Wendlandt winds up third
 Kellogg’s
pro Clark Wendlandt of Leaer, Texas finished in
third place with a two-day total of 10 pounds, 1
ounce for $75,000.
Wendlandt alternated between two patterns all week.
In the mornings he fished shallow around bream
beds with a Brian’s Bees Prop B 3 and then he
moved out deeper in the afternoons to fish grass
edges in 10 to 12 feet of water with a 10-inch
Gambler worm topped with a ¾-ounce tungsten weight.
“My better quality fish came from the grass on the
big worm,” Wendlandt said. “The topwater pattern
worked on and off and was real situational – I had
to have a little breeze on the bream beds to make it
work.”Wendlandt finishes third
Clark Wendlandt of Leander, Texas, finished the
event in his best position of the week, third, with
a four-day total of 62-12 worth $40,000.
Wendlandt rallied with a 16-15 catch today.
His two main patterns all week were “walking” a big
spinnerbait along rocky bluff banks and cranking
square-billed crankbaits alongside floating boat
docks.
“The key for me was using really big baits,”
Wendlandt said. “I think the fish here were eating
those big gizzard shad, and I wanted a really big
profile in the water.”
Along the bluffs, Wendlandt used a 3/8-ounce
spinnerbait with a big No. 6 Colorado blade, and
around the docks he used a Lucky Craft BDS 4
crankbait and a Brian’s Bees B3
square-lipped crankbait.
He used 15-pound-test Ande monofilament and a
Pflueger 6-to-3 ratio reel for both techniques.
“I wanted to keep the baits way up high near the
surface so they bulged the surface, and the faster
reel helped with that.”
Of the two techniques, the dock pattern ended up
being the more dominant pattern, especially in the
afternoon.
“I’d catch a limit on the spinnerbait early and then
go to the docks for quality in the afternoon.
Surman fourth
Castrol pro Mike Surman of Boca Raton, Fla.,
finished fourth with a two-day total of 9 pounds, 14
ounces worth $60,000.
Surman also fished two patterns, which were similar
to Wendlandt’s.
In fact, Wendlandt lent Surman the Prop B 3
topwaters he was using.
“I only used the topwater for about an hour each
morning and then that bite died,” Surman said. “Then
I’d moved out and fish the grass with a 10-inch
Gambler red bug worm. One worm was rigged with a
¼-ounce weight and the other was rigged with a
¾-ounce weight.
“I used the ¾-ounce worm to pitch into the thicker
grass on top of the humps in 10 to 14 feet of water
and I used the lighter weighted worm to fish the
outsides of the grass in 14 to 18 feet. For me, the
outside of the grass was a little better, but I did
catch a couple of my better fish up in the thicker
stuff on top.”
Thrift fifth
2007 Gain Rookie of the Year Bryan Thrift of Shelby,
N.C., finished in fifth place with a two-day total
of 9 pounds, 12 ounces for $50,000.
Thrift also alternated between shallow and deep
patterns during the week.
Interestingly, he too settled on the Brian’s Bees
Prop 3 for his shallow water bite.
His deep grass lure of choice was a Zoom Ultravibe
speed worm in green pumpkin with a ¼-ounce weight.
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