Ehrler Wins Big on Table Rock

Photo by Rob Newell for FLWOutdoors.com (see their great coverage of the event here).

Brent Ehrler put up one of the most impressive wins in FLW Tour history today on Table Rock Lake. Not only was his 69-11 amazing for four days on a very tough fishery in very tough conditions, but the ease in which he did it was remarkable. Not to mention he just drove back from the west coast where he notched a win out there.   So it’s the first week of March and Mr. Ehrler has already made nearly $175,000 for the year. Look for an in-depth interview with Brent later this week on what makes him tick and why his game has elevated so much in recent years.

Think about this for a second. Ehrler beat second place by 13 pounds, 2 ounces. Which Ron Shuffield had an amazing tournament in his own right. Yet, Ehrler beat fifth place finisher Greg Pugh, by 31 pounds. Simply amazing.

Ehrler of Redlands, Calif., caught a five-bass limit weighing 16 pounds,

13

ounces Saturday to win $127,500 at the FLW Tour event presented by

Cabela’s on Table

Rock Lake with a four-day catch of 20-bass weighing 69-1

The

catch gave him the win by a solid 13-pound,

2-ounce margin over Ron Shuffield of Bismarck, Ark., who caught a total

of five

bass weighing 17-10 and earned $40,000. For the tournament, Shuffield

caught 18

bass for a total weight of 56-9.

“I found a

magical spot,†said Ehrler, who is on fire with back-to-back wins having

won at

Lake Shasta in January. “I was in a creek on the White River and it was a

perfect pre-spawn area. It was the first creek bend the fish came to and

the

fish seemed to be suspended there just above the trees. I was keeping my

boat

in 30-35 feet of water and then casting to about 12-15 feet.

“I

caught the majority of

my fish using a Yamamoto Curly Tail Grub. I was experimenting a little

bit with

Lucky Craft DD jerkbaits, which is what I caught my 6-pounder on

Thursday

with, but the majority came using the grub.â€

Colder

than normal water

temperatures made the fish do strange things and hide in strange

locations

making one of the best fishing lakes in the country an even bigger

challenge

for some of the best anglers. Ehrler was the only angler at Table Rock

to catch

a limit each day.

Ehrler

opened the tournament

in third place Wednesday with five bass weighing 16-6 while fishing in

the

White River. On Thursday, he added another five bass weighing 22-2 using a

Lucky

Craft DD 100 jerkbait to catch his 6-pounder to capture the lead. He

then

caught five bass weighing 14-6 on Friday to make the crucial top-5 cut

in first

place. On Saturday he sealed his victory using the same 5-inch Yamamoto

grubs he used

throughout the tournament.

The

remaining top-five pros finished the

tournament in:

3rd:        

Mike Wurm, Hot Springs,

Ark., 16 bass, 46-6, $30,000

4th:        

Bryan Thrift,

Shelby, N.C., 15 bass, 44-1, $20,000

5th:        

Greg Pugh,

Cullman, Ala., 13 bass, 38-8, $18,000