Shuffield 2nd
Ehrler Smokes Field By 13-Plus Pounds

Photo: FLW Outdoors/Brett Carlson Brent Ehrler said this victory is a personal triumph – he proved something to himself.

Ehrler began the final day with a 14-pound lead and when the scales closed, he surrendered less than a pound of it. He caught 16-13 today en route to a 69-11, 4-day total and clinched his first tour-level win since the 2006 Forrest Wood Cup.

It marked his second win in as many tournaments – he won the Shasta Western FLW Series in January. Interestingly, a fellow western pro, Brett Hite, accomplished a similar feat 2 years ago, although in reverse order. Hite won the 2008 Toho FLW Tour, then the Delta Western Series.

Table Rock was not itself this week, and record cold temperatures created plummeting water temps and a food glut due to a shad die-off. But Ehrler was able to pin down an area where pre-spawn fish were staging and willing to bite. That pretty much made it no contest, although Ron Shuffield kept Ehrler honest today.

Shuffield bagged a day's best 17-10 and held onto his 2nd-place position.

Mike Wurm headed the best of the rest. He caught 8-10 today and finished 3rd – two spots ahead of where he started the day.

Bryan Thrift limped in with a single 5-pounder and dropped a spot to finish 4th, while Greg Pugh (who led day 1) blanked and finished 5th.

Ehrler Not Nervous Anymore

Last night, Brent Ehrler told BassFans that even though he had a nearly infallible 14-pound lead, he was still rattled. He simply didn't know if his bite would hold up for 1 more day.

"This feels so good because I was so nervous," he said after tonight's weigh-in. "It was one of those things – when you have a lead like that, I was so nervous that I was going to be so embarrassed if I lost. That was the way I felt – nervous about blowing a lead like that.

"But yeah, this is awesome. I'm ecstatic. I don't even know what to think right now."

When asked to compare this win to his Cup triumph in 2006, he said the two are different. When he won the Cup he was a Tour sophomore, it was his first solid tour-level finish. So being in contention was "a whole new experience. But this is different. The Cup solidified my career, but personally to me, this win proves that I should be out here – this is what I should be doing."

And this win had some shades of Shasta. He said he happened to notice a spot during practice and caught a few keepers there. But he didn't know the spot's potential, and was torn over where to fish on day 1.

When he found the winning spot at Shasta during practice, he likewise had no idea what it would eventually kick out.

He found this week's winning spot "way up the White River," when he and his co-angler got two keeper bites on a grub right before dark in practice. But he planned to fish up the James, and it was a full commitment to get to either spot.

"I was so nervous about running 50 miles up the White – I'd get up there and there'd be a boat sitting on it. I almost didn't go. But I got drawn for sixth boat out, which was perfect timing – I could run up and for sure get it. I got up there and I kid you not, on the first cast I caught a 2 1/2, and a few casts later I caught another. I had a limit in 35 or 40 minutes that first morning. I just had no clue at all what was there."

He threw three baits this week, he said – a 5" single-tail Yamamoto grub (smoke, natural shad), a Lucky Craft Pointer DD jerkbait (pearl wakasagi) and a Lucky Craft RC 2.5 DD crankbait (ghost minnow).

The grub most often caught limit fish. He roped his 6-pounder on the Pointer and caught a 5 1/2 on the crank.

Photo: FLW Outdoors/Brett Carlson Ron Shuffield's quite happy about his finish, especially because his practice was so poor.

The full details of his winning pattern, plus pattern information for the other top finishers, will be published soon.

2nd: Shuffield Happy

Shuffield had a strong tournament, he just ran into somebody with the last name of Ehrler.

"It's definitely a tremendous way to start the year," he said. "And this year, being a shortened season with just five tournaments, it's even more important. It always feels good to get a good tournament under your belt to start, and I'm just glad I did."

He's especially excited given how his practice went – he caught just four fish, but it turned out those four gave him just enough information to go on. Also key was he fished an area he knows well, and that produced strong finishes for him in the past. Plus, he had a pattern that seemed to get stronger as the tournament went on, whereas everybody except Ehrler rapidly faded.

"The fish were coming to me," Shuffield said. "There were fish that were coming up shallow and fish on the bank that were coming out. I feel most guys didn't catch fish here because they fished too shallow.

"I was really blessed this week," he added. "Things turned out real good. I'm very pleased with my finish. The goal when I started today was just to maintain 2nd place. I knew Brent would need to fall apart or have a major issue for me to have a chance, but he's too good of a fisherman to have that happen. So I'm just tickled to death to be where I was."

3rd: Wurm Pleased

Even though Wurm finished 10 pounds in back of Shuffield and 23 1/2 pounds in back of Ehrler, he's happy with a Top 5.

"Actually, I'm very pleased," Wurm said. "I accomplished more than I ever should have with what I found. This is really the first tournament of the year, and to get 3rd place – I'm tickled to death. I'm excited to be back with FLW – it's a totally different feeling and atmosphere (than BASS). I'm glad to be back and I'm looking forward to the rest of the year."

He added he was surprised that his one area held up as long as it did. He caught his limit and left the first 2 days, stayed longer yesterday, and camped there today.

Photo: FLW Outdoors/Brett Carlson Mike Wurm's pleased – he thought he'd run out of fish much earlier.

5th: Pugh Disappointed

Pugh started with a bang when he led day 1, but his weights dwindled each day after that.

Today he pulled up onto his best spot and was surrounded by hordes of white-bass fishermen. He thinks that affected his bite and was the main reason he zeroed today.

"Where I was at, it felt like I was a cowboy in a rodeo and the Indians were circling me," he said. "I wasn't going to abandon the area – I thought sooner or later one fish would pull into there. They never did. But I stayed with the gameplan and if I had to go out tomorrow I'd do the same thing. It was a deal I had a lot of confidence in and it didn't play out today."

About his finish, he said: "Anytime you don't win, there's disappointment. So of course I'm disappointed. But the last 2 years here – for the Stren Championship and the Tour – I found fish in practice and for whatever reason couldn't catch them. They moved on me or something and I couldn't figure out how to put it together. So I'm happy in that sense – that I put it together for 3 days and made the Top 5.

"But as far as being satisfied, I'm not satisfied. I won't be satisfied until I win everything I fish. That's a big statement, but if you're going to be satisfied with 50th or 20th or 30th, you have no business being out here fishing full-time."

Notable

> Day 4 stats – 5 anglers, 2 limits, 1 three, 1 one, 1 zero.

> Since this is effectively the first tournament of the FLW Tour season, Ehrler leads the Angler of the Year race.

Day 4 (Final) Standings

1. Brent Ehrler -- Redlands, Ca -- 5, 16-06 -- 5, 22-02 -- 5, 14-06 -- 5, 16-13 -- 20, 69-11 -- $100,000 + $27,500

2. Ron Shuffield -- Bismarck, Ar -- 3, 9-05 -- 5, 15-06 -- 5, 14-04 -- 5, 17-10 -- 18, 56-09 -- $40,000

3. Mike Wurm -- Hot Springs, Ar -- 5, 16-14 -- 5, 13-05 -- 3, 7-09 -- 3, 8-10 -- 16, 46-06 -- $30,000

4. Bryan Thrift -- Shelby, Nc -- 5, 14-13 -- 5, 14-03 -- 4, 9-14 -- 1, 5-03 -- 15, 44-01 -- $20,000

5. Greg Pugh -- Cullman, Al -- 5, 18-11 -- 4, 10-08 -- 4, 9-05 -- 0, 0-00 -- 13, 38-08 -- $18,000