Spokane fisherman feels like half-million

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – For Spokane fisherman Luke Clausen, the price of bass is around $33,000 per pound.

Clausen, 26, won $500,000 Saturday by completing a four-day sweep of the $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship on Logan Martin Lake.

Clausen, a rookie on the tour, led the four-day tournament from start to finish. His final-day catch of five fish totaling 14 pounds, 10 ounces, defeated Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla., by six ounces.

“This week things just came together for me,” said Clausen in a tour press release. He said he caught many of his bass on a prototype finesse worm. “I had an awesome week; everything was just phenomenal. Coming down here, I never thought I’d win. I was scared today. I was so stressed out this morning that I couldn’t even cast. I was a mess.”

Martin’s second-place prize was $50,000.

Clausen entered as the No. 26 seed but had the magic touch each day. He caught five fish totaling 14 pounds, 4 ounces on Wednesday, and was just one ounce short of that total during Friday’s semifinals. His total weight for the four days was 55 pounds.

The tricky part for Clausen was that totals from the first three days didn’t advance to the finals. A dozen fishermen competed Saturday in front of a capacity crowd of 13,000 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex.

Clausen, who had never fished Logan Martin Lake, was introduced to bass fishing by his father.

“I’ve fished all my life and really worked hard at it,” he said. “It’s great to fish against company like this.”

Clausen also won last year’s Everstart Western at Clearlake, Calif., but that non-FLW Tour event was worth just $7,500. His best previous finish on the Tour was a 20th-place effort at the Wal-Mart Open on Beaver Lake.

The Wal-Mart Championship event began with 50 competitors, fishing head-to-head in a bracket-style event. After Thursday’s fishing, the field was cut to 24.

Clausen defeated second-seeded Greg Hackney by almost five pounds during Friday’s round. Clausen referred to Hackney as “one of his heroes.”

Clausen lives in Spokane but spends nine months of the year on the road.

“I can’t believe it,” he said. “I don’t even know what I’ll do with the money. I’ll probably put it in the bank and look at the balance every day, every hour.”