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BASS Reporter's Notebook: With A Little Help from Her Friends, Angie Douthit Makes it to This Week's Historic WBT Championship in Arkansas

Angie Douthit, a Women's Bassmaster Tour presented by Academy Sports & Outdoors pro from Clewiston, Fla., likely would not be one of the 20 pros in this week's Women's Bassmaster Tour Championship presented by Academy Sports & Outdoors in Hot Springs, Ark., if not for an unusual sponsor.

"Actually, it's a person I've never met," Douthit said of her good Samaritan. "His name is Doug Chapman, and he's from Odessa, Texas. He's a friend of Debra Hengst, who fishes the WBT trail too. She made a phone call to Doug to see if he'd help me out (with expenses) before the Old Hickory event in June. He did, and then he helped me at Clarks Hill and with the Championship.

"He did it because he has a very good job, but can't get off to fish much, and he wanted to support me because I'm so enthusiastic about bass fishing. He's just glad to help out."

Two friends have opened their homes to Douthit, who earned her first Championship berth by finishing in seventh place in the Toyota Tundra WBT Angler of the Year points race.

Fellow WBT pro Sharon Rushton invited Douthit to her Missouri home so Douthit wouldn't have to travel back to Florida between the Oct. 12 cutoff, after which competition waters are off-limits, and the start of the championship. Then Bobby and Sylvia Murray invited Douthit and her husband, Chet, to stay at their Hot Springs home during the event. Bobby Murray holds the title to the first Bassmaster Classic, in 1971, and will attend the WBT Championship. More on Murray's presence at the WBT Championship can be found below.

Douthit likes her chances to win the Oct. 23-25 championship on Lake Hamilton. She said during practice she found a largemouth bite, a key to a bigger limit on Lake Hamilton, known for its spotted bass.

"I caught some nice fish in practice," she said. "They were good-sized keepers. I practiced up until the cutoff, as most of us did, but now temperatures are getting colder in the evenings, and that's going to change the pattern that worked before the cutoff. I practiced for both patterns.

"I feel really good about my chances."

Along with determing the 2008 WBT season champion, the Arkansas tournament will result in the naming of the first woman in history to qualify for a Bassmaster Classic. The pro who is named the Toyota Tundra WBT Angler of the Year will also score the Classic berth.

The Toyota Tundra WBT Angler of the Year title is given to the pro who accumulates the most points through the five-event season. Kim Bain of Alabaster, Ala., is the points leader going into the championship.

The WBT AOY will win a 2009 Toyota Tundra in addition to the ticket to the 2009 Bassmaster Classic, Feb. 20-22 on the Red River out of Shreveport-Bossier City, La.

BOBBY MURRAY TO PRESENT WBT AOY TROPHY.

The winner of the first Bassmaster Classic is scheduled to be on hand for the historic moment when the first woman qualifies for a Classic.

The 1971 Classic champ, Bobby Murray, will present the trophy Oct. 25 to the 2008 Toyota Tundra Women's Bassmaster Tour Angler of the Year. The AOY will qualify for the 2009 Bassmaster Classic, Feb. 20-22 on the Red River out of Shreveport-Bossier City, La., becoming the first female Classic contender.

Murray, who retired from pro fishing in 1981 and now works for PRADCO Outdoor Brands, plans to bring his original Classic trophy won at the Lake Mead, Nev., inaugural event to Arkansas to display at the WBT event in Hot Springs, where he lives.

"I'm honored to pass out the first trophy," Murray said of his duties at the WBT event. "When you're the first at anything, it tends to stay with you. Once they pass this milestone, sooner or later a woman will win the Classic. This is not a competition of physical strength, this is about who can compete with the fish."

Kim Bain of Alabaster, Ala., is the points leader going into the WBT Championship presented by Academy Sports & Outdoors. Just 14 points behind her is Cindy Hill of Smyrna, Tenn. Juanita Robinson of Highlands, Texas, is on their heels, 35 points out of first.

