catching eight or nine fish a day," he said. He said he fished clean all week and that mistake-free execution allowed him to prevail.

Wendlandt has only ever fished tournaments at the Potomac but the number of days he's spent there, either practicing or competing, have added up to give him a pretty good understanding of how the tides impact where the fish position throughout the day. "I've had a lot of opportunities to fish there," he said. A violent storm, the first of three storms that impacted the river, came through on the eve of the start of practice and gave the field a taste of the changing conditions they'd see throughout the week. "There was a lot of blown-out water on day 1," he said. "It was muddy, especially in the backs of some of the creeks. Some main-river stuff was messed up, too." He still managed a half dozen bites, including a couple good ones, to get an idea of where some better fish were. "It's the way you have to fish the Potomac," he said. "You have to go get bites and find little areas or ways to catch them, whether it's in the grass or on hard cover. It helped me get a feel for things." He came out of practice with confidence in five or six areas.

Competition:

Wendlandt fished some stretches on the main river over the first 2 days and also spent considerable time in Potomac Creek. "I had five or six areas, but only caught them in two areas," he said. "I fished a variety of stuff. Right now, there is probably has more grass in the Potomac than I've ever seen. It's not the best milfoil, but sometimes it's hydrilla or coontail and it was super clean in some areas which wasn't always the best." While grass did produce a few bites for him, he caught the vast majority of his weigh-in fish off docks and shallow wood and laydowns. "I caught some off the same dock several days in a row," he said. "There were small areas within the area Ð little stretches where it was predicated by something that caused them to start biting." He was in 6th after day 1 and rocketed to the lead after day 2, thanks to the 5-14 brute that anchored his 17-13 bag. "I caught that one off a trough under a boat," he said. "I was working my bait really slow and it was a place where you don't expect to catch a big one. It was kind of a freak fish." He followed that up with 14-08 on day 3 to become the only competitor to crack 13 pounds each of the first 3 days. He said being able to manage his best area early on was key to his prolonged success. "I had my main area mostly to myself," he said. "I really didn't get many bites there in practice, maybe three or four, but they were nice ones. I had a sense that it could work." He'd start his day there before choosing to check out other areas. "I already had fish when I'd go into other areas and they'd be crowded," he added. "Going from a place with no boats to being around lot of people, I didn't see how smart that could be." He spent most of the final day in Potomac Creek, catching four in there as the effects of a massive rainstorm the previous night started to take hold. He ran back toward the ramp and stopped on a stretch of laydowns in Mattawoman Creek and caught his last keeper on a jig to finish his limit and seal the win.

Winning Pattern:

While Wendlandt didn't necessarily run the tides like some pros did, he said timing was an important aspect of his strategy. "There were little windows that come up and you needed to be in the right place when those windows appeared," he said. "I pretty much threw at anything that looked fishy. That's how I like to fish the Potomac. I like to get in areas with fish and move around and find where they're at and fish by feel."

Winning Gear:

Flipping gear: 7'6" heavy-action Tournament ZX flipping rod, Verano casting reel (7.3:1 gear ratio), 20-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line, 1/2-oz. 4x4 Jigs Randall Tharp Signature Series jig (pro green-pumpkin), Strike King Rage Tail chunk (green-pumpkin) trailer.

Vibrating jig gear: 7'1" medium-heavy Tournament ZX casting rod, same reel, 16-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line, 3/8-oz. homemade vibrating jig (white), 3.5" Lake Fork Live Magic Shad (white) trailer. Some of his dock fish came on the vibrating jig and he also caught a few fish flipping a tube.

Main factor: "The first thing was the sportsmanship of Shin Fukae. I thought that was a pretty incredible act on his part and a big part of my win. I can't diminish that at all. Also, I have a good understanding of that tidal fishery. When I get bites in a certain way, that tells me how to fish. I've also spent a lot of time there over the years so that helped."

Performance edge: "The castability of that Cabela's rod was crucial when skipping my baits up under docks and flipping around wood."

Potomac River Winning Pattern BassFan 6/30/15 (Todd Ceiser)

Andy Morgan's Pattern, Baits & Gear

Andy Morgan figured he"d be in good shape with 11 or 12 pounds on day 1 last week, especially after the challenging practice he endured. He heard the belly aching from enough of his competitors, too, to convince him what he had would put him in the top half of the leaderboard. He was sorely mistaken. After getting nine bites on day 1, he doubled that on days 2 and 3 before his bite total dropped to seven on the final day. He said he probably should"ve stayed in his primary area and coaxed a few bites to upgrade his stringer. If he"d have done that, he wouldn"t have been in catch-up mode the rest of the way. "The main river was my key area," he said. "I had another place I could catch them, but it was pretty far south. I knew if I could get bit on the river, I could do well. The whole deal for me all week was I caught fish in the transition from clean to dirty water, right where it was mixing. Every good one I caught one was on the color line." He also caught some flipping docks and picked off his bigger fish from the edges of nearby hydrilla clumps. "If we"d have had stable weather we would"ve caught them better," he said. "I like the Potomac. It makes you adjust and bob and weave all day long. There"s always some kind of moving water."

