by Kyle Wood
FLW PRESS RELEASE
Finesse and pitching key for B.Lat's first Tour win. (Photo: FLW) |
Brian
Latimer has dreamed his entire life of being crowned an FLW Tour champion, and
after years of hard work and dedication, it has finally paid off. The Belton,
S.C., pro led coming into the final day of the FLW Tour event on Lake Seminole,
presented by Costa, and though it wasn’t easy, he sacked up 21 pounds, 3 ounces
to lock up the win with 80-15 overall. He edged out day-one leader Braxton
Setzer by 2 pounds, 1 ounce in one of the most emotional victories seen on the
FLW stage.
While his
weights may reflect a somewhat easy week on the water, the truth is far from
it. With just a handful of bites each day, “B. Lat” had to make them count, and
despite losing some fish in the last few days, he stayed focused and
determined, avoiding the dreaded spinout that many pros would experience.
“It
happened,” Latimer says of his win. “It really happened.”
To make it
happen, Latimer had to evolve over the week, adjusting to the fish as he went.
While flipping shallow grass did much of the heavy lifting, without his
cranking spot on day one to catch the majority of his 19-1 limit, who knows
what would have happened?
“I caught my
19 pounds on day one cranking in the [Flint River],” he says. “On days two and
three, I started in the river again hoping that would materialize again,
because that’s easy, and I was hoping to catch a limit quick, but it never
happened. So, today, I went straight down to my flat early so I could spend all
my time where I’ve been catching my biggest fish.
“It was
slow, just like it’s been every day, and the first bite I missed – just didn’t
grab it good. But I think the heartbreaker was my first two good bites I hooked
up with, I lost them. I was really down and out, and then I caught that big one
that was probably 7 pounds. Then, a few minutes later, I caught another one
that was pushing 4.”
After
getting those good bites, he boxed another decent keeper and hit a dry spell.
With three fish in the box around lunchtime, things were starting to look like
the tournament may not swing his way.
“I didn’t
get a bite for a very long time after that, so I decided to go do something
else and mentally reset,” admits Latimer. “I went sight-fishing, found
one right away, immediately cast over there, hooked up on the fish and it comes
off. I was like, ‘Oh, it’s a bed fish, it’ll swim back.’ The thing never came
back.”
“Looking
back, losing those two fish won the tournament for me,” Latimer adds. “Because
If I had caught those two, I would have continued sight-fishing, and that
wouldn’t have given me enough to win. So, I went back out to the flat and
caught two more 3-pounders.”
The juice for Latimer was a main-river flat in
the Flint River. It had clumps of hydrilla (and other vegetation), and those
clumps are where fat, sassy prespawn bass called home.
Latimer has
fished plenty of tournaments on Seminole over the years and has learned what
areas to focus on, but surprisingly, he inadvertently stumbled on what would
become the winning spot.
“I was going
to fish an island nearby, and I sat down short of it, looked down and saw some
good looking grass,” he says. “I flipped around it and caught a 4 1/2-pounder.
That was the only fish I caught from there in practice, but it looked good, and
I thought it could be something to do if I needed to.”
He started
the week catching his fish on a Bill Lewis
MR-6, but the real hero was a Texas-rigged Z-Man Palmetto
BugZ with a 1/2-ounce weight flipped on a 7-foot, 3-inch Favorite
Phantom rod. The water in his area was dirty for most of
the event, which is where the Palmetto BugZ shined. On day two, however, the
water had cleaned up and he switched over to a wacky rig on spinning tackle to
catch some key fish early.
Latimer’s
pro career hasn’t been the smoothest ride so far, but it never damped his drive
and determination – only fueled it. His rookie campaign in 2016 was his best
season to date with a 46th-place finish in points, but the following two years
found him in 63rd and 96th. This season started off tough on Sam Rayburn with a
finish near 100, though he quickly rebounded at stop No. 2 on Lake Toho, where
he placed 20th.
After his
win this week, Latimer sits 17th in Angler of the Year points standings and is
poised to make his first FLW Cup in four years as a pro.
“It’s so
weird, I’ll be completely honest with you,” he explains. “I had what looks like
a pretty bad year last year, but I’ve been catching fish for two years. For
some reason, I’d catch decent ones in practice and in the tournament, they
shrink. This year, the same thing is going on, but they’re the right size in
the tournament. Nothing feels different; practice is still drama-filled just
like it’s always been.
“You’d have
to fish with me or fish tournaments at a high level to understand what I’m
talking about here. Nothing’s really changed. I’m comfortable out there. I just
catch what I can catch and do what I can do.”
Latimer has paid his dues and put his time in
across the FLW ranks from the T-H Marine Bass Fishing League (BFL) circuit,
Costa FLW Series and, now, the Tour. His father, Jimmy, was a die-hard
tournament angler before Latimer was born, so he really had no choice but to
grow up around bass fishing. For lack of a better term, B. Lat was hooked from
an early age, and it consumed him to the point where he quit sports in high
school just so he could fish more.
Now, with
the trophy and check in hand, the long hours on the water, time spent away from
his family and money spent on fishing seem well worth it.
“Dude,
you’ve got to trust the process,” he says. “I’ve been telling myself that for
years. Just trust the process. Work hard, put your head down and don’t worry
about it. Work and work and it’ll come.”
Top 10 pros
1. Brian Latimer – Belton, S.C. – 80-15 (20) –
$102,500
2. Braxton
Setzer – Montgomery, Ala. – 78-14 (17) – $30,200
3. Sheldon
Collings – Grove, Okla. – 76-2 (20) – $25,100
4. Terry
Bolton – Benton, Ky. – 72-6 (20) – $20,000
5. Rob Kilby
– Hot Springs, Ark. – 62-14 (20) – $19,000
6. Scott
Martin – Clewiston, Fla. – 62-10 (20) – $18,000
7. Miles
Howe – San Juan Capistrano, Calif. – 59-6 (19) – $17,000
8. Bradford
Beavers- Summerville, S.C. – 55-8 (17) – $16,500
9. Joshua
Weaver – Macon, Ga. – 51-1 (16) – $15,000
10. Hunter
Freeman – Monroe, La. – 49-2 (15) – $14,000
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