Arkansas Pro Wins Forest L. Wood Cup with Two Keepers on the Final Day

Story by Brent Conway

Hot Springs, AR – Coming into the Forrest Wood Cup event, aka The FLW Championship, on Arkansas’ Lake Ouachita, there were really only two names that people mentioned as odds-on favorites to win – Mark Davis, of Mt. Ida, AR, and Scott Suggs, of Bryant, AR.

Together, the two Arkansans have more collective experience on the lake than the rest of the field combined, and were it not for an unfortunate stumble by Davis Friday they might have battled it out Sunday for all the marbles – which in this case is a cool $1 million. 

Davis, who is one of the most decorated Tour veterans in the game today, brought three fish to the scales Friday weighing a hair over seven pounds and was forced to go home. Suggs was left as the only native Arkansan in the field Saturday and he made the most of it.

Knoxville, TN angler Jack Wade bested the field Friday by busting the biggest bag of the tournament weighing 16 pounds 14 ounces, but couldn’t repeat Saturday and came up empty dropping from first to worst in the 10-man scramble.

Suggs, on the other hand, came to the scales Saturday with the only five-fish limit and lead the 10-angler field by just over four pounds, which by most standards isn’t a terribly large deficit to overcome. However, at Ouachita this week, four pounds might just as well have been 40 as the bite has been dreadful all week long.

The daily temperatures have been reaching past the 95-degree mark all week long, and the humidity has been at, or close to, 90 all week as well, making conditions on the water resemble a broiler as opposed to a bass tournament. Add to that the flotilla of spectator and pleasu/re boat traffic, and the already tough conditions can turn miserable quickly. 

Still, with 10 of the world’s best bass fishermen vying for a shot at a seven-figure payday, anything is possible…after all, this is fishing we’re talking about. But you couldn’t help but conclude that after Saturday’s weigh-in, the collective powers that be at FLW could’ve saved some time and just handed Suggs the check as the only conceivable way he could lose, as he put it, was to just lose and head “and really mess it up.”

In the end, the hype panned out as Scott Suggs virtually walked away the winner with a two-day total weight of 17 pounds and 1 ounce. Suggs brought just two bass to the scales Sunday weighing 6 pounds and 1 ounce, out distancing second place by over four pounds.

Darrel Robertson, from Jay, OK, ended the tournament in second with a total combined weight of 12 pounds 8 ounces. Darrel’s final-day weight of 6 pounds 10 ounces pushed him up two spots, but wasn’t enough to overcome the home field advantage Suggs dished out all week long.

In third place at the end of it all was Clark Wendlandt, of Leander, TX, who brought 6-13 to the scales Sunday to push his two-day total weight up to 10 pounds 1 ounce. 

Fourth place honors went to Mike Surman, of Boca Raton, FL, who fought hard all four days, but in the end his final combined weight of 9 pounds 14 ounces wasn’t enough to be the spoiler. Rounding out the top five was Bryan Thrift who had a two-day total weight of 9 pounds and 12 ounces.

Here’s how the rest of the field shaped up:

6. Greg Pugh 4 9-8
7. John Devere 6 9-2
8. David Dudley 6 8-14
9. Anthony Gagliardi 5 8-11
10. Jack Wade 4 7-9

1st Place: Scott Suggs
Everybody talks about the hometown jinx, and today it almost played out to perfection as Suggs, who had managed a five-fish limit all week, only brought two to the scales on the day when it mattered most. “I got three other bass bites today that I know for sure and I lost both of them,” he explained. 

“It was really tough on me today. I’ve fished all week for suspended bass in trees, and when the weekend comes it’s a different ballgame. It had a big effect on the final two days, and the weights reflected it.”

Suggs explained that regardless of what anyone might say regarding the lack of a draw down, which would generate current, the fish at Quachita just don’t bite on Saturday or Sunday. “The fish here, particularly the ones in the timber, just get scattered out with all the traffic running over their heads,” he said. 

“It’s always been that way, and it’s because of the fact that Monday through Friday, there’s little-to-no traffic, and then on the weekend there’s boats everywhere.”

Suggs practiced hard for a week, but did so inconspicuously. “I borrowed my friend’s boat, and used my wife’s unmarked truck so that I could fish hard and not draw any attention,” he explained. “I had all of my spots located by last Friday, so I gave him his boat back. From there, I ran around doing some different things, but I was basically locked on since last week.”

Fishing suspended fish up to 25 feet deep around standing timber, Scott employed a ¾-ounce War Eagle spinnerbait and a 10-inch Berkley or Zoom worm in June Bug or Cherry Seed to do the damage. He would tie both to 15-pound Gamma Fluorocarbon and count the baits down to the right depth. 

“I practiced right by having buoy markers in 15-, 20-, and 25-feet of water,” he explained. “I would cast to one of the buoys and establish a count of how long it would take for the bait to get to that dept. When I got out to the 25-foot marker, I counted to 16, which was 22 feet, and there they were. I never got any shallower or deeper than that all week.”

