After 14 years of trying, Monsoor is finally a Tour champion.
TOP FIvE
name
1. TOM MONSOOR
2. CHAD WARREN
3. CHRIS JOHNSTON
4. CODY MEYER
5. MICHAEL NEAL
hometoWn
LA CROSSE, WI
SAND SPRINGS, OK
PETERBOROuGH, ON
AuBuRN, CA
DAYTON, TN
CO-ANGLER CANNON
WINS IN MARYLAND
By Chad Love
Co-angler champion Ryan
Cannon of Bullard, Texas, caught
his fish on a Texas-rigged
Yamamoto Senko with a pegged
1/8-ounce weight. Cannon target-
ed holes in the grass, letting the
Senko get down in each hole
before working it through the
grass clumps. Most of Cannon’s
bites came on the fall as he
worked the Senko from hole to
hole. Other than one fish he
caught on a Heddon Zara Spook,
all of Cannon’s fish were caught
on a Senko, and he employed the
same tactic both days to catch 33
pounds, 6 ounces.
WeIght
66-11
66-06
65-08
64-11
64-03
fIsh
20
20
20
20
20
WInnIngs
$100,200
$30,100
$25,000
$20,000
$19,000
an oS
82
Monsoor knew his rock pile spot
could produce a quick limit, so it’s
where he started every day during a
low and incoming tide, noting the first
morning in particular that “it was on.”
Once he had his limit, he’d make the
10-mile run south to camp in Quantico
Bay in an effort to cull out everything
he caught in the morning.
The first two days it worked perfect-
ly, as he left Mason’s Neck by 8:30 a.m.
with a decent limit. Then Quantico Bay
would cough up a few key 4-pounders
to anchor his 19-6 and 16-14 bags.
By day three, though, the pressure
from the previous days had begun to
take its toll. Monsoor was still able to
get an early limit, but it took a little
longer. He then spent six hours in
Quantico with only four bites to show
for it, only two of which culled him up
to 15-5.
Monsoor, figuring that area was
done, was forced to make some deci-
sions about where to go after leaving
his first spot the final day. Then Mother
Nature made the decision for him,
bringing significant winds and a small-
craft advisory that limited anglers’ abili-
ty to run around in the rough water.
As he had the previous three days,
Monsoor milked all he could from his
rock pile, but any thoughts of heading
to an offshore spot on the main river
were blown away by the wind. That left
him going back to Quantico one last
time.
“I’m lucky it worked out that way,”
Monsoor says. “At around 1:30 p.m. I
caught two good ones on back-to-back
casts that put me ahead.”
flWfIshIng.com I august-september 2017