Luke Clausen Quotations

I was relaxed the whole time. I'm never nervous when I'm tournament fishing. To me it's fun and relaxing. I didn't get a little nervous (Sunday) until I got up on the stage with the other five finalists.

For two days I've been on bedding fish, and I went back this morning and caught a 6-pounder on my third cast. I had visions of grandeur, but that was my last good fish of the day.

I think I had the strongest area on the lake.

It didn't affect me, though. I yanked him out of the water, got him back on the boat and went right on fishing.

It hasn't sunk in. It's like in the middle of a dream. When I was out there and the confetti was falling and I was holding the trophy, it's surreal.

It hasn't really sunk in yet. It's like you're in the middle of a dream.

That's the reason I'm catching bigger fish. They're on isolated beds, and I'm fishing really slow.

I was pretty disappointed today. I spent all of my time in the area where I caught my fish Friday because I thought it had more fish.

Everything I did worked. I couldn't do no wrong. I was catching some awesome fish.

Everything went right for me today. Everywhere I went I caught fish.

Actually, the money isn't even a factor in my mind. I fished this tournament just like I would have fished if a bunch of guys had thrown $5 into a pot. I fish the same way no matter what.

It still seems a little surreal right now, like I'm dreaming this. It will sink in soon.

It still really hasn't sunk in. It's surreal.

I'm going to change and fish some new areas tomorrow. All I can do is go catch as many fish as I can. We'll see what happens.

I just wasn't able to catch them. My third cast was a 6-pounder. Things went downhill after that. They were just not biting as well as Friday.

I had to fish slow on the bottom, keeping my rod-tip near the surface. If I raised the rod even a little, the 40-mph wind became troublesome.

I had a lot of confidence in the area.

I just had a good day. I could go out tomorrow and maybe catch 10 pounds. I'm not sure if I can catch five fish. But I'll got back to the some of the areas that I got bit in today and try to milk them for what they're worth.

I probably had the strongest area of the lake and I understood it better than the other guys. That was why I won.

This is like winning a grand slam. It's cool, like icing on top of the cake to win the Classic and winning those records.