Make the Wind Your Friend
THE WIND STARTED early on Sept. 17, 1992, and the waves were already high on Lake Ontario when Clark Wendlandt powered out of the St. Lawrence River at Cape Vincent and entered the big water, following two of his heroes, veterans Shaw Grigsby and Larry Nixon.
A mile out, Grigsby and Nixon turned around, but Wendlandt kept going for another 25 miles, a ride that took the better part of an hour and a half. He remembers the day and the rough water well because it was his first professional bass tournament, the New York Bassmaster Invitational, and after that day, he sat in second place. It turned out to be a preview, perhaps, of what has been a stellar career for the Texas-based angler. He won the 2020 Bassmaster Angler of the Year award, and during his years in the FLW he earned three AOY titles and fished in 19 Forrest Wood Cup championships.
“A lot of us remember our first professional tournaments,” says Wendlandt, now 56, “but I remember that tournament
