Finishing just five ounces off the lead was second place pro Anthony Gagliardi of Prosperity, S.C. Gagliardi caught 18-3 on day four and ended with 73-7.
With the final round field greatly reducing the amount of competition, Gagliardi could finally spend all of his time fishing, rather than guarding his primary spot. Keying on a grass flat of a couple hundred square yards, Gagliardi quickly dialed in a sweet spot that delivered 19-12 and 19-15 the first two days. He only weighed 15-9 on day three, but he knew the spot would replenish and he’d be fine – if he could fish without the constant companionship of other competitors looking for the chance to ease into the area.
“Most of my fish that I weighed this week came off one spot,” Gagliardi said. “My biggest fish, the 4-pounder, came off another place I hadn’t fished before, but I knew going into today, if I did win the tournament, I’d win it off that one spot.
“The first three days, I had to guard against someone else coming in there so I had to stay on that spota lot longer than I normally would have because I knew if I left that someone would come in there. That changed the way I fished the spot – I couldn’t move around on it the way I wanted to. I couldn’t let it rest for 20 minutes and then come back. That’s usually how you end up catching a big fish.
“Today, I could leave it and come back to it and I caught a couple of fish by doing that. I think I made the right decisions this week and gave myself every opportunity to win it.”
Gagliardi caught most of his fish by slow dragging tubes and other soft plastics across the bottom. He caught a few, including his largest fish of day four, by burning a crankbait along the edges of the flat. Full Story
With the final round field greatly reducing the amount of competition, Gagliardi could finally spend all of his time fishing, rather than guarding his primary spot. Keying on a grass flat of a couple hundred square yards, Gagliardi quickly dialed in a sweet spot that delivered 19-12 and 19-15 the first two days. He only weighed 15-9 on day three, but he knew the spot would replenish and he’d be fine – if he could fish without the constant companionship of other competitors looking for the chance to ease into the area.“Most of my fish that I weighed this week came off one spot,” Gagliardi said. “My biggest fish, the 4-pounder, came off another place I hadn’t fished before, but I knew going into today, if I did win the tournament, I’d win it off that one spot.
“The first three days, I had to guard against someone else coming in there so I had to stay on that spota lot longer than I normally would have because I knew if I left that someone would come in there. That changed the way I fished the spot – I couldn’t move around on it the way I wanted to. I couldn’t let it rest for 20 minutes and then come back. That’s usually how you end up catching a big fish.
“Today, I could leave it and come back to it and I caught a couple of fish by doing that. I think I made the right decisions this week and gave myself every opportunity to win it.”
Gagliardi caught most of his fish by slow dragging tubes and other soft plastics across the bottom. He caught a few, including his largest fish of day four, by burning a crankbait along the edges of the flat. Full Story