Suggs had managed a limit all week long doing the same thing, and felt in control for three out of the four days of the tournament. Sunday was a different story all together. “For the first time this morning, I felt like I might not win,” he said. “I have a test spot that I would go to every morning where I would always catch two keepers in five or six casts.

“I went in there today and made 15 casts and never got a bite. I told my cameraman that it was going to be a tough day. I caught my big fish at about 2:00, and was sweating bullets the whole time even though I knew that it was going to be tough for everyone.”

As things turned out, Suggs didn’t need the three pounder to win, though he couldn’t have known it at the time. “I was as nervous as a cat that I’d let this thing slip away,” he said. “Even when we got back this afternoon, I still didn’t know if I’d won. FLW officials put the fear in us that we were not to let anyone know what we’d caught so that it wouldn’t ruin the show. I sat on stage the whole time just sweating.” 

$1 million richer, Suggs said that the enormity of what he’s accomplished hasn’t set in yet. “I know that I have to be back here at 5:00 in the morning ready for the camera,” he said. “I’ve had a million phone calls from people that I’ve never heard of. All that I know is that my life has changed, and if feels really good.”

Suggs couldn’t say enough about the win – particularly since it was on his home lake. With the crowded coliseum, and a virtually armada of on-the-water spectator traffic all day, he explained that being in front of people who were rooting for him to win brought him through the event. 

“I had a bunch of my friends with me all day today,” he said. “It was really an awesome time. Every fish that I caught, they would just feed off of it.”

2nd Place: Darrel Robertson
Darrel Robertson began his day in fourth place. He came to the stage needing 11-4 to take the lead away from Suggs, but the trend of having only three fish continued for Robertson again on the final day. “I don’t know what to think,” the Jay, Oklahoma pro said.

“For two days in a row they wouldn’t commit to eating the worm. I know that I had two fish pick it up – one of them kept it in her mouth almost to the top – and would just spit it back out.”

Robertson explained that throughout practice, he was consistent with a 10-inch Berkley Power Worm in Blue Fleck or June Bug, but things shifted Saturday. “I had a spot that I caught two four pounders from each of the first two days,” he said. “I would start there first thing, so I went in there yesterday morning and had one rattle my worm and I set the hook and thought that I’d broke her off. I really felt like it was a good fish, and about 10 minutes later I had another one do the same thing.

“I only needed two more fish that would’ve weighed two-and-a-half pounds a piece. I was in the thick of it, and that’s really about all that you can hope for.”

Robertson said that he feels that he’s extremely blessed to have finished where he did. “Three times during this tournament, I caught my last fish with only about five minutes to go,” he said. “If you take two of those away, I wouldn’t have been in the top 10 to begin with.”

Looking back at the week Robertson agreed that it was extremely tough, but said that he actually prefers it that way. “I usually do better in tougher tournaments,” he said. “I would have to say that without having Tuesday when the wind blew and it was cloudy, I may not have ever settled down because I had quite a few bites.”

5th Place: Bryan Thrift
In his first year on the FLW Tour, Thrift has made a name for himself making two top 10s and qualify for the Championship. “I’ve had a very good year, and can’t complain at all,” he said. “The goal every year it to qualify for the Tour, and with three top 10s I’ve managed to do that, so I have absolutely no complaints.”

Thrift explained that the weekend bite stymied his drive to the top this week. “I had a really good day Thursday, but couldn’t managed to stay with them,” he said. “This lake really gets tough on the weekend, and I didn’t make the adjustments.”

Thrift Texas rigged a 10-inch worm all week, and covered a lot of water in the process. “I had a bunch of spots that I would run throughout the day,” he said. “I needed all the spots I had because you would go through them hoping to get one or two bites along the way. It was just a grind this week.”

6th Place: Greg Pugh
Greg Pugh came to the stage needing 10-3 to steal the win away from local favorite Suggs. With a chance to be a spoiler, Pugh only managed two keepers on the final day, but conceded that he had a tremendous tournament nonetheless. “I was in the hunt all week,” he said. “Anytime you come into a tournament like this and you’re just four pounds back on the final day, it’s a good feeling.”

Settling in sixth place, Pugh has no regrets on his performance this week. “This has just been a tremendous tournament,” he said. “The crowds and hospitality all week long has just been amazing.”

10th Place: Jack Wade
Jack Wade caught the biggest limit of the tournament Friday to secure a top 10 finish. After blanking Saturday, he came to the scales behind the eight-ball needing just over 17 pounds to take the lead.“It’s been one of the most exciting weeks of my career,” he explained. 

“There’s nothing like a huge comeback, but I just got too far behind after Saturday. I’m just really thankful to have been a part of it though.”

Looking back at Saturday, Wade said that he pulled out all the stops Sunday trying to make something big happen. “We all know what it’s like to blank when you’re fishing,” he said. “I went out today knowing that I would need around 18 pounds to have a chance, so I just stayed open-minded all day and caught everything that I could.”

“I caught my first three shallow, and then I went deep,” he added. “I was able to catch my fourth fish deep, and thought that I might have a chance to get another one and upgrade, but the weekend bite in the creek I was in just quits. I wish that I would’ve known that before Saturday.”

FINAL STANDINGS