Jasper, AL – When the sun finally broke through the overcast skies above Smith Lake on Sunday afternoon of the FLW Tour’s second stop of the 2008 season, California pro Michael Bennett was the only one left standing. With a solid weekend performance of 14 pounds, 9 ounces on Saturday and 12 pounds, 15 ounces on Sunday, Bennett bested second place finisher Scott Canterbury by over three pounds to take the Smith Lake title and a cool $125,000.
The opening day saw Terry Baksay jump into the lead with a 14 pound, 14 ounce limit of spotted bass. Going into cut day, the field was still wide open as 50th place was just over three pounds out of the Top 10 cut.
Friday, the anglers were greeted by downpours and cloudy skies, hindering the site fishing bite many anglers were on. Baksay, unable to duplicate his day one performance fell out of the Top 10, only able to find two keepers. The day’s big movers were Glenn Browne and Greg Pugh who jumped into the weekend cut with limits of 15 pounds, 2 ounces and 17 pounds, 11 ounces respectively.
On Saturday, the ten remaining anglers faced a cold front and a high of only 60 degrees. The elements didn’t seem to affect Bennett much, as he weighed in the weekends heaviest sack topping the 14 pound mark.
With less than 4 pounds separating the top four competitors heading into the final day, execution would prove to be crucial. The morning started slow for Bennett, but once the sun began to peek out from behind the clouds, Bennett took advantage of each of his five keeper bites, holding off Canterbury, Kreiger, and Clausen to take the title.
The next stop on the FLW Tour will take place April 24th-27th on Lake Norman and will mark the midway point in the season.
Bennett Takes the Title
Entering the final day with a 2 pound, 2 ounce lead over second place Scott Canterbury, Michael Bennett knew that it would take a solid performance to seal the deal and walk away with the first FLW Tour victory of his young but profitable career. The Duracell pro did not disappoint, toting the days heaviest sack of 12 pounds, 5 ounces to the scales Sunday. With a weekend weight totaling 27 pounds, 8 ounces, Bennett walked away with $125,000 and the accompanying hardware.
Bennett’s victory was a demonstration of versatility and adaptability. Bennett opened the tournament on Thursday targeting bedding spotted bass located on main lake and secondary points. On Friday, when his bed fish fizzled, Bennett targeted pre-spawn bass. Bennett rode the pre-spawn bite right through the finals into the winners circle.
“On Saturday, I started where I left off on Friday and had eight big bites and landed six of them.” Bennett told The BZ. “Today was a struggle. I only landed five keepers. I was targeting secondary points with docks in 40 to 80 feet of water. I had about 25 docks and several key stretches that I fished several times throughout the day.”
The California pro’s weapon of choice was a Berkley Gulp Sinking Minnow which he fished on a slack line around the docks. “The fish were positioned differently each day on the docks.” said Bennett. “Today, every good fish was on the front side of the dock. I never could catch them the same way two days in a row. All I could do was fish every angle and hope that I got bit.”