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Tom Monsoor Swims Into 2nd on Atchafalaya
By Russ Bassdozer
Photos by Jeff Schroeder & Gary Mortensen, FLW Outdoors

Tom Monsoor takes 2nd on FLW Atchafalaya Basin

February 10-14, 2004

2004 FLW Pro Tour - Atchafalaya Basin, Louisiana

Yamamoto pro Tom Monsoor from La Crosse, Wisconsin has 24 top ten FLW finishes since 1998. AOY from 1999 to 2001 in the BFL Great Lakes Division, 1st place on the EverStart Series Northern Division in 2001 (Mississippi River), 3rd place on the FLW Pro Tour in 2003 (Kentucky Lake) and 2nd place this weekend on the FLW Pro Tour on Atchafalaya Basin, Louisiana. People who keep track of such things say Monsoor has won well over one-half million in tournaments, not counting another $37,000 he pocketed this weekend.

Greetings Tom and congratulations on two recent accomplishments. First, for winning second place this weekend. Second for joining Gary Yamamoto's official National Pro Staff, which includes some of the nations hottest FLW and BASS pro tournament anglers and personalities, Gary Yamamoto, Roland Martin, Ben Matsubu, John Murray, Gary Dobyns, Takahiro Omori, Judy Wong, Bernie Schultz, Lendell Martin Jr., Lee Bailey Jr. and Art Ferguson. We are pleased to have you in this winning group of GYCB anglers, Tom.

I am very proud to be a part of this group, Russ. The members of the Yamamoto pro team, they are the elite.

As GYCB's newest am-bass-ador, you've already shown the fishing world what kind of stuff you're made of this weekend at Atchafalaya, Tom. But what people in other parts of the country may not know is that you have been the top dog, the undisputed leader of the pack in Midwest region tournament circuits for years now.

That's what they tell me, Russ. They say I am the man to beat up north.

Tom, I know you have been on the road for a long time now, months. Where are you now? I'd like to get an interview from you for our readers while your second place win is still timely.

I am at the end of my drive home to Wisconsin from the FLW tournaments in Louisiana and Okeechobee. I've got about 15 miles to go before I am home. Let's do this interview now, Russ. I hope everyone who will read along can get some tips from it.

Tom, in 2003, you moved up to the national FLW Pro Tour full time, immediately making your presence known with a third place win on Kentucky Lake. Now you've made your presence known again with a second place this weekend on Atchafalaya Basin. The long-established FLW pros, those who have been fishing at this level since the early days, how do you feel they react to a relative newcomer like yourself taking a 3rd and a 2nd in two of the last four FLW Pro Tour events?

I am proud to be doing well on the FLW Pro Tour. Some of the FLW pros, they may have scratched their heads a little trying to figure me out or where I came from, but I'd say most of them have previously heard of or read of my success up north. So I am new to the Pro Tour, but not unknown.

Most of the other pros, they are from the South and they know the FLW tournament waters down South as well as I know my own lakes up North. I am learning the Southern waters, but will never know the Southern lakes as well as they do. They live there.

Still, I am going to give it my best shot and I hope to show them I can do the same down South as I do up North.

How do you find the level of competition on the FLW Pro Tour? Do you feel that you are in a different league, a more formidable level of competition, or is it just fishing as usual for you, Tom?

It's fishing as usual for me. But make no mistake. These guys are good. That's why they are at the top. Fact is, you have to work up to this level from BFL to Everstart to FLW. Money cannot get you in, you can't just pay the entry fee to get in. What gets you in is your worth as an angler, and you have to prove it at every step on the way up.

As part of your tournament strategy, do you fish against the other FLW pros? Do you try to keep tabs on what they may be doing and factor the other pros into your own fishing strategy, Tom?

I don't, except that with the elimination format now, after the first day, I'll crunch the numbers of the top ten contenders in order to set a target for how much weight I'll need on day two to make the cut. But that's fishing against the numbers rather than against the other pros.

Tom, you pulverized the 200 FLW pros with your Friday and Saturday weight well over 32 pounds before the cut. You lead the field by almost 3 pounds before the cut. But then you had to throw that lead away and start again from zero for the last two days. How do you deal with that, throwing away a huge lead like that?

Part of what I try to do is not bring in excessive unneeded weight before the cut. If I do the number-crunching and it says I need to bring 16 lbs back on day two, I'll stop when I have 16 lbs in the boat. That's what I did at Atchafalaya, and it turned out to be an overestimate. So, I burned up pounds that I could have held for day 3. Nobody likes to throw away weight, but that is the format for everybody, the same format for all. We have to factor it in and make the right decisions.

