Odenville’s Scott Canterbury continues to enjoy success on the FLW Tour as he finished third in the $1.5 million Wal-Mart FLW Tour National Guard Open on Lake Norman, North Carolina. The 31-year-old Canterbury won the big bass award on day one of the tournament and was the leader of the tournament after the first day. He is in first place for Rookie of the Year honors. Also on day one, he had the biggest bag of the tournament, which was five bass weighing in at 18 pounds, 5 ounces.Sean Hoernke of Magnolia, Texas, pocketed $150,000 Sunday in the National Guard Open on Lake Norman with a final-round, two-day total of 10 bass weighing 27 pounds. He earned the hard-fought victory with over four pounds to spare over runner-up BP pro Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn., who earned $50,000 with 10 bass weighing 22-09.
Canterbury finished third with 10 bass, weighing 22 pounds, 05 ounces to earn $40,000.
On April 6, Canterbury finished second at the FLW Tour stop on Lewis Smith Lake in Birmingham. It was the second FLW Tour event of his career.
Competitors had no problem catching five-bass limits on opening day. In fact, of the 200 pros competing, 185 caught limits. The key was hooking a big fish or two during a time when Lake Norman’s bass are in various stages of the spawn. Canterbury’s kicker fish weighed in at 5 pounds, 1 ounce – good enough to win the day’s Snickers Big Bass award of $1,000 in the Pro Division.
“My four biggest fish came off beds,” Canterbury said. “I don’t have any more located, but I can catch a limit. This is an awesome lake. I caught 20 to 30 keepers a day in practice, so my goal is to catch 8 or 10 pounds tomorrow and make the cut. After that, it will be just another day of fishing.”
Prior to moving up to the FLW Tour, Canterbury was a dominant angler in the Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, earning 12 Top Ten finishes in five years. All but one of those finishes, however, came on Alabama lakes. Fishing the FLW Tour is a different scenario altogether. Was he expecting to have such immediate success at the sport’s highest level?
“I was hoping to make a few checks this season, but to do as well as I’ve done, as early as I have, I wasn’t expecting it. I was trying for it, but not expecting it,” Canterbury said. “It feels awesome.”