ChatterBait gear: 7"3" medium-heavy iRod Genesis 2 casting rod, Lew's Team Lew's Lite Speed Spool LFS Series casting reel (6.8:1 gear ratio), 14-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line, 3/8-oz. Z-Man Original ChatterBait (black), Zoom Speed Craw trailer (green-pumpkin).

Flipping gear: 7"6" medium-heavy iRod casting rod, Lew's BB1 Pro Speed Spool casting reel (8:1 gear ratio), 16-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line, 1/4-oz. unnamed tungsten worm weight, unnamed 5/0 flipping hook, Zoom Z-Craw (green-pumpkin). He also caught a couple weigh-in fish on a Livingston Lures Walk N Pop 77 popper bait.

Main factor: "Having enough sense to not run all around and fishing what I had and being cognizant that the tide would reposition those fish every once in a while."

Performance edge: "My Bullet 21 XRS was great all season. My ride was real clean and my Garmin electronics were key. I had no trouble getting there and back."

Potomac River 2-5 Patterns BassFan 5/19/15 (Todd Ceiser)

Adrian Avena Pattern, Baits & Gear

Adrian Avena got out of the blocks fast, catching a 16-12 stringer to grab the day-1 lead. From there, however, he did all he could to hold on and be consistent. His weights dipped a couple pounds each day, but he never fell out of the Top 5. "It was just hard to catch consistent bags there," he said. "I think with the crazy conditions, that definitely threw a wrench to everybody. I'm not saying I'd have won, but I would've caught more than what I weighed has the weather been stable." In practice, he started to find that better fish were available in the main river grass beds and in the backs of the creeks, depending on water clarity. "I knew there were two things that could both of them - wind and rain," he said. "We had both and that hurt me. What I found and got me all excited is that I could catch the creek fish on low tide and I needed current flow on the main river to catch those fish." Avena worked the tide for his 1-2 punch, which took him as far south as Potomac Creek and all the way north to the Pentagon Lagoon in Washington, D.C. A variety of baits worked for him, including a power-fishing version of the drop shot on casting gear along with a swim jig and a soft stickbait. "I thought I could run low water for 3 or 4 hours in the morning, then run river beds and hope to catch them that way," he said. "I was definitely excited coming into this thing. I had the potential to do well."

Drop shot gear: 7' medium-heavy Halo Fishing Twilite Series casting rod, Daiwa Tatula Type R casting reel (8:1 gear ratio), 12-pound Hi-Seas fluorocarbon line, 2/0 Roboworm Rebarb hook, Roboworm Fat straight tail worm, 1/4- and 3/8-oz. drop shot weight. Avena declined to disclose the color of the Roboworm, but did say it was a good numbers set up.

Jig gear: 7'3" medium-heavy Halo Fishing Twilite Series casting rod, same reel, 15-pound Hi-Seas fluorocarbon line, 3/8-oz. Zorro Bait Co. Booza Bug (black blue), unnamed craw chunk trailer (black blue).

Swim jig gear: Same as jig rod, same reel, same as jig line, 3/8-oz. homemade swim jig (shad and perch), Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper trailer (white trash and Houdini). He also fished the Reaction Innovations Pocket Rocket on spinning and casting tackle. He threw the hematoma color around dirty water and green-pumpkin watermelon laminate in clear water. He fished it wacky-rigged, Texas-rigged with a 1/8- or 1/16-oz worm weight and weightless. "The bait has more bulk to it," he said. "These fish have seen so many Senkos. This is a little bit different with the ribs."

Main factor: "The firs two days and understanding how the tides work on the river and knowing how fish position on low water. Some don't realize how far they'll swim in the tide. Those fish in the creeks, they'll swim sometimes half a mile. When they get their tail in the current it doesn't take long to go far. Being able to run that from one of end of the river to the other was key."

Performance edge: "Two things were crucial. One was a new SeaStar Solutions jack plate, which allowed me to be able to get into some of these areas in backs of creeks. The other thing was the Tides and Currents feature on my Lowrance units. It gives you update information on what the tide is doing and allowed me to keep on top of it."

