Lake Mead tournament proves fishing can net big money

If your sweetheart rolls her eyes and gives you that "yeah, right" look when you tell her there's money to be made with a fishing rod, just tell her about the final weigh-in of the Wal-Mart FLW Series National Guard Western Division tournament last weekend at Lake Mead.

If you do that, she might push you out the door on weekends and demand that you buy a new bass boat.

Of course, if you bought a new boat, you also would need to buy a handful of new bass rods with matching reels and an assortment of fishing tackle. This would require great sacrifice, but someone has to do it.

After spending the first three days of the tournament fishing in the shadow of fellow pro Sean Minderman, Roy Hawk of Salt Lake City swooped in on the final day and took the tournament right out from under Minderman and eight other anglers. He pulled off the feat with a final-day stringer of 11 pounds, 11 ounces, which brought his four-day total to 41 pounds, 3 ounces.

For his efforts, Hawk took home $100,000. Had he owned a Ranger boat, he could have won an additional $25,000.

"It's an awesome, awesome feeling," Hawk said.

Despite windy conditions Minderman, of Spokane, Wash., started the tournament with a first-day stringer of five bass weighing in at 13 pounds, 9 ounces. That gave him a lead he held onto for days two and three, but with a four-day total of 38 pounds, 8 ounces, he fell to third place behind Hawk and Jason Hickey of Weiser, Idaho.

Hickey received a check for nearly $31,000 and Minderman a check for almost $25,000. Boulder City resident Tim Klinger finished seventh and made $11,000.

"I targeted bigger fish this week and ended up sacrificing bites,'' Hawk said. ''In the past, on Lake Mead, it's come back to bite me, but today I brought in five."

Hawk told the crowd at Saturday's weigh-in that he caught most of his fish on a chartreuse Lucky Craft shad crankbait. When the wind laid down and the sun came out, he switched to ox blood Roboworm. Other members of the tournament's top 10 said they had fished rubber worms or a tube bait on a drop shot rig and 6- to 8-pound line.

Klinger used a TKI spinner bait to locate fish, then switched to a drop shot to catch them. All the anglers said they were fishing in relatively shallow water.

The day's catch was a mixed bag of largemouth and smallmouth bass.

"We like coming to Las Vegas and fishing Lake Mead," said Charlie Evans, president and chief executive officer for FLW Outdoors, the tournament organizer. "We've been fishing Lake Mead for a lot of years. It's had its ups and downs over the years. Right now it's not so great. ... There are plenty of fish to catch, but the catch weights are down because there isn't enough food for all of the fish that are in the lake."

The final weigh-in was taped for broadcast and will air July 6 on the Fox Sports Network (Cable 49).

Anglers fishing the FLW Series are vying for a spot in the 2009 Forest Wood Cup, where $2 million will be up for grabs, with the winning pro netting $1 million

The next stop for the Western Division series will be Sept. 17 to 20 on the Columbia River in Richland, Wash.

Perhaps it's time for that new bass boat.

* SADDLE COVE -- Because of construction associated with the installation of a third deep-water intake pipe by the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the National Park Service has temporarily closed Saddle Cove Road. The closure is expected to last until December 2012.

Saddle Cove Road provides access to fishing areas known as B-4 and B-5.

Doug Nielsen is an award-winning freelance writer and a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His "In the Outdoors" column is published Thursday. He can be reached at doug@takinitoutside.com.