Tom Monsoor Wins TW-FLW Pro Circuit Mississippi River

Tom Monsoor's legacy is complete. Even before this week's Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Super Tournament presented by OPTIMA Batteries, Monsoor's name was synonymous with two things: a swim jig and the Mississippi River. He'd pioneered the technique on his home waters; waters he's made his living from all his life, either from tournaments or commercial fishing. Yet, at 71 years old, Monsoor figured he still had one last thing to do to cement his name in the lore of the famous river - win a major tournament on it.

Today, that finally happened, and he took down the best angler in the world to do it. His 12-pound, 10-ounce bag gave him 54-10 for the tournament, stopping Jacob Wheeler's bid to win back-to-back Super Tournaments. For the win, Monsoor pocketed $125,000. "I can't believe it," says Monsoor. "Nothing is as cool as winning at home. I'll remember this forever. This is my legacy right here." Along with resetting his own record for the oldest to win a Pro Circuit event - he previously held the record at 68 years old for his win on the Potomac River in 2017 - it was also some redemption from the last Pro Circuit event on his home waters when he finished 105th. Yet, that setback taught him the lesson he needed for this week. (In 2017), I was on biggest and best fish I'd ever been on," says Monsoor. "Then the water came up and they were gone. And I didn't just go fishing. This time I said, 'I didn't care what happens. I'm just going to go fishing.'"

That game plan came into play earlier than he thought it would. He originally started the tournament in Pool 7, where he'd marked multiple schools of largemouth in Lake Onalaska. Except, once again, the water on the river had begun to rise and the fish were gone. Instead of being stubborn, Monsoor simply locked back down to Pool 8, hunkered down in the Black River and "just went fishing." For him, that meant focusing on two things: Gravel bars and drops with weeds. No surprise, a white Humdinger Tom Monsoor Swim Jig with a 3.5-inch Yamamoto Swim Senko trailer did a significant amount of damage for him this week, especially the first two days. Yet, he also caught some of his bigger fish on a football jig with a Yamamoto Cowboy trailer and small homemade jig with a Yamamoto Fat Baby Craw trailer. All were thrown on Lew's rods and reels.

Two particular drops had been setting up Monsoor well each morning, with him catching nearly 50 fish off them on day three. Unfortunately, they fizzled on day four, and at 1 p.m. he only had four "little babies." Plus, he'd lost one an hour earlier at the boat he really thought would cost him. Admittedly nearly throwing in the towel, Monsoor switched gears and hit a shallow spot, which produced his largest fish of the day, a near 4-pound smallmouth, that got him back on track. "When I caught that one I thought, well, at least I got one nice one," says Monsoor. "I damn near gave up, but that one motivated me. Then I was pumped."

An hour later, Monsoor made the winning decision to hit a key drop that produced a trio of big bites on day three. "It's a deep break with weeds," says Monsoor of his closing spot. "You can't see the weeds. So it's tricky, because if you cast too far it's shot because your jig is in the weeds. You have to hit the edge mentally and let it fall straight down or else they won't bite it. "I thought, 'I gotta go there.' I went back and first cast it was on. I couldn't believe it."

The decision gave him the two solid keepers he needed to hold off a hard-charging Wheeler. Less than half Monsoor's age, Wheeler made a strong run at his seventh victory in two years. Yet, at least for one tournament, the old river rat was able to beat out the young gun, and he has no plans of hanging them up any time soon. "I hope [I can keep fishing at this level for awhile]," says Monsoor. "I'm still going strong. I'm sore at night, but I might've been sore when I was young, too. I don't remember. "All I know is now I can be proud at home. This is forever."

FLW Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Mississippi River Winning Patterns - FLW 8/1/20 (Sean Ostruszka)

There are good anglers, and then there's the level Jacob Wheeler is fishing at right now. Fresh off his win at the Super Tournament on Chickamauga, Wheeler was less than 2 pounds from going back-to-back for his seventh victory in two years. "I'm just having fun out there," says Wheeler. "Things are going well. When you go into a tournament and you have confidence you're going to catch them, that's sort of how it works." Wheeler certainly had confidence thanks to a two-pool pattern.

He repeatedly made a risky run to the sneakiest of backwaters in Pool 7, making him the only pro in the top 10 to spend significant time in the northernmost pool. Tucked away behind miles of vegetation and a stump field, the spot opened up just a little to allow a significant amount of current run through it. That fact about the current was key both there and when he fished down around Goose Island in Pool 8. "You have raging current, fast current and meandering current," says Wheeler. "Meandering current is better for largemouth. They tend to want to be off the main stuff. So if I found meandering current with grass and duckweed, that's where I focused."

