ESPN Tournaments

Final standings

GREENSBORO, N.C. — In the end, Fred Roumbanis proved that playing it safe with a 5-pound, 10-ounce lead and $250,000 on the line was only move to make. With the remaining field trying to play catch up, the California native employed some classic western finesse fishing and "that whole baby thing" on Lake Townsend to comfortably win the Bassmaster American.

"I knew if I just fished smart and fished methodically with a tiny worm, I'd get bites," said Roumbanis, who will welcome a son into the world within the next few days. "Who'd a thought that I'd win a Major and never catch a limit!"

The 28-year-old, who is currently in the process of moving from Auburn, Calif., to the Tulsa, Okla., area, relied on the big bites to put him in position to take home the big prize, but it was the calculated move after much thought the night before to just put fish (four fish for 7-4) in the boat that clinched his first victory on the Bassmaster tour.

His first fish of the day provided him with a week's worth of trepidation. Fishing a Margarita Mutilator (purple/brown) colored Roboworm in hole two along a ledge in eight feet of water, Roumbanis stuck a chunky three pounder just 15 minutes after blasting off .

"That was the only time I really panicked. I thought with the clouds rolling in maybe everybody was going to catch 'em today," Roumbanis said. "That was the only spot that I found with a distinctive ledge near shallow water. Once I saw that ledge I knew I'd find some pre-spawn fish."

The skies eventually cleared and while the rest of the field swung for the fences mainly on finicky sight fish, Roumbanis dinked and dunked his way to a 4-11 margin of victory.

"I grew up fishing smaller lakes like this, fishing from the bank. I knew if I just kept the trolling motor going I'd get bites," Roumbanis said.

Ironically, Roumbanis never caught a fish on the hole one, where his big fish came from Saturday and where he spied a 10-pounder. Fellow Californian Ish Monroe — first to choose the hole rotation based on 2007 Angler of the Year points — chose hole one first, though he indicated that he didn't do it to hole-jump his good friend.

"I had two bed fish on hole two that I really wanted to get some sun on before I tried to catch them," said Monroe, who ended up in third place with 11-6 for the two days on Townsend. "I've known Fred since I was 10 and he was around 7. I know how much this means to him."

"I didn't catch either one of them. One ran off of the bed as soon as I got there and never came back and the other one wasn't there."

Shaken as he talked with emcee Keith Alan on stage, Roumbanis fought back emotions in explaining what the victory meant to his new family and his quest to make it on the Elite Series. He even had to take a quick peek at his logo-emblazoned shirt to make certain he wasn't leaving any of them out as he gave a lengthy list of thank you's.

Ultimately, though, Roumbanis said it was the relatively stress-free attitude toward fishing that allowed him to focus on finding the fish executing the plan that brought home the victory.

"I had that whole baby thing going," he said. "That mojo."

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