ON TOUR
FLW TOUR
detaIlS
June 15-18, 2017
presented by costa Sunglasses
hosted by charles county
board of commissioners
DIFFERENT RIVER, SAME MONSOOR
vETERAN PRO GETS ELuSIvE FIRST vICTORY AT POTOMAC
By Sean Ostruszka
W
A rock pile and stretch of “clean” grass keyed Monsoor’s win in Maryland.
80
hile the Mississippi River and
Potomac River are hardly
twins, at the end of the day
they’re both rivers. What works on one
will often work on the other. At least,
that’s what Tom Monsoor told himself
as he headed to the final Tour stop of
the year on the Potomac.
A month earlier, he’d watched
Potomac guide Bryan Schmitt win the
Mississippi River event, which everyone
felt was Monsoor’s to lose. His entire
life has been spent on that stretch of
the Mississippi. Instead of claiming his
first Tour win after 14 years of trying, he
didn’t even cut a check.
When he headed to Schmitt’s home
waters, the roles reversed. Schmitt, the
pre-tournament favorite, sat at home
the final two days after missing the cut,
and Monsoor and his favorite swim jig
did just enough to hold off the rest of
the field for his first Tour victory.
“You couldn’t script it,” Monsoor
says. “I truly thought Bryan was going
to win two in a row like Mark [Rose] did.
It’s crazy, crazy. Who would’ve believed
it was going to happen that way? I sure
didn’t. I’m just glad it did, though.
“I told someone right after I could
die tomorrow and be happy, and I
meant it.”
the areas
There are two strategies to tackle
the Potomac: Camp in an area, or run
the tides. Monsoor did a bit of both.
Not knowing the tides well enough
to effectively run a dozen spots in a
flWfIshIng.com I august-september 2017