Todd Auten top-finishing South Carolina pro.
It was a dramatic ending to four days of the Walmart FLW Major Tour on Lake Hartwell. Brent Ehrler, who had come in second place at this same event last year, was the winner on the first stop of the 2012 tour with a four-day total weight of 74.13 pounds.
Ehrler from Redlands, Calif., who had been in second place for the last two days weighed-in another 20 pound plus sack of fish, and the audience was waiting on leader Tom Monsoor to step on stage and weigh in.Wisconsin’s Monsoor, who was the tournament leader on day three and had weighed in the largest catch of the tournament with 21.10 pounds, came on the stage and weighed-in only one fish, 1.13 pounds.
Ehrler won $100,000 plus the Ranger Cup bonus of $25,000. He is also the leader in the Angler of the Year standings with 200 points.
This win is another notch on Ehrler’s list of winnings. He has won the Forrest Wood Cup title (2006), the FLW Tour event on Lake Ouachita (2010), the FLW Tour Table Rock Lake contest (2010), two FLW Series titles (Lake Havasu in 2009 and Lake Shasta in 2010), and the 2004 EverStart Series Championship. All told, Ehrler has won over $1.86 million in career earnings.
Micah Frazier, a 23-year old Georgia pro, had an exciting moment on stage when he weighed-in the heaviest bag of the tournament of 21.14 pounds. Frazier finished second with a total weight of 71.11 pounds, winning $35,000.
North Carolina’s Marty Stone was in third place on day three, and that is where he finished with 17.08 pounds on day four. Stone had a total weight of 68.05 pounds, and he won $30,000.
Lake Wylie’s Todd Auten, who did not even make it to the top 10 last year, weighed-in 15.08 pounds and finished up in fourth place. He had a four-day total of 66.01 pounds and won $25,000.
“I did really well here last year, but fell off on the third day,” Auten said. “So it’s just a pleasure being able to fish on day four.”
Anthony Gagliardi from Prosperity weighed in 12.07 pounds and finished up in fifth place with a total of 61 pounds. He won $17,000.
“I really feel like I made the most of what I had to work with. I really milked my spots for everything they had,” Gagliardi said.
Oregan’s Jay Yelas finished in sixth place with 61 pounds and won $17,000.
Dan Morehead of Kentucky, who had been the day one and two leader, finished up with 58.14 pounds and won $16,000.
Monsoor, who had been the leader going into day four and had such a disappointing final day, finished up in eight place with 56.06 pounds and won $15,000.
Tennessee’s Andy Morgan, who had started out in 46th place on day one, finished up in ninth place with 55.07 pounds and won $14,000.
Brett Hite of Arizona finished in tenth place with 54.09 pounds and won $13,000.
Kevin Gordon of Aiken won the co-angler division on Saturday. Gordon had 18.01 pounds for a three-day total of 43.03 pounds. Gordon had more than 5 pounds more than the second place finisher, and for his effort Gordon won $25,000.
The next Walmart Tour Major will be at Table Rock Lake in Branson, Mo., on March 29 – April 4.
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