After sitting in 46th place after Day 1 of the three-day tournament, Harry Linsinbigler IV of Dover, Fla. rallied on Day 2, ending up in 6th place with 31 pounds, 15 ounces going into the final day. On Saturday, Linsinbigler brought another limit weighing 20-14 to the scale to win the Northern Division Toyota Series event at the Potomac River in Richmond, Va.
Linsinbigler’s three-day total of 15 bass weighing 52-13 gave him the win by a 13-ounce margin over 2nd-place Robert Henderson of King George, Va. and earned him the top payout of $44,000.
After pulling in 14-11 early on Day 1, Linsinbigler said he decided to save his fish and go look for bigger ones, a decision he instantly regretted after seeing the 20-pound plus bags at the top of the leaderboard following the weigh-in.
“I really didn’t think it was going to take that much weight to be in the Top 25, so once I had over 14 pounds, I laid off my fish and started looking for new and better fish,” Linsinbigler said. “I’d only caught one fish over 4 pounds, but I figured I would probably need some bigger ones.
“They grew up a little on Day 2 and I hit a new area that I’d found in practice,” Linsinbigler continued. “That helped my bag a bit, but I was still only catching 3-pounders.”
Linsinbigler said he caught most of his fish on grass flats out of three major creeks throughout the event – Mattawoman, Chicamuxen and Quantico – throwing a ChatterBait, a frog and a swim jig.
“Those are really the only three baits I was catching those quality bites on, so I just stuck with them,” he said. “Most of the pressure was inside the grass flats, so I stayed outside and fished the outside corners so I could have the areas all to myself.”
Linsinbigler said he was excited to be in the Top 10 going into Day 3 but had no grand aspirations of winning the event at that point.
“Going into the final day, I knew I was going to do good in points, but I felt like the deficit I had was pretty insurmountable,” Linsinbigler said. “There were three guys in front of me that had over 6 pounds on me, and I didn’t expect those guys on top to struggle because they had done so good the first two days.
“I got back to one of my spots on Day 3 – still by myself in my area – and caught a 4 1/2-pounder and two more that were right at 4 pounds,” Linsinbigler continued. “That was huge because I’d only caught one other 4-pounder throughout the rest of the week.”
Those three 4-pound bass and two more added up to the winning limit of 20-14 – by far the heaviest bag of the day – leading Linsinbigler to his first big win.
“This is actually my first year to fish the Toyota Series as a pro and only my second tournament as a pro, so this win is absolutely amazing,” Linsinbigler said. “I’ve fished tournaments for over 10 years, so this is something I’ve worked toward for a long time.
“I do want to eventually go pro, and this win solidifies the fact that I can compete at this level.”
Here are the final numbers for the Top 10:
1. Harry Linsinbigler IV of Dover, Fla., 15 bass, 52-13, $44,000
2. Robert Henderson of King George, Va., 15 bass, 52-0, $18,000
3. Rod Mackinnon III of Middletown, N.Y., 15 bass, 50-14, $13,250
4. Martin Villa of Charlottesville, Va., 15 bass, 48-7, $10,750
5. Tristan McCormick of Burns, Tenn., 15 bass, 47-13, $9,750
6. Wil Dieffenbauch of Morgantown, W.V., 15 bass, 45-12, $8,375
7. Spencer Shuffield of Hot Springs, Ark., 15 bass, 45-11, $7,300
8. Christian Greico of Tampa, Fla., 15 bass, 45-5, $6,300
9. Marshall Robinson of Landrum, S.C., 15 bass, 45-2, $5,300
10. Tommy Dickerson of Orange, Texas, 15 bass, 45-0, $4,200