CLUNN STILL ON FOR TEXOMA

Rick Clunn of Ava., Mo., qualified for his 32nd Bassmaster Classic on Saturday through the back door, but the Bassmaster Elite Series pro still wants to walk through the front door, which for him is next week's Bassmaster Central Open at Lake Texoma in Denison, Texas, set for Oct. 30  Nov. 1.

"I've still got a shot based on my own performance at the last Open on Lake Texoma," he said. "That's the way I'd prefer to make it. I'm still going to Texoma."

Clunn is only 19 points out of third place in the Central Open standings. The top three points finishers will earn berths to the 2009 Classic, Feb. 20-22 on the Red River out of Shreveport-Bossier City, La.

This past Saturday, Elite pro Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Fla., unlocked the back door to the Classic for Clunn when Lane double-qualified through the Bassmaster Southern Open circuit. Because Lane will now take his Classic spot through the Opens division, Clunn has been added to the Classic roster as the 38th qualifier through the Elite Series' Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year points system.

While qualifying for the Classic on his own is the primary reason he'll compete at Texoma, Clunn has two more incentives.

"I'll do everything I can to move the guy behind me up," Clunn said.

That guy behind him would be fellow Elite pro Rick Morris of Virginia Beach, Va., who finished 39th in the 2008 AOY points.

The third reason Clunn wants to compete at Texoma is to settle an old score — with himself.

"The last tournament I fished at Texoma I would have won, but I had a mental lapse and came in 14 minutes late," Clunn said, recalling the 1993 Bassmaster Invitational event. "I had the biggest bag of the tournament, and lost (credit for) 14 pounds. We'd just gone from three to 10 flights, and I put the wrong check-in time in my head. I sat within sight of the weigh-in for four hours trying to help my partner catch fish.

"You should never allow a controlled variable to beat you, and I did, and it will haunt me the rest of my career. Maybe if I go there and win this one, it won't haunt me quite as badly."

Clunn finished 48th at that 1993 Texoma event. He was 9 pounds, 11 ounces out of first.

The 2008 Texoma Open will receive extensive coverage on Bassmaster.com through all three days.

21-YEAR-OLD 'AWESTRUCK' BY ELITE SERIES OPTION.

Luke Gritter, 21, of Kalamazoo, Mich., was dumbfounded when he qualified Saturday for the 2009 Bassmaster Elite Series through the Bassmaster Southern Open circuit.

"I left on Saturday because I didn't think I had a chance," said Gritter, who had missed the cut to compete during the final day at Alabama's Lake Guntersville. "I found out from a friend, Jonathon VanDam, on my way home. He looked it up on his cell, and called me and told me I had made it.

"Being my first year, I was awestruck. I couldn't even talk when I found out. Competing in the Elite Series has always been a dream of mine. I was greatly disappointed I wasn't there to accept the invitation."

VanDam and Gritter, both from Kalamazoo, have been traveling to and from the Opens together after meeting while competing in local Michigan tournaments a few years ago. Jonathon is the nephew of Elite Series pro Kevin VanDam, the 2008 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year and two-time Bassmaster Classic winner.

Gritter fished the Open circuit as a co-angler last year, then signed up on the pro side for the 2008 season. His final points total put him in 10th place, making him the last angler to make the Elite Series through the Southern Opens. He had started the Guntersville event in 11th place in points, but when he fell below the cutline Saturday, he decided to head home.

"I have decided I'm going to do it if I can come up with the money, that's the only issue," he said. "I'm ready, I've prepared myself for all the obstacles ahead of me. I believe I can go out there and compete."

Gritter works as a carpenter for his family's construction company, meaning he has a job waiting for him on the days he's not competing. Gritter Builders is one of his two sponsors. He said his other is Kaenon Polarized, which manufactures sunglasses.

It was suggested to Gritter that a good place to start for advice would be Kevin VanDam.

"I'm hoping so. I have met him, but I've never really sat down and talked to him," Gritter said.

HERREN SAYS YES.

"I'm fishin'." — Matt Herren of Clay-Trussville, Ala., when asked if he'll take his option to join the 2009 Bassmaster Elite Series. Herren earned the Elite qualification Saturday through the Bassmaster Southern Open circuit.

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