With zeroing out the scales and beginning over again on day three, do you find yourself worrying about that, how you will be able to rebuild again from zero?

Yes you think a lot about all that. Once you zero the scales out, you know you absolutely have to bring in a good bag on day three to keep up there. You've got no choice. Day three becomes real important to rebuild yourself back up to the top from zero again.

Tom, over four days of competition you brought more fish and more weight to the scales than anyone else on Atchafalaya, and you did it all with a custom-made swimming jig of your own design. I know this jig has been a closely-guarded secret of yours for many years, so I do not plan to ask you too much about it.

Russ, you can ask me what you want about my jigs. I am proud to let your readers know what I do and I hope it can help them become better anglers.

I share these jigs with my co-anglers during tournaments. One of my co-anglers on Atchafalaya, Asa Godsey, my swimming jigs helped Asa finish 8th out of the 200 co-anglers.

What percent of the time do you fish with your swimming jig, Tom?

It's not as much a percentage of my fishing time that I allocate to using it. It is more seeking out the type of water and getting the type of response from the fish that makes it right to use the swimming jig. I usually seek relatively clearer water for the swimming jig. The swimming jig depends on the water and what the fish are doing. If it is not right for the swimming jig, then I am prepared to do it all. I will give the fish whatever it is that they want. It's fine for me to use a Senko or dropshot or topwater.

When did you first get on to the swimming jig and how did it happen? What was the process by which you realized you were on to something big? Did it evolve over time? What were the insights or key things that caused you to evolve it, Tom?

It has taken me twenty years to develop the swimming jig so that it now swims through wood, weeds and reeds perfectly. In grass, you can watch it swimming through grass and see fish swim out and bust it. That's really something for me to watch. I don't ever get tired of watching that. I guess it must be the same feeling for me as Gary Yamamoto would get watching a fish swim up and engulf his masterpiece, the Senko.

Orininally, over twenty years ago, I used a jig-and-pig a lot, hopping it. Throwing it over lily pads and hopping it across the pads, I caught a lot of fish like that. Using this technique in tournaments, I knew I was on to something. The bass obviously liked it. It really was a natural evolution, totally unplanned for. It wasn't too long before I was swimming the jig-and-pig more like a minnow or eel or leech, not bottom-bouncing it. It was not long after that I switched over to the single tail grub trailer to enhance and complete the swimming illusion.

A question often asked about grubs Tom, is whether to rig the curly tail pointing up, down or sideways. What do you say about that?

It needs to be pointed down, threaded on perfectly centered and straight without a wrinkle.

Do you ever use the skirted jigs alone without grubs? Or do you ever use just the single tail grubs on your jig heads, Tom, without the rubber skirts?

I've used the grubs without the skirts, but don't ever use the skirt without a grub. The skirted jig needs the swimming tail to make it happen.

The swimming jig as you make and use it is truly unique to you, Tom. With all the jigs available on the market, what reasons do you have for wanting to make your own, and how do yours differ from what else is out there? What makes your jig unique?

One of the early problems I faced was finding a good hook in a jig. When you fish a tournament, you cannot afford to miss a fish. You need the best rod, reel, line, and I needed to have the best hook in my jig. If you don't have a good hook, you are going to miss fish. I tested every possible hook made. Eventually I came up with the best possible flipping jig hook and the best possible swimming jig hook. This is one of the first reasons I realized that I needed to make my own flipping jigs and swimming jigs - to get a good hook.

An even more important reason that evolved over time, however, became the head design. The jig head is what causes it to come through weeds and wood seemingly effortlessly, looking totally natural. I perfected the head design about ten years ago. If you look at my FLW and other Midwest circuit results, you'll notice my success go way up starting about ten years ago when I perfected the swimming jig head design.

So, the jig head first and foremost. A good hook second. Third, colors. I needed to have the colors I wanted available to me. I stayed up many late night winters trying to design colors that look natural - minnows, crayfish, leeches. Mostly natural, but some weird colors too, like chartreuse/white. What's swimming around out there that's part chartreuse / part white?

Fourth, balancing the skirt material just right. I spent a lot of time getting the material  perfectly balanced so that the jig head doesn't roll over or swim crooked.

The list goes on down to many details I needed to have just right to make the swimming jigs work for me. I couldn't buy the jigs that I needed. I had to make them.

