Arkansans eye spot on ‘A’ list

One of bass fishing’s premier championships will take place today through Sunday on Lake Lanier near Atlanta as anglers compete for $500,000 in the Forrest Wood Cup.

The Forrest Wood Cup is the championship event of the FLW Tour and will feature 46 of the FLW Tour’s top professional anglers and 46 of its top co-anglers.

Representing Arkansas in the pro division will be Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ron Shuffield of Bismarck and Scott Suggs of Bryant. Suggs won the 2007 Forrest Wood Cup at Lake Ouachita, which also earned him the distinction of being the first angler to win $1 million in a bass tournament. Arkansans in the co-angler division are Frank Divis Sr., of Fayetteville and Spencer Shuffield of Bismarck. Spencer Shuffield is Ron Shuffield’s son.

Ron Shuffield fished the Bassmaster Tour for 19 years before moving to the FLW Tour in 2006. Coincidentally, his first Bassmaster tournament was on Lake Lanier in December 1985.

In 1992, BASS founder Ray Scott predicted that Shuffield would become the dominant angler of his generation. He has been very good, but he has never won a championship. He came close to winning the Bassmaster Classic a few times, but he has never made a serious threat to win the Forrest Wood Cup.

He’s 56 now, and he said it weighs on him more and more with each passing year.

“It would be a major milestone in my career,” Shuffield said. “I’ve won a lot of tournaments, and I’ve had a great career, but I’ve never won a championship. That’s been a thorn in my side.

“I’m riding real low on everyone’s radar for this tournament, and I should be. I’m not comfortable with the techniques I have to use to win here.”

Lake Lanier doesn’t play to Shuffield’s strengths. He likes fishing for largemouth bass in shallow water. Lake Lanier is famous for its big spotted bass, which require finesse-style tactics in deep water. Shuffield said he is going to have to do some of that to put himself in position to win, but he has devoted his practice time looking for more places to do what he does best.

“I’ve stayed away from places where I thought I have the best chances to win,” Shuffield said. “There’s not enough largemouth to go around to put together a consistent pattern, so I’m just looking for better places.”

Blaylock turned pro four years ago after dominating the co- angler division. He also has done well, but he is no longer the guy everybody talks about. Winning this tournament would put him back on the circuit’s “A” list.

“It would be unbelievable and an honor to win fishing against the caliber of fishermen that are in this tournament,” Blaylock said. “Nobody’s looking at me. Nobody’s talking about me, so winning would be huge in getting the publicity that you need.

“The money would be nice, but I want that cup in my hands. I want to strap it in the seat beside me and drive around with it for a month.”

Like Shuffield, Blaylock thrives off power fishing, but he said he is also comfortable fishing offshore, so Lanier is a good fit for him. He said he is going to fish offshore the entire tournament. It’s not the tactic that’s so important, he added, but the discipline to stay committed to a strategy long enough to let it be successful.

“You have to be versatile,” he said, “but you also have to have it in mind to know what to do to win tournament, and then do it instead of running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to make something work.”

Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla., won the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup at Lake Ouachita, but David Dudley of Lynchburg, Va., is this year’s favorite. He won the 2003 Forrest Wood Cup on Virginia’s James River, but he also won the Beaver Lake Open in April en route to earning his third FLW Angler of the Year title, and his second consecutive.

He said it will take about 12 pounds, 8 ounces daily to win, which equals five spotted bass weighing 28 each. However, four big spotted bass and one lunker largemouth could boost a daily standard to about 15 pounds.

Shuffield said that plays to the strengths of multispecialists like Brent Ehler, Cody Meyer and Luke Clausen.