Walmart FLW Tour Lake Champlain: David Dudley Wins Everything!

Angler of the Year claims second 2012 FLW Tour Major win at Lake Champlain

by By David A. Brown
FLW Press Release

Dudley Wins the Event.
Yesterday he won Angler of the Year!
(Photos: FLW)

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – David Dudley makes no bones about the fact that he went through a slump. But if anyone needed evidence to prove that he's fully recovered from that downturn, this would have been a good week to be watching.
Not only did the Castrol pro from Lynchburg, Va. win his second FLW Tour Major event of 2012 – this one on Lake Champlain, following an April victory on Beaver Lake – but he also clinched the Angler of the Year title. Notably, he's tied with Texas pro Clark Wendlant for the most AOY titles (3), but Dudley also won the points race in 2011, so this year's title gives him the distinction of becoming the only angler in FLW history to win consecutive years. All this, Dudley said, came after some serious soul searching and a firm commitment to recapturing the passion and precision that led to his first AOY crown in 2008.

Deep grass was the ticket but on Day 4
he had to move shallower.

A few years ago, when he found his performance slipping, Dudley did a couple of things to get himself back on track: First, he upgraded his equipment by fitting his boat with PowerPoles and investing in new electronics with all the bells and whistles. That's the hardware part. The other part, arguably the most significant, involved taking himself through an intensive refresher course on what it means to do this stuff for a living.
"In 2008, I got a pretty big head because I started looking at my stats and thinking, 'Wow, I'm pretty good,'" Dudley said. "Then, in 2009, I did okay, but I faltered. After 2009 and into 2010, I realized I wasn't doing something right. Typically, I never fish unless I have a tournament, but in 2010 I started bass fishing; going to lakes like Smith Mountain and Buggs Island. It's like a runner who runs 5 miles. You can't just get up and run a 5-minute mile without training yourself. I realized that so I started training myself again.

Walmart FLW Tour - FLW Tour Majors Day 2: David Dudley Controls Champlain

29.Jun.2012 by By David A. Brown
FLW Press Release

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The calm, cooperative Lake Champlain that treated anglers to downright fun fishing on day one morphed into angry, wind-whipped waters on day two. Nevertheless, day-one leader David Dudley hunkered down, made some key decisions and retained his top spot at the FLW Tour Major event.
The Castrol GTX pro from Lynchburg, Va. returned to the same general area that, a day earlier, produced the event's heaviest sack – 24 pounds – and found the fish a little less aggressive. Today, he caught a limit that went 18-15, pushed his total to 42-15 and expanded his lead to 3-13. When it came to location and specific baits, Dudley held his cards low, but he was forthcoming about how his day required careful attention to stealth and a strong mental effort.

David can smell the Angler of the Year title.
(Photos: FLW)

"Wind always makes things tougher just because of boat control and casting ability, but does the wind make them stop biting? I don't know," he said. "With (windy conditions) you make a lot of noise like the trolling motor (coming out of the water in the waves). Those bass can hear you from a long distance away.
"With the water so clear, it doesn't help things, but wind helps a lot of things in fishing. There are a lot of different factors and I can't weigh one heavier than the other."
On the mental game, Dudley noted that changes in weather like today's addition of 20-mph winds will test an angler's ability to interpret the cause-and-effect riddle and take the appropriate action.
"You have to do the best you can do and manage the best you can manage," he said. "That's what separates a lot of anglers from other anglers – how you handle wind, how you handle rain, how you handle decisions on the water. You have to be able to do that."