“I can’t believe it” said Andy Morgan.

“What are the odds” wondered David Walker? “In a normal tournament with 200 boats, sure, you’ll have a few guys tie. But in a competition where we facing off head-to-head in the same boat, the odds have to be phenomenal.”

“Morgan added “We were catching schoolers and they were all pretty much the same size…but this has to be a first.”

It all began in the first quarter as Andy Morgan took control of the boat after winning the coin toss. Heading for the riprap in search of the shad spawn (see Zack King’s field report), Morgan found the bite to be less than he anticipated.

“I really wanted the boat early because I knew with the high pressure that was predicted for the day, the bite would get tougher as the day went along,” said Morgan.

But it was…as it often is, the one that got away that really summed up the first quarter for Morgan.

“My crankbait came over a log and boom, the fish drilled it. My guess is she pinned the bait either to the log or to the bottom, and I really didn’t get a good hook in her and sure enough, she popped off. I’m guessing that fish was 4.5 to 5 pounds easy” said Morgan.

“I just got done saying don’t lose it to Andy and that fish pulled off” added Walker. I felt bad for him but trust me; I got over it pretty quickly.”

As the half came to a close, Andy Morgan had a clear lead with a chance to put some serious distance between himself and Walker, but the 3rd quarter proved to be even more difficult than the first.

“These fish are in a transition stage and they can be tough to track down during this (May) time of year. And when you only have 90 minutes to look, it’s not like you have the luxury of trying a ton of different tactics. I just put my head down and went fishing in the spots I’d found them in practice” said Morgan.

The fourth quarter began with David Walker hitting a few main lake points before pulling the trolling motor and running 15 minutes up river to an offshore hump.

“I’d found this spot in practice almost by accident” said Walker. “I put in up the river and was idling out from the ramp and my electronics lit up. I made a few casts and caught a fish on almost every one of them.”

David Walker did the same as the fourth quarter wound down; catching fish after fish cast after cast, but the match was still too close to call as the final whistle sounded.

“I could not have told you if my life depended on it, which one of us had the lead at that point” said Morgan. “And as it turned out, you can see why.”

After deliberately weighing each sack, referee Mark Randolph and co producer Jim Kramer, who was recording the official weights, went to the UMF rules (click here). The first tie breaker is the biggest fish.

“I think it sucks” said David Walker. “I’ve been so close so many times before and have finished on the wrong side of the scale…I can’t hardly bear to look.”

“I can’t say that I would have done a thing differently” said Morgan.

With the drama building, both Morgan and Walker pulled their largest fish from the live wells and Referee Mark Randolph registered the weights, and still the match was one of the closest on record.

As the drama unfolded, host Joe Thomas finally unveiled that the difference was .12 of a pound between the two largest fish. And finally, the winner, David Walker with a 4.58 largemouth barely beat Andy Morgan’s 4.46 pound Lake Dardanelle largemouth.

David Walker’s razor thin victory secures the first spot in the UMF Semifinals, one step away from the Title Match. Andy Morgan will have to wait for at least one if not two more matches to see if his weight of 10.82 pounds will qualify him for a second life as the Wildcard.

What a start to the 2008 Championship Round.