Tom Monsoor was so excited about how he was catching fish in practice prior to the Pickwick Lake FLW Tour that he couldn’t keep it to himself.
“I was using a bubblegum Senko and flipping it and I killed them,” Monsoor said. “I even told Gary Yamamoto about it.”
For whatever reason, the Senko strategy fizzled on day 1 and the La Crosse, Wis., native weighed in just three fish for 7-04, a total that had him buried in 96th place.
“It was just terrible,” he said. “The pattern didn’t work out, so I decided to go fishing and do what I like to do.”
What Monsoor likes to do is fish a swimjig, so that’s what he committed to on day 2. He fished gravel points down toward the Pickwick Dam where hefty smallmouth mix with chunky largemouth.
“If something ain’t working, you have to start from scratch,” he said.
He had to endure mechanical issues throughout the tournament that prevented him to going faster than 40 mph.
On day 2, he caught the biggest fish of his tournament career, a 9-13 brute that anchored a 21-07 stringer that vaulted him up to 20th. He tacked on a 12-00 limit on Saturday to finish 15th, which catapulted him from 83rd to 46th in Angler of the Year points.
“During livewell check on Saturday, I look down in my livewell and found a 5- or 6-ounce striper all digested that the big fish must’ve spit out,” he said. “That fish would’ve been 10 pounds easy.”
That still wouldn’t have been enough to get him a spot among the top 10.
“I probably needed 2 1/2 pounds to make the (top 10) cut,” he said. “I lost 3 fish that would’ve done it. Saturday they were jumping and throwing the hook. Friday they were jumping but not throwing the hook. None of the little ones jumped off. I couldn’t believe it.”
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