John Cox maintains lead at Forrest Wood Cup
Aug 7th, 2016 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Aug 7th, 2016 at 12:00 AM
Pro angler John Cox of DeBary, Florida, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 11 pounds even Saturday to hold his lead after Day Three of the Forrest Wood Cup presented by Walmart, on Wheeler Lake in Huntsville, Alabama. Cox will bring a slim 9-ounce lead over second-place angler Todd Auten of Lake Wylie, South Carolina, into championship Sunday, which will feature the final 10 pros casting for the $300,000 top cash prize.
“I headed south to the same creek arm that I’ve been hitting for the past two days,” said Cox, whose previous best showing at a Forrest Wood Cup was a 16th place finish in 2013. “I wanted to change things up at first, but I decided to return. So many anglers have won tournaments like this in one spot. For me, that is the spot.
“There’s a ton of laydowns and a little bit of duckweed in there,” Cox continued. “The duckweed moved around a bit in the current. It was a grind today. I only caught seven keepers – all before noon.”
Cox said he used a few different lures to entice his limit, including a frog, a buzzbait and a topwater.
“In the afternoon, I headed to another arm farther north that had bigger fish – I could see them,” said Cox. “I tried flipping and fishing shadier banks to really mix it up, but the water was too dirty. It just didn’t feel right, so I brought in what I had.
“Tomorrow I’m going to keep my head down and pray that I can get 12 or 13 pounds,” said Cox. “I think that’s what it will take for me to win.”
The top 10 pros that will continue to championship Sunday on Wheeler Lake are:
1st: John Cox, DeBary, Fla., 15 bass, 43-5
2nd: Todd Auten, Lake Wylie, S.C., 14 bass, 42-12
3rd: Michael Neal, Dayton, Tenn., 15 bass, 37-14
4th: Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 15 bass, 37-13
5th: Jacob Wheeler, Indianapolis, Ind., 15 bass, 37-3
6th: Walmart pro Mark Rose, West Memphis, Ark., 15 bass, 36-9
7th: Brandon Cobb, Greenwood, S.C., 15 bass, 35-9
8th: Joseph Webster, Fulton, Miss., 15 bass, 34-13
9th: Chris Johnston, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, 15 bass, 34-3
10th: Jeremy Lawyer, Sarcoxie, Mo., 14 bass, 32-15
Finishing 11th: through 20th are:
11th: Yamamoto Baits pro Jimmy Reese, Witter Springs Calif., 15 bass, 32-7, $15,000
12th: Scott Martin, Clewiston, Fla., 15 bass, 32-3, $15,000
13th: Cody Meyer, Auburn, Calif., 15 bass, 32-2, $15,000
14th: Darrel Robertson, Jay, Okla., 13 bass, 30-0, $15,000
15th: David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., 15 bass, 29-14, $15,000
16th: Shane LeHew, Mooresville, N.C., 15 bass, 29-13, $15,000
17th: J.T. Kenney, Palm Bay, Fla., 11 bass, 29-5, $15,000
18th: Bill Chapman, Salt Rock, W. Va., 15 bass, 29-3, $15,000
19th: Brandon McMillan, Clewiston, Fla., 13 bass, 25-12, $15,000
20th: Ray Hanselman, Del Rio, Texas, 13 bass, 24-0 $15,000
Final results for the remaining field can be found at FLWFishing.com.