Wooley wins Lake Chickamauga bass tourney with 92 pounds for four days

Michael Wooley, of Collierville, Tenn., pulls his big fish, a 7-pounds, 3-ounce largemouth bass from his live well in the Walmart parking lot in Dayton on Saturday, June 13, 2015.
Michael Wooley, of Collierville, Tenn., pulls his big fish, a 7-pounds, 3-ounce largemouth bass from his live well in the Walmart parking lot in Dayton on Saturday, June 13, 2015.

DAYTON, Tenn. - The difference between first and second place in the Walmart FLW Tour at Lake Chickamauga presented by Igloo Coolers was 1 pound, 7 ounces of bass.

And $95,846.

And possibly the career of the winner, Michael Wooley of Collierville, Tenn. He earned $125,000 for his four-day haul of 92 pounds, 4 ounces, completed Sunday with five bass totaling 19-6. That held off Stetson Blaylock's 90-13 and David Dudley's 85-9, good for $29,154 and $24,288.

Wooley, who led the last three days out of Dayton Boat Dock, revealed that he didn't know before a little after 5 p.m. - when his bag of fish completed the final weigh-in - if he would be able to stay on Fishing League Worldwide's top tour next year. That was despite his eighth-place finish in the Forrest Wood Cup championship tournament last year - his rookie season - and despite being the subject of FLW's Bass Fishing magazine's most recent "angler profile."

"Financially I wasn't going to be able (to do this next year)," Wooley said in the parking lot of the Dayton Wal-Mart store. "I wasn't having the greatest season.

"This place is always going to be special. This is the biggest tournament of my life, and it was on the Tennessee River. The Tennessee River is in my heart. I grew up fishing Pickwick and Kentucky lakes."

His winning total exceeded Bryan Thrift's first-place amount in the tour's last event - in mid-May on Lake Eufaula - by 22-plus pounds.

Blaylock, from Benton, Ark., had the biggest haul for the second day in a row and closed a gap of more than six pounds to under two with his 24-1 bag that included a 9-9 monster he caught in a spot he hadn't fished previously but on a "big magnum spoon" that had been successful throughout the tournament.

"It's just a really good lake," Blaylock said, noting that his bigger catches came in the afternoons.

Whereas he did a lot of moving around and Wooley is an off-shore ledge specialist who caught most of his Chickamauga fish - at least until Sunday - on one bar loaded with mussels, three-time tour angler of the year and all-time top money winner Dudley got all 20 of his tournament keepers "in two feet of water or less." He had to work his big bass Sunday, an 8-5 prize, around a bunch of posts and ladders on a dock to get it in the boat.

His biggie came about 10:30 in the morning and was just his second keeper of the final day. Obviously it made the Virginian feel a lot better about his chances to pressure Wooley, although ultimately he rose only from fourth to third.

North Carolinian Thrift had surged from 19th to third in Saturday's semifinal round but weighed only three fish Sunday and wound up ninth with 68-1, collecting $14,554. But he left town in first place in season points, moving up a notch with 945.

Spring City's Wesley Strader, who didn't make the semifinals, fell from first to fourth going into the tour's final regular-season stop in two weeks on the Potomac River. He has 895 points, three ahead of Darrell Davis of Dover, Fla., who was fourth at Chickamauga with $19,421 for 77-12.

Davis, who caught the first and last fish of the last day, said he caught keepers throughout the event "in 25 feet of water to two feet."

Dayton's own Michael Neal brought in only two fish Sunday but received $13,581 for 10th place and moved up 15 spots in the standings to 38th. Also from Dayton, 2013 and 2014 angler of the year Andy Morgan dropped from ninth to 17th in the season points total.

Florida residents John Cox and Scott Martin, who finished 12th and 15th on Chickamauga, are second and third with 936 and 914 points.

Long-timer Larry Nixon of Bee Branch, Ark., was fifth Sunday with 72-8 and got $18,448, while Terry Bolton of Paducah, Ky., totaled 71-12 and earned $17,474. Richard Peek of Centre, Ala., also had over 70 pounds (by three ounces) and got $16,501 for seventh place. First-day leader Billy McDonald of Greenwood, Ind., finished eighth at 68-11 and got $15,528.

"The Lord blessed me this week," said McDonald, whose 29-12 bag Thursday was the biggest one-day haul of the week. "I had a day of a lifetime and had a clean week. I didn't lose any fish. I just couldn't get any bites today.

"You people of Dayton, you guys run a first-class tournament," he added.

And all the fish taken out of the lake went right back in. As weigh master Chris Jones pointed out, FLW has a 98.9 percent live-release ratio.

"This lake is awesome. I had an unbelievable week," winner Wooley said, admitting anxiety when his good spot for the first three mornings produced only two fish early Sunday.

"I thought I had lost the tournament. I had to scramble Luckily I was able to pick off a few and got a couple of good bites."

Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.

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