Posted - July 11th, 2008 10:50pm CST

David McCrone Tops The Field Heading Into Saturday

Story by Dru Smith - Photos by  Matt Pangrac

Trenton, MI – After a record setting day on the water Thursday, the FLW pros returned to the Detroit River with sore thumbs and high hopes. But, as gracious as Lakes Erie and St. Clair had been on day one, they were equally stingy on Friday. The wind was not kind, muddying the water and making boat control difficult, ultimately playing a huge role in the year end standings.

Thursday saw the all-time, one day FLW total weight record fall as the tour pros amassed 5,137 pounds, 6 ounces of mostly smallmouth to eclipse the old record by 262 pounds. As the anglers crossed the Chevy Open stage on Friday, the focus was no longer on records but on the $200,000.00 prize money and the AOY race.

Vic Vatalaro caught a tournament leading limit of 21-11 on Thursday, setting a pace that nearly 40 anglers matched. With weights bunched tougher and only ounces separating the top ten anglers, Friday’s round was critical. The leader board, while not as impressive as on day one, still bore five stringers over the 20 pound mark. David McCrone and Alvin Shaw both weighed limits totaling 20-15 to take first and second in the qualifying rounds. 

Kim Stricker, looking to notch his second win on Lake St. Clair, backed up his 20-05 limit from Thursday with 19-13 on Friday to move into third. David Reault jumped 20 places to land in 4th with a day two bag of 20 pounds, 12 ounces.

Day one leader, Vic Vatalaro rounded out the top five with a ten fish total of 38-10.

Dudley Wins AOY by One Point
Bryan Thrift snuck into the driver’s seat in the AOY race with 17-15 on day one but stumbled Friday with just three fish totaling 9-14. Luke Clausen made a move on Thursday, but struggled on day two opening the door back up for his good friend, Andy Morgan. Needing a decent limit, Morgan experienced mechanical problems on the water Friday and failed to bring a fish to the scales.

With Morgan finishing in 192nd, Glenn Browne in 197th, Clausen 106th and Thrift in 105th, David Dudley was next in line. However, from the back of the pack came Brent Ehrler and Jacob Powroznik.

109 points out of the lead and in 9th place prior to the event, Brent Ehrler was on nobody’s watch list. However, with 35-14 for the tournament and a 16th place finish, Brent Ehrler closed the gap to within one point of the eventual winner David Dudley.

Dudley quietly brought 16 pounds, 6 ounces to scales Thursday. He followed up with 17 pounds on Friday to finish in 38th place. On stage, Dudley seemed satisfied with a $10,000.00 check and agreed he was a long shot to win Angler of the Year. However, the stars did align just right and David Dudley won his first AOY title by 1 point. 

It should be noted that Bent Ehrler and Ron Shuffield finished the tournament tied for 15th place –a 15th place finish would have given Brent the one point needed to match Dudley—but because Shuffield boated the bigger one day catch (19 pounds) he took 15th alone. Like Ehrler, Dudley finished the event in a tie, a three tie with Greg Vinson and Bryan Coates. Dudley came out on the short end of that tiebreaker falling two places and missed out on the two additional AOY points.

During the 2008 season, Dudley and Ehrler were involved in a total of 7 ties overall. Dudley was successful in two of the four tiebreakers he experienced this year, while Ehler had a record of one and three. 

More on Dudley’s reaction follows but here is how the leader board looks headed into the weekend:

McCrone Rides Out Erie
David McCrone grew up in Amherst, Ohio on the shores of Lake Erie. The first two days he made the long run down to familiar water. “They are really small spots, but the fish are bigger there,” he said about his area. “I had about five hours of run time today with almost four hours of fishing.”

McCrone is concerned about the forecasted weekend weather and isn’t sure about trying to run 60 miles in 20mph winds. “I’ll be in a smaller, unfamiliar boat and that type of wind makes it real rough,” he said. “I have some spots a little closer, but they haven’t been biting there.”

Having never been on St. Clair, Erie is the only option for McCrone. He boated seven keepers on day one and just five on Friday. “The fishing has been tough once I get out there. I actually caught my fifth keeper today just outside the river on my way back in. I’m a little nervous about the weekend.”

Alvin Solid on St. Clair
Alvin Shaw caught another 20 pound limit to qualify for the weekend finals of the Chevy Open. Shaw was in 18th place in the points race and came into the event just wanting to stay in position for the championship. “I practice all four days on St. Clair hoping for a smooth ride into the FLW Cup,” he said. “The more time I spent there, the better the fishing got.”