What do you feel your swimming jig imitates to a bass, Tom? Do you feel it resembles something natural they see swimming around, or is it just an unnatural kind of trigger?

I think it is very important that the jig swims around naturally. Especially important to have natural colors matching shad, shore minnows, leech and crawfish patterns that all resemble nature.

Are there any times or seasons when you feel the swimming jig can do better than other times?

The swimming jig works mostly above 55 degree water temperature. The Atchafalaya tournament is a great example. The temperature was right on the borderline for the swimming jig the first two days, and I had several limits of bass each day. By the third day, the temperature dropped five degrees, and the fish just were not biting the swimming jig right. At that marginal temperature for the swimming jig, bites changed from hard to light, from not missing any fish to missing five good ones on the fourth day.

It comes down to metabolism. Above 55 degrees, the fish are more apt to swim out after a swimming jig. In colder water than that, flipping a mat, putting the bait in dense cover with them is best because they're not going to swim out to get it.

Under what conditions would you not want to use your swimming jig, and what would be your alternative got-to bait under those conditions, Tom?

Cold water. A crankbait is awesome in cold water and a traditional flipping jig.

Tom, some of the other top finishers on the Atchafalaya Basin were flipping one ounce and heavier Texas rigs into thick mats. What weight jig were you using and were you fishing weeds?

Yes I was fishing weeds with wood. Swimming 1/4 oz jigs just under the surface over the tops of the weeds and wood.

Do you fish it fast or slow?

At Atchafalaya, I was swimming it quite slow, watching fish come up out of the cover to get it. No matter how many times I see this, it still amazes me. My day one and two co-anglers used that word exactly, amazing, and both had my swimming jigs tied on before too long.

Do you ever let your swimming jig hit the bottom?

Sometimes. In weeds you've got to keep it up. In open patches, say 6-8 feet deep, I will let it go to the bottom, then lift it back up in the water column say 5 feet and let it go to the bottom again. Repeating the lift and fall like that, fish like to hit it on the fall, especially smallmouth will hit it on the fall.

But even when I do hop a swimming jig like that, it's not for the entire retrieve. I will always swim it at least halfway back to the boat.

Do you ever use traditional bottom-bouncing or flipping jigs?

About ten percent of the time. Usually in winter. I do not swim a flipping jig. I hop it.

What do you mean by hopping, Tom? Do you mean lifting it 5 feet and letting it fall?

Yes, that's what I mean. Of course in shallower water where it may be 1-2 feet, you can't hop it too high.

Tom, I think our interview has run a little longer than the 15 miles you needed to drive to get home.

Well, Russ, I can drive another ten miles for you if you need me to, but right now I am parked in front of my house with the engine shut off.

Tom, you've been on the road for a long time and I want to say goodbye. I know you must feel good to be home.

One last thing I'd like to say is although my swimming jigs are not available, the single tail Yamamoto grubs sure are. I know the Senko is all the craze now, but the Yamamoto grub is just like the Senko. If some of these smallmouth anglers would get their hands on these GYCB grubs, they're going to find out that smallies like these grubs just as much as they like Senkos. GYCB baits get all slimy like a leech after they have been in the water a while. Drop a grub or Senko or GYCB craw in a glass of water, come back in a few minutes and you can feel the change. It gets more soft, more slimy, more natural. If a fish touches it, it's going to hang on. There's just something about that natural feel they get when they get wet. What a great product.

Tom, I hope we will speak to you again after your next FLW Pro Tour event. You have a third, a second, and now you need a first on the FLW Pro Tour.

I hope one thing that will happen with the elimination style tournaments is a real recognition of the guys who consistently make the top ten cut, not just who wins first. The real way to look at it is that guys who can make the top ten cut consistently - that is a big deal.

I think the elimination formats are going to separate the consistently top pros from the rest. The top ten who make it time and again. We're seeing this format make people fish harder to put their best foot forward on day two. You're pushed to your fullest on day two now. You can't shrug off a sloppy day two now and think you'll make up for it on day three anymore. If you don't make the preliminary cut, you disappear by day three. The real tournament, the true contenders will continue on without you. If you do make the top ten, you're proving something remarkable, separating yourself from the field.

There is a lot more to be said for being in the top ten consistently versus being the winner once in a while.

Tom, sounds like you have a game plan, and thank you for taking your time to share it with us.

I hope some of the details on the swimming jigs will help all who shared this ride home with me.