ON TOUR
COSTA FLW SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP
DEtAILS
Nov. 3-5, 2016
presented by Costa
hosted by Explorebranson.com
FISHER’S RETURN TO FORM
t
GEORGIA ANGLER GOES UP A CREEK TO WIN COSTA TITLE AT TABLE ROCK
he Costa FLW Series
Championship some-
how always seems to
produce something special.
Set in the fall at the end of
the tournament season, the
annual event is usually
accompanied by some story-
line or technique that bub-
bles to the top at a time when
most anglers are more con-
cerned with getting in the
woods or watching football.
In 2011, Dan Morehead
won on Kentucky Lake and
showed off the Alabama Rig
for the second time ever. In
2014, Zack Birge capped off a
campaign in which he qualified
for the FLW Tour with a sea-
son-ending win on Wheeler
Lake. The next year, he tore
through the competition with
one of the best rookie Tour
campaigns to date. A year
later, out of Paducah, Ky., Ray
Hanselman made it four wins
in a row, and he and the rest
of the top 10 finishers showed
off the Tennessee River below
After eight years away from multi-day tournament fishing, Pat Fisher
fought his way to a major championship victory at Table Rock.
62
Kentucky Dam as a surprisingly
productive smallmouth fishery.
In 2016, on Table Rock
Lake, Pat Fisher finished his
first season of upper-level
FLW competition since 2008
with a win. And the familiar
type of river strategy that has
become so common during
the Forrest Wood Cup in late
summer reigned again in the
November Costa FLW Series
Championship.
Fisher’s return
In the fall of 2008, Pat
Fisher lost his sponsor team
deal on the FLW Tour and
backed off from fishing as a
pro, unable to finance the next
season on his own. Fishing T-H
Marine Bass Fishing League
events for the next several
years, Fisher made a few good
runs at qualifying for the BFL
All-American, but never actual-
ly returned to regular multi-day
competition until this year at
the Costa FLW Series level.
Helped out by a sponsorship
from Paul Davis, a company
that specializes in home
restoration, the Georgia angler
got back in it with a bang.
“I didn’t have enough
money for entry fees or
another backup sponsor that
could put up that kind of
money,” says Fisher of his
exit from pro fishing. “We lost
everything; lost the house,
didn’t have a job. I went from
making $120,000 a year to
$15 an hour. There was a lot
of soul searching.”
By Jody White
Fisher is now on much
more solid footing. He’s mar-
ried, raising three boys and
owns his own roofing compa-
ny. Even so, he wasn’t pre-
pared to step back out into
major events without heavy
sponsorship. He had fished
under financial stress before,
and the former Tour winner
didn’t want to do so again.
When sponsorship took care
of that side of things, Fisher
went on to one of the best
seasons of his career.
Fishing the Southeastern
Division, Fisher finished
ninth out of 250 boats to
start
the
season
at
Okeechobee. At Santee
Cooper, he finished second
and would have won had
Bryan Thrift not brought in a
30-pound bag the final day.
At Wheeler Lake, Fisher fin-
ished 54th and punched his
ticket to the championship
by finishing fourth in the
season-long standings for
the division. At the champi-
onship, Fisher qualified for
the 2017 Forrest Wood Cup
on Lake Murray and what
will be his fourth chance at
FLW’s biggest title.
“There wasn’t any pres-
sure that I had to make a
check,” says Fisher. “I had a
job. I had my life taken care
of. I’ve done it before, but I
enjoyed it this time. There
was no pressure.”
Fisher isn’t yet prepared
to launch into Tour-level
competition again, but he’s
FlwFisHing.com i january 2017