Corcoran crushes it
16.Aug.2013 by Kyle Wood
SHREVEPORT-BOSSIER CITY, La. – Most anglers dream from a young age of one day having the shot to claim the Forrest Wood Cup title. A dream that only a handful of those anglers will ever fulfill. At 23 years old, however, Theo Corcoran made the dream he has had since he was 5 come true in an emotional victory to claim the 2013 Forrest Wood Cup title for the co-angler field.
“I can’t even think right now,” said Corcoran about his victory. “This is a dream come true, or at least the start of one. I have wanted this since I was 5 and watching Jimmy Houston on TV and my mom would take me out fishing.”
Before the tournament even began it was common knowledge that the Red River wouldn’t kick out quality fish with ease. Adding to that was the fact many of the pros would be fishing shallow making it tougher for the guys in the back to get big bites. That’s when Corcoran put his head down and got to work.
His first day partner was Spencer Shuffield, who spent much of his day flipping shallow cover. Shuffield was punching his rig on the inside edge of the cover leaving Corcoran to work the outer edge. It didn’t take long for Corcoran to flip up a solid limit to the tune of 14 pounds, 13 ounces and putting him in the lead by nearly 5 pounds.
“I just wanted to get five little ones today,” the Kansas City, Mo., resident said. “I tried not to think about what weight I needed to catch or anything, I just went fishing.”
Today, Corcoran was paired with the 2013 TBF National Champion Mark Daniels Jr. who was making the run down to the bottom end of pool 4. When they pulled up to the first spot Corcoran began throwing a frog. Just a few casts later he had a 4-pounder eat the frog at the boat and he flipped the giant in. Seconds later, Daniels Jr. set the hook and his 1-ounce tungsten weight went flying right at Corcoran’s face, cutting his eyebrow pretty bad.
“Marks 1-ounce weight cracked me good. He started freaking out and I just told him to get me a towel and some super glue. After we got it patched up I went right back to fishing. And I think it helped take my mind off of stressing about catching a limit to taking it one fish at a time.”
