If Scott Canterbury ultimately wins the Toyota Angler of the Year title, he will look back upon his last hour on Lake Tenkiller yesterday as crucial. He was in the last flight, so he had a 4 p.m. check in time. At 3 p.m., while the first flight was checking in, Canterbury had four bass that “probably weighed less than four pounds.”
Canterbury culled those four small bass with five that weighed 8 pounds, 9 ounces, during the final hour. It gave him a two-day total of 17-8 and, most importantly, kept him above the top 35 cut-line, in a tie for 28th place.
“I’m just trying to figure out how to catch a bass,” said Canterbury, who came into this event with 19-point AOY lead over second place Drew Cook. “It’s so hard out there. (Friday) was such a grind.”
Of that last hour when he culled up to 8-9, Canterbury said, “It was really important and unbelievable how I was blessed today.”
If he had weighed-in four pounds, he would have finished somewhere between 45th and 50th in this tournament. As it stands now, Canterbury lives to fight another day. AOY points aren’t earned until an angler’s final place in the standings is determined. And Canterbury has at least one more day to earn some critical AOY points.
In a tournament where less than two pounds separates the top six places, and Frank Talley moved from 42nd to 9th with a 14-pound, 8-ounce bag yesterday, anything is possible today.