Potomac River 2-5 Patterns BassFan 5/19/15 (Todd Ceiser)

Darrel Robertson's Pattern, Baits & Gear

Darrel Robertson put together three 12-pound days around a 15-12 day-2 stringer to notch his best finish in more than 4 years. "Most of my fish came on outside grass lines and scattered clumps," he said. "What I was doing took a lot of patience. I think I did a good job for not having a lot of places." He fished a Texas-rigged Senko with a nail weight and picked apart areas that had vegetation. "My bait wouldn't touch grass for two or three casts, but then I'd hit a clump," he said. "It took a lot of patience." He said never fished the place where he'd gotten the most bites at in practice because it was muddy every time he checked it in the morning. "Muddy grass is no good to fish," he added. He fished Quantico Creek the first 2 days without a lot of bites, "but every once in a while I'd hook into a 3-pounder," he said. "I think they key for me was 90 percent of the people were fishing on the grass. I was parallel to the edge mostly. "This river still has quite a few fish in it, but there's a lot of dead water. There are a lot of places that look like where you're catching them, but there's nothing there."

Senko gear: 7' medium-heavy Lew's spinning rod, Lew's Tournament Pro HP spinning reel, 12 pound Sunline SX-1 braided line, 10-pound unnamed fluorocarbon line (5-foot leader), 3/0 unnamed EWG worm hook, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits Senko (green-pumpkin), nail weight. He caught a few fish on the Mann's Baby 1-Minus crankbait in stained water.

Main factor: "I think I had to create some patience. Sometimes it's good to not know too much. I had confidence in that Senko and figured out I had to sit down and fish it slow. If I'd had fished a clean tournament, I'm not sure I'd have beaten Clark, but I would've been within ounces of him. It's hard to fish a perfect tournament."

Performance edge: "That Lew's rod and reel and that Sunline braid. I won almost $30,000 in the last two tournaments with that set up. I spooled that reel up before Chickamauga and fished a wacky worm under docks there and came here and fished the same reel all week."

Potomac River 2-5 Patterns BassFan 5/19/15 (Todd Ceiser)

John Voyle's Pattern, Baits & Gear

John Voyles committed to fishing stretches of grass in Piscataway Creek after getting a few quality bites there in practice. He'd also been burned in the past by trying to target hard cover. "Everything I've learned over the years is when I tried to fish docks, I got my butt kicked there," he said. "You could maybe win a 1-day thing on them, but I wasn't going to make that mistake again. I like to put my Talons down and fish a 100-yard stretch all day long and if they're biting just smash 'em. "I've been to the Potomac enough to know the community areas in general and the places you can win from," he added. "I fished them and got bites in some and none in others. A lot depended on water clarity. I also know some not-so community places and had bites there, but no quality bites." He targeted an area about quarter-mile into Piscataway that attracted several boats during the event. "I had one little stretch where I was able to find the sweet spot," he said. As the event unfolded and changing conditions forced others to run around in search of cleaner water, Voyles was able to stay put. "I was very fortunate in the area I fished that it didn't get dirty," he said. "You could look to the back of the creek and it was blown out. My area had a lot of milfoil, hydrilla, coontail and eelgrass." There were thicker clumps of vegetation and smaller, scattered clumps around, but he says the key was having a hard bottom. On day 1, when the sun was out and the wind was negligible, he thinks bluegills had taken to spawning around there, which attracted the bass. A bladed jig was his best bait that day, but as the event wore on, he also worked a swim jig and Senko in and around the clumps of grass. "It went against every bone in my body to fish a 150-yard stretch for 4 days," he added. "Usually, I'm the guy who pulls up, makes four casts and I'm gone. After my practice, I was 100 percent committed to that place."

Jig gear: 7' heavy-action Denali Rods Noirwood Series casting rod, Lew's Team Lew's Lite Speed Spool LFS Series casting reel (7.5:1 gear ratio), 50-pound unnamed braided line, 1/2-oz. Secret Lures MVP swim jig (homemade green-pupkin sapphire blue skirt), Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper trailer (California 420).

Vibrating jig gear: Same rod, same reel, 20-pound unnamed fluorocarbon line, 3/8-oz. homemade vibrating jig (black blue), Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper trailer (black blue).

Worm gear: Same rod, same reel, 16-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, unnamed 1/16-oz. worm weight, 4/0 unnamed EWG worm hook, 5" Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits Senko (junebug).

Main factor: "Being patient and knowing that I was around some good fish. Having a good first day and catching many quality fish gave me confidence to say in that area."

Performance edge: "My MinnKota Talons. The first couple days weren't too bad. Even if it was not windy, you can drift around a little bit there so those Talons were definitely a key to keep me in one spot."

Potomac River 2-5 Patterns BassFan 5/19/15 (Todd Ceiser)

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