11th PLACE 10th PLACE 13th PLACE
flat-out beaten , but in a few cases it was one bad break on his part or one lucky break on another angler ’ s part that cost him the win .
“ At Beaver [ this season ] I jumped one off that was over 6 . If I catch that one I don ’ t know if I was going to beat Canterbury , but it would ’ ve been close ,” he recalls . “ It seems like every time I catch them , Dudley will dig one out of a tree and beat me . It seems like I ’ m never the one to get a break . It seems like it never works out , and I finish second and I finish third . It ’ s aggravating . But I don ’ t know what else to do about it .”
Season Recap
Morgan ’ s two worst finishes of the season came at the first two stops . He finished 40th at Okeechobee and 42nd at Hartwell .
“ My first tournaments were not that great . I got checks , and I was proud of that , but to win AOY they weren ’ t the kind of checks you need to get . The last four tournaments I put it together , and it just worked out well .”
Morgan ’ s fearlessness with regard to scrapping a pattern was on display early on in the season .
“ Okeechobee was kind of like that . I had to bob through a couple of areas . I really wanted to live in one area ,” he recalls . “ I scrapped that and went and got a 40-something-place finish . I got a check .
“ At Hartwell I wasn ’ t going to sight-fish . I was totally against that . Then I ended up going and sight-fishing just to cash a check .”
At Beaver , Morgan caught his fish “ running around like a wild man ” and placed sixth . And at Pickwick , he never even bothered with the deep bite , instead finding water all to himself and finishing 11th .
Kentucky Lake was “ pretty standard ” for Morgan . He ’ s been fishing there for years and knew what to expect .
“ Once you get in these summer months things get a lot more predictable ,” he adds . He placed 10th on Kentucky Lake by dragging a Zoom Ol ’ Monster worm .
Champlain was probably Morgan ’ s biggest hurdle . He ’ s not a fan of Northern smallmouths .
“ I ’ m just not comfortable up here ,” he said after the daytwo weigh-in . “ It ’ s not a good feeling to come here in a slugfest and have to catch them . I think this is my fifth time here , and every time everybody catches them .”
Morgan did what he always does en route to proving that he is a tough closer when in a position to win AOY . He scraped and clawed up north for two days , saying it was “ real jagged ” fishing , and he made the cut . On day three he turned and headed south to try for a big bag of largemouths after his best areas dried up in the qualifying rounds . Of course , by that point he ’ d already sewed up AOY .
It was a quiet tournament for Morgan . He didn ’ t really contend to win , but he obviously didn ’ t bomb out . He was there on the weekend , like he always is , after 140 other pros had already gone home , reminding everyone what kind of performance it will take if one of them wants to usurp his throne and wear the crown . photo by andy hagedon
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FLWFISHING . COM I AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2016