HOT SPRINGS -- No matter what else Sunny Hawk accomplishes in his life, he will always have the distinction of being the last co-angler champion in the Forrest Wood Cup.
Next year FLW will discontinue its tradition of having a separate nonboater, or co-angler, division on the FLW Tour. Hawk, 24, won the last one Friday on Lake Ouachita by catching a two-day total of eight bass weighing 19 pounds, 11 ounces to earn a check of $50,000 from Forrest L. Wood, the namesake of the Fishing League Worldwide's top championship.
"It's an honor," said Hawk, whose father Roy Hawk missed the cut Friday and finished 37th in the Forrest Wood Cup pro division. "When we made the championship, we were kind of jokingly saying we've got to make it to the Cup because it's on Ouachita. My dad and I have spent quite bit of time fishing here before."
Hawk, originally from Salt Lake City, said the scarcity of bass fishing water there makes it challenging for a youngster to immerse himself in bass fishing. He said he spent a lot of effort finding remote waters that few others fished, and that taught him to be versatile and open-minded.
That versatility came into play over the past two days when he determined that bass would hit a Lucky Strike Gun Fish jerkbait. It was so successful that his first-day weight of 13-6 would have been good enough for third place in the pro division.
"I threw it a little in practice, but I ended up feeling the Gun Fish," Hawk said. "I felt like it would catch the big fish. I knew it would be pretty good, but I didn't think it would give me such a big lead."
Hawk works for a company that builds clean rooms. He said he'll use part of his prize to pay off the medical bills of an aunt who is fighting Lyme Disease. He is also considering putting a down payment on a new bass boat so he can fish the Bassmaster Opens and fish the FLW Rayovac Series.
"I would like to go pro if I can," Hawk said. "That's my ultimate goal."
Sports on 08/22/2015