In the 15-year history of the Forrest Wood Cup world bass fishing championship, no angler has won the title twice, but that could change this weekend if Yamaha Pro Brent Ehrler has a good day of fishing on Sunday.
Ehrler, 33, won the coveted championship in 2006, and he surged into the lead on Saturday, Aug. 8, on Lake Lanier when he weighed in 14 pounds, 14 ounces for a three-day total of 39-3. Ehrler is one of the six finalists who will compete for the $600,000 first prize on the final day of competition Sunday, Aug. 8.
“It took all day just to catch my five bass,” Ehrler pointed out, “but now I know where some big fish live, and if I can just get one or two of them to bite early tomorrow, I’ll feel a lot better.
“In most tournaments, I don’t think about catching five bass. I think about catching the five biggest bass. Here, I’m concerned about catching any keepers. This is one of the hardest tournaments I’ve ever fished anywhere.”
The Yamaha Pro is fishing a drop shot around brush piles 20 to 25 feet deep. Although he visits as many as a dozen areas each day, he has four prime spots that are producing the majority of his bass. His 14-14 catch Saturday was the heaviest among the 30 pros still competing after the field was cut from the original 78 anglers.
Three of the six finalists, including Ehrler, are from Calif., where fishing deep, clear water with light lines and finesse-style presentations are common. One of Ehrler’s two FLW Tour wins this season came on Table Rock, which is also a deep and relatively clear impoundment.
The final weigh-in, and the naming of the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup champion, will take place on Sunday, Aug. 8, at 5 p.m. at The Arena at Gwinnett Center located at 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth, Ga.
Yamaha Marine products are marketed throughout the United States and around the world. Yamaha Marine Group, based in Kennesaw, Ga., supports its 2,000 U.S. dealers and OEM partners with marketing, training and parts for Yamaha’s full line of products and strives to be the industry leader in reliability, technology and customer service. Yamaha Marine is the only outboard brand to have earned NMMA’s C.S.I. Customer Satisfaction Index award every year since its inception. Visit the yamahaoutboards website.By: Martin Peters, Mgr Communications
