Clausen's 24 Pounds Tops First KO Round

Friday, March 25, 2022

Photo: MLF/Garrick Dixon

Luke Clausen's nine scorable fish were two more than any other competitor caught in the Group A Knockout Round.

By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

Luke Clausen is one of five anglers to have won both the Bassmaster Classic and the FLW Cup. Now he has a chance to add a REDCREST trophy to his collection of championship hardware.

The only tour-level angler in the sport who hails from the state of Washington caught 9 scorable bass for 24 pounds even in the first of two Knockout Rounds at Oklahoma's Grand Lake. He advances to Sunday's Championship Round along with the other Top-5 finishers from Friday's competition – Andy Montgomery (7 fish, 20-06), Edwin Evers (6, 15-11), Bryan Thrift (5, 12-13) and Zack Birge (5, 12-09). They'll be joined by the Top 5 from Saturday's second Knockout Round.

Clausen won the FLW Cup in 2004 and the Classic two years later, so it's been awhile since he prevailed in a premier event. His only other tour-level triumph was in an FLW Tour (now MLF Pro Circuit) derby at the Potomac River in 2011.

The 10 anglers who competed in the Group A Knockout Round combined to catch only 44 scorable fish (2 pounds or heavier). Few anticipated such a tough bite as the weather continues to warm in the wake of cold air temperatures and rain earlier in the week, but the continually rising water level and chilly water temps (in the 50-degree range) could be one of the reasons the fish were uncooperative.

Clausen caught eight of his fish on a crankbait and the other on a shaky-head.

"I'm still pretty calm and I'm excited to have a chance to win $300,000 in a one-day shootout," he said. "I've had to fish different ways every day and I'm just trying to figure them out as I go – I don't know what everybody else is going to catch and I don't know what I'm going to catch. I could go out and only catch a couple or I could catch 20 and have it look like I really had a stellar day.

"I can't say I'm pessimistic, but I'm not real confident that I'm going to go out and win the event either. I like my chances, but I'm not going to say I'm going to blow it out of the water. I do thing conditions are going to stabilize, the water's going to warm up and we're going to see much better weights by Sunday."

Montgomery had been catching most of his fish from the backs of docks with a conventional jig, but only one of his seven came in that manner in the Knockout Round. He enticed three with a spinnerbait, two with a crankbait and one with a bladed jig.

"I'll probably have to start over again on Sunday," he said. "I really haven't carried much over all week and today I never caught one from anywhere I'd caught them before. I haven't really been on anything, so I've just been going fishing.

"Today I caught a few with a spinnerbait on wood, so I want to try that some more. Other than that, I'll just have to wait and see what's going on."

Evers caught plenty of weight to advance, but said he didn't have a good day.

"The fish are still there, but they were real finicky today," he said. "Plus I had a super-bad hair trigger – I had lots of bites that I didn't get into the boat for whatever reason. I'll have to make a few adjustments and try to slow down and maybe not drink as much coffee.

"I think (the bite) is going to have to get better. The water should crest sometime tonight and that'll change a lot of stuff, but it might also bring a lot of mud, so we may have to start over."

Thrift and Birge each advanced with five scorables, none of which weighed more than 3 pounds.

"I think a lot of (the slow bite) has to do with the conditions changing so drastically since Wednesday. The water's come up 2 1/2 to 3 feet in two days and it's repositioned the fish and repositioned the bait. That's the only thing I can attribute it to because the temperature hasn't changed a lot.

"I've got a couple of places I'm going to hit (Sunday) for sure that I've caught fish on every day. There's less and less fish there, but I should be able to get one or two bites and after that I'll start running new water."

Said Birge: "It was really tough for me today – I thought it would be a little better. I went to some places where I thought I would get bit and I didn't and the dirty water fouled up some places. I'm not sure what I'm going to do Sunday but I'll probably have to try a different part of the lake.

"The water's continued to go up every day and I don't think that's helped me much. I don't think all the fish are coming up with the rising water and that's limiting the number of bites I'm getting."

Notable

> The other four anglers to have won the FLW Cup and the Classic at George Cochran, David Fritts, Davy Hite and Dion Hibdon.

Group A Knockout Round

(Figure at far right indicates weight of angler's heaviest fish for the day)

1. Luke Clausen -- 24-00 (9) -- 3-02

2. Andy Montgomery -- 20-06 (7) -- 4-05

3. Edwin Evers -- 15-11 (6) -- 3-11

4. Bryan Thrift -- 12-13 (5) -- 3-00

5. Zack Birge -- 12-09 (5) -- 3-00

The following anglers did not make the cut and will not advance to the Championship Round

6. Bradley Roy -- 11-00 (4) -- 3-15

7. Takahiro Omori -- 10-00 (3) -- 4-08