Shaw is concentrating on small, isolated clumps of grass combined with rocks and sand. “During practice, when the weather was calm, I spent my time looking at the graph,” Saw explained how he found and marked over 100 of these subtle areas. “You can see them on your electronics when the water is smooth and you’re not moving up and down.”

When the BASS ZONE caught up with Shaw, the final standings were not posted and he was concerned about competition in his area. “Mike Hawkes and Terry Baksay were both in there today,” he said before learning neither made the cut. “I would like to thank Mike Surman. He started a drift in there, saw me and left. We’ll just have to see how it works out tomorrow.” Alvin is using a Berkley Leech and a tube bait to work the small clumps of structure located in 12 to 16 feet of water.

Stricker Strikes
Kim Stricker won the Bassmaster Top 100 on St. Clair in 1994 with four day weight of 61 pounds, 15 ounces. Five years later, Larry Nixon won with 73-09 and everyone talked then about how the fishing had improved. This year, Stricker is on pace to haul 80 lbs out of fertile waters of St. Clair. “The fishing actually got a little tougher today and I went to a spot I hadn’t fished yet,” he said. “I’m fishing shallow (6 foot or less) and with the cloud cover, the fish weren’t as active.”

Stricker revealed he did have some deeper fish located and would wait until after the first couple of hours of fishing on Saturday to make a decision on weather or not to change tactics. Stricker was unwilling to identify his baits, but he did give a hint into his strategy, saying, “There are still fish in the areas I’m at, but the pressure is getting to them. The wind and the way the fish react first thing in the morning will determine what I do.”

Reault Executes
Hailing from the small town of Livonia, located just west of Detroit, David Reault has made almost $40,000.00 from the FLW Tour stops near his hometown. His best finish was in the summer of ’99, where he led the first day of competition in the Wal-Mart FLW Tour Open. He would eventually finish fourth sandwiched between Kevin Van Dam and Larry Nixon. For his efforts, Reault won $38,000.00 and a berth in that year’s Forrest L. Wood Cup. “I’ve primarily been throwing a jerkbait in 8 to 10 feet of water,” he said. “I had a gut feeling to change things up today, but I decided to stick with my plan and it is a good thing I did.”

Reault boated 20 pounds, 12 ounces to move into fourth on Friday. When asked about the jerkbait as his choice of lures, Reault said, “It is just a lure that I have confidence in. I fish it different than a lot of the guys. It is my go to bait when it comes to smallmouth.”

Feisty smallmouths and hard baits usually equate heartbreak caused by lost fish, but Reault claims to have lost just one fish and it didn’t hurt. “She pulled off and I killed the bait in the water. I snapped it a couple of times and another fish hit it. I was able to cull with that one.”

Vatalaro still Vying for Win
With the format of zeroing weights after day two, you often see tournament leaders attempt to manage their fish on Fridays. That was the case for Vic Vatalaro, the day one leader who brought 16-15 to the scales on the last qualifying day. “It was more of protecting my area than actually managing my fish,” he said. “Tomorrow there will not be as many people in there so I can spread out and really work the area.”

With his company gone for the weekend, Vic is looking forward to expand on his area. “I saw a few of the guys catch big ones today, so I know they are still in there. It is a huge area and I can work it hard tomorrow.”

Dudley Reacts to AOY Win
“Never in a million years would I think Andy (Morgan) would stub his toe,” David said about Morgan failing to hold onto the AOY lead. “He is one of my heroes.” Dudley revealed that because of the fact Morgan was leading the race, he never even thought of winning. “No, I didn’t think it was a possibility,” he said. “I wasn’t thinking about the other anglers, but because he (Andy) was out front, I didn’t even consider it.” David admitted that it wasn’t until half way through Friday’s weigh-in that he even thought he might have a chance.

When asked how this accomplishment ranks with all the other achievements in his career, Dudley responded, “It is number one, bigger than the Millennium, bigger than the Championship, it ranks higher than anything I have ever done. A tournament win doesn’t truly reflect your abilities as an angler. The AOY title takes the entire year to accomplish.”

With a laundry list of awards and achievements in the world of bass fishing, David Dudley has a specific goal in mind and he shared some insights as to the future of David Dudley the fisherman. 

“I have a Grand Slam list. This was part of it, but I have other goals as well. If I win the Championship, I’m done. A million dollars in one pop would sit me down for a while. I want to start a fishing ministry. I want to build a lure company. I have several goals outside competitive fishing. It has been 14 years of stress and hard work. I can still handle it, but I do have other things I would like to accomplish in this life.”

THE TOP 100 AFTER DAY TWO