Daily Limit: Strader won Open despite tragedy

Wesley Strader pulls in a fish Saturday during his victory in the Southern Open.

Wesley Strader won at Kissimmee, Fla., on Saturday despite a shooting at his home Tuesday night.

Strader was in Florida practicing for the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Southern Open #1 when police in his hometown of Spring City, Tenn., woke him with a call at 12:30 a.m. Wednesday. The woman who house sits for the Straders had been shot in their home.

“My wife has her own business, and this lady works for her. She is not just an employee, she’s a great friend, too,” Strader said. “She house sits for us when we’re gone. When she was there Tuesday night, someone she knew walked up on the porch and shot her. Shot her in the house from the outside.

“It was really bad. It’s a miracle that she’s still alive.”

Strader took his wife, Stephanie, to the airport Wednesday and she flew home. It’s an understatement to say Strader should have had difficulties concentrating on his fishing. But he somehow blocked it all out and caught 50 pounds, 5 ounces over three days to win and punch his ticket to the 2017 Bassmaster Classic.

“I’ve been a walking zombie,” he said. “I don’t even know how I caught a fish. I’ve never dealt with anything or experienced anything like this. I don’t think I slept for two days.

“My best friend asked, ‘How are you fishing?’ All my buddies are like, ‘I don’t know how you’re fishing.’”

Strader said he has been able to block everything out when he gets out on the water to fish. “I can just zone out and focus on what I’ve got to do,” he said.

Yet Strader said he’s still in shock. He said he’s friends with law enforcement in the tight-knit community of 1,900 about an hour west of Knoxville on Watts Bar Reservoir, and he couldn’t believe what they told him about the incident.

It could be in part why he got so choked up on the stage when Chris Bowes announced he had edged Cody Detweiler by 2 ounces. The emotions of a difficult week came out. Strader couldn’t say much and apologized several times for not being able to speak.

“I wouldn’t have been near as choked up as I was, but three of my cousins drove all night from Tennessee,” Strader said. “Nobody told me they were coming, but I heard them yell my name. I thought that voice sounded familiar then I saw them.”

Stephanie Strader posted thanks to everyone on his Facebook page, writing “The Lord has watched over us this week at such a terrible time. Thank you for all the kind words, encouragement and prayers this week.”

Their most recent post relates that the shooting victim has six daughters, four grandchildren and a long road to recovery. A GoFundMe page has been started to help ease her family’s  burden.

SO WHERE’S MY CLASSIC?

Strader ate a victory dinner with friends at the Brazilian steakhouse across from the Bass Pro Shops where he was crowned Open champ. That celebration didn’t last long as he then made a three-hour drive to Okeechobee to prepare for this week’s FLW event.

He has had a stellar 17-year career in FLW. Strader has won three events, earned $1.28 million and appeared in 14 Forrest Wood Cups. His Open win put him over $100,000 in earnings with B.A.S.S., where he’s fished sporadically since the first of his 18 events in 1996.

In 2002, he had two Top 10s and was runner-up in the Southern Opens, which gave him a spot in the 2003 Classic. He watched Mike Iaconelli win while he placed a disappointing 40th.

“I kind of got caught up in the whole show,” he said. “I went down and did my homework, put all my cards into Venice and kind of caught up in the show. I won’t be caught up in the show this time.”

The site of the 2017 Classic has not been announced yet, and Strader said if he could pick it would be …. Toho. “No, I’d rather it be Chickamauga. I don’t care where it’s at. Wherever it’s at, I’ll just go fishing.”

He will have to fish the remaining two Southern Opens to secure his second Classic berth, and he made sure before the season there wouldn’t be any conflicts with FLW events. He said he’s contemplated fishing more B.A.S.S. events. Last year he missed qualifying for the Elites through the Northern Opens by six points.

“If I made it, I was going to do both tours, but there’s a scheduling conflict this year … and I didn’t make it,” he said. “I may switch over, I may not. I like to keep my options open. There are great fishermen on both sides.”

CHASING ROJAS’ RECORD

Dean Rojas’ single-day weight record of 45-2 was mentioned on stage at the Open. Day 1 leader Brad Knight tied for big bass with a 9-6, and said he missed several more gargantuan fish.

“I had a terrible execution day because I had a chance at four or five other fish that were of that caliber or more,” Knight said.

Five fish of 9-6 would have set the record at 46-14, but no one even brought in a bag half as big as Rojas’ record. Leading up to the event, thoughts were the conditions could be similar to Jan. 17, 2001, when Rojas averaged 9 pounds with his five-fish limit.

Top 12 finalist Ish Monroe said there’s always chances of big fish in Florida and that the Open pros hit Toho a couple days too early.

“The fish today were moving up to spawn. Tomorrow, or the day after, this lake will be wide open,” Monroe said Saturday. “Don’t be surprised if you see 11-, 12-pounders caught.”

Fletcher Shryock proved Ish was right as he stuck around Kissimmee and caught a personal best 11-pounder (below) on Sunday.

KINDNESS OF ANGLERS

In A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois said, “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”

Change a couple letters to make it kindness of anglers. Two recent instances show that bass fishing folks have big hearts and generosity.

First, we have Mark Davis and his family rescuing six dogs. His twin sons, Hunter and Fisher, found an ailing momma dog trying to survive with five pups. The Davises took them home, doctored them and found them all new homes.

There were a great number of Facebook comments praising the kind gesture, like Marlene Chappell’s, “God has a special place for people like Mark and his family!”

Then last week before the Southern Open, Michigan’s Steve York was in need after wrecking his boat on the drive south. He told friends on Facebook, and stranger Lucas McDaniel, an angler from Indiana, stepped up and offered York his boat.

“It’s really amazing how the angling community comes together when someone is in need,” York said. “I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that generosity can include another guy’s boat.”

Here’s the full story.

RAMPING UP

Found a pretty cool video of how those ingenious engineers build a boat launch ramp. Unless there’s a serious drawdown on a lake, the concrete has to cure on land and then be pushed into the water.

With that in mind, the video of that process might be of interest, especially to those who use them. We have it here as Chad Porter videoed five bulldozers pushing a 30×50 foot or so slab of concrete into Kentucky Dam marina. He posted the video to his Facebook and it went viral pretty quickly, with 520,000 views at last look.

CULLING

  • Fans are saying their early favorites to win the 2016 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro are Oklahoma pro Edwin Evers and Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Aaron Martens. Tyler Wade polled Twitter fans and Bassmaster Fantasy Fishing Facebook followers. It’s not the final say as there will be more polls. Go to the B.A.S.S. Twitter and BFF Facebook page to vote.
  • Edwin Evers gives us his take on the issues of having the Classic so close to home and being among the favorites. He writes of his mistakes in 2013 and how he will try to remedy them this year in Classic lessons learned.
  • Bass anglers utilize so many tools, but one of the most critical to performance is the rod. You could certainly learn something as Kevin VanDam gives his rundown in The long and short of rod uses.