Once he found a spot, he either threw a frog or a swim jig.

The frog was his go-to, as he had four different ones on front deck in various colors, including an "old-school" Reaction Innovations Swamp Donkey, a SPRO Bronzeye Frog, a 13 Fishing Trash Panda and a popping frog. He threw them on a 7-foot, 6-inch heavy Duckett Jacob Wheeler Series rod, with an 8.3:1 Duckett Paradigm CRW casting reel and on 50-pound-test Sufix braid.

If the fish weren't fully committing to the frog, he switched to a black and blue swim jig with a Googan Baits Krackin' Craw trailer. He threw that on a 7-foot, 2-inch medium-heavy Duckett Jacob Wheeler Series rod, an 8.3:1 Duckett Paradigm CRI casting reel and 30-pound-test Sufix braid.

FLW Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Mississippi River 2-5 Patterns - FLW 8/4/20 (Sean Ostruszka)

If he hadn't been stubborn, David Walker wouldn't have been in contention to win. Yet, if he'd been just a little less stubborn, he might've pulled off the victory. Fishing Pool 8 around Goose Island, Walker simply "looked for targets." "A laydown, rock...something different among all the grass that's there," says Walker. "The catch 22 was that there's so much that looks good you can go awhile without catching anything. So mentally, you have to keep it together and just bird dog them."

The goal every day for Walker was to toss a soft-plastic toad or a Z-Man CrossEyeZ Snakehead Swim Jig with a Z-Man Turbo CrawZ trailer (green pumpkin) and catch 12 pounds. Yet, after day two, he realized the majority of the fish he was bringing to weigh-in were caught on the swim jig. So he committed to it on day three and brought in the third-largest bag of the event.

However, any good feelings evaporated the final morning when the rising water had moved all his fish and at 2 p.m. he only had two fish. "Being stubborn has ups and downs," says Walker. "Going out there and knowing you're not going to get many bites, you have to be stubborn and just keep doing it even though you're not getting a lot of positive feedback. "Well, at 2 p.m. I moved out to some areas I fished the first day that were a little too shallow. I pulled up on the first spot, and the first cast one sharked after it. The next cast and it was on. I caught four there in 15 minutes and then had to go."

FLW Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Mississippi River 2-5 Patterns - FLW 8/4/20 (Sean Ostruszka)

La Crosse is Zack Birge's "favorite place in the whole country" for a reason - he seems to always do well. No surprise he did again thanks in large part to a "nothing special" spot in Pool 8 near the Pettibone Boat Club. "It's just a little hole," says Birge about his spot. "Nothing special. There's one tire on bottom and a couple sticks. The rest just feels like sandy bottom. I think it's just deepest water in there, and the bait and fish just congregate in there."

In the first three days, Birge figures he caught more than 80 bass from that lone spot before it died the final day. His weapons of choice were a Yo-Zuri 3DB Series 1.5 squarebill (gizzard shad) and a shaky head with a 4-inch Yamamoto Senko. The crankbait he threw on a 7-foot Favorite Rush Series rod, while the shaky head was launched on a 7-foot, 3-inch Favorite Pro Series rod spooled with 15-pound-test Yo-Zuri SuperBraid and a 10-pound-test Yo-Zuri TopKnot Fluorocarbon leader.

The first couple days, he also mixed in a secondary pattern flipping and frogging cut banks with grass and trees touching the water. He threw a small creature bait on a 7-foot, 6-inch Favorite Pro Series rod and the Jackall Kaera Frog (red frog) on a 7-foot, 3-inch Favorite Rush Series rod. Both were thrown on 30-pound-test Yo-Zuri SuperBraid.

FLW Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Mississippi River 2-5 Patterns - FLW 8/4/20 (Sean Ostruszka)

When you're only getting five or six bites all day, it can get pretty stressful. Yet, the bites were the right ones, which is why Tyler Stewart kept putting himself through the anxiety. Hanging out on Pool 8, Stewart stuck around Goose Island looking for matted duckweed, but not just any duckweed.

"It needed to have eel grass, too," says Stewart. "If you had that and two creeks coming together to make a point with some duckweed, that was money right there." When he found it, Stewart slowed down and really picked it apart with a brown SPRO Bronzeye Frog thrown on a 7-foot, 3-inch, heavy action Favorite Pro Series rod. "I've never been here before, but I like it," says Stewart. "I like anywhere you can throw a frog all day."

FLW Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Mississippi River 2-5 Patterns - FLW 8/4/20 (Sean Ostruszka)