FISH LIKE TOM BRADY
4
EDITOR ’ S NOTE
FISH LIKE TOM BRADY
Idon ’ t remember at exactly what moment during the 2017 Super Bowl we all realized what the outcome would be , but at some point in the fourth quarter one of my FLW co-workers , watching in a hotel in Guntersville , Ala ., after the final day of the FLW Tour opener , said out loud what everyone was thinking : “ He ’ s going to win it .”
Of course , if you subscribe to this magazine , then you live on this planet , and consequently you know who “ he ” is . Tom Brady , the New England Patriots ’ quarterback , brought his team back from a 25-point third-quarter deficit to beat the Atlanta Falcons and win the biggest sporting event of the year .
The Patriots ’ comeback included a 91-yard drive in the final minutes , a two-point conversion and an overtime touchdown . It would have been impressive in any football game , but it ’ s already a legendary performance for having happened in the Super Bowl .
Yes , Tom Brady was nearly perfect in those final minutes . But let me tell you , I ’ ve seen some equally impressive performances on the FLW Tour . From Scott Suggs dominating the Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Ouachita and winning $ 1 million to Greg Hackney dropping 30 on the scale at Pickwick , the bass pros on Tour have found ways to amaze me in all my 10 seasons with FLW .
The most recent performance that stands out occurred about a year ago at the fifth FLW Tour stop of the season on Kentucky Lake . Jason Lambert reminded folks that just owning a couple of big-screen depth finders doesn ’ t make you a ledge master . More pixels don ’ t guarantee you can hang with the big boys .
Lambert set a Kentucky Lake FLW Tour record by catching more than 97 pounds over four days and capped off the win with a 29-pound day-four limit . Stout .
Now , I was out there on day four , following around runner-up Brandon Hunter and a few others in the top 10 , and it was one of the most grueling days I ’ ve experienced on the water – clear skies , air temperature in the upper 90s , no breeze . My laptop overheated to the point that it wouldn ’ t function . I wanted to crawl under the Ranger console to hide from the sun .
Lambert had already spent three practice days and three competition days in the sweatbox , and he still had to catch fish and hold off a ledge-fishing murderer ’ s row that included Hunter , Mark Rose , Jayme Rampey , Scott Canterbury , Bryan Thrift , Jacob Wheeler , Brad Knight , Terry Bolton and Andy Morgan . So , yeah , it wasn ’ t the Forrest Wood Cup , but there was enough pressure to turn coal into diamonds . Plus Lambert was trying to finally win a major multi-day FLW tournament on the Tennessee River . He ’ d been close several times before , and no one doubted his ledge skills , but he still hadn ’ t won . He had something to prove .
With all that in play , Lambert closed it out with one of the most impressive ledge-fishing performances of all time , catching 29 pounds by targeting bass that had been pressured so heavily by other anglers that the fish had broken off from the bigger schools . And Lambert absolutely pounded them .
Pardon my string of sports clichés here , but what FLW fans saw was a guy with an opportunity to show out on the biggest stage , in a scenario where he was expected to deliver , and who gave a performance above and beyond what anyone anticipated . Doesn ’ t that sound a little Tom Bradyish ? It wasn ’ t just Lambert ’ s chops as a ledge fisherman that prompted us to slap his mug on the cover of this issue and run a feature about how he fishes ledges . We wanted to capture the most striking aspect of his success – the fact that we ’ ve reached a point where all tournament pros understand the ledge-fishing game , but guys like Lambert still consistently do it better .
So , no , it ’ s not just another article on finding and catching ledge bass . We ’ ve published that one about a dozen times . This one ’ s different . It ’ s better – like Lambert .
Curtis Niedermier , editor-in-Chief
Publisher Irwin L . Jacobs
editor-in-Chief Curtis Niedermier
Production Manager / Graphic Designer Michelle Dowling
assistant Managing editor Chad Love
Senior editor Kyle Wood
associate editor Jody White
editor emeritus Colin Moore
Field editors Rob Newell & Matt Williams
Contributors Joe Balog , David A . Brown , Steve Calhoun , Bryan Hendricks , Dan Johnson , TJ Maglio , Sean Ostruszka , Joe Sills , Paul Strege
Graphic Designer D . W . Reed II
Graphic Designer / Illustrator Matt Pace
Director of advertising Al Chapman | 270.252.1628
Senior Web Content Manager Jesse Schultz
Social Media and Communications Specialist Chris Burgan
Letters to the editor FLW Bass Fishing 30 Gamble Lane , Benton , KY 42025 flwfishing @ flwfishing . com
Chairman & CeO Irwin L . Jacobs
President of FLW Marketing Division Trish Blake
President of FLW Operations Division Kathy Fennel
Chief Financial Officer Dave Mahler
Vice President , Controller Tommy Boaz
Vice President of Marketing Patterson Leeth
Vice President of Operations Dave Washburn
FLWFISHING . COM I May-juNe 2017