Clark Wendlant has won 3 FLW Angler of the Year titles and qualified for 15 Forrest Wood Cups. He won’t make it to the big dance this year, nor will he fish the Tour events on Pickwick and Kentucky Lakes.

Wendlant suffered a heart attack around 3 A.M. Monday. “I’ve never had any heart problems before, but any time you have a chest pain you wonder to yourself if you’re having a heart attack. Usually you aren’t – or at least that’s been the case with me,” said Wendlandt. “This time it felt different, though. My whole body hurt, and there was a lot of pressure on my upper arms and even in my jaw.”

A doctor was able to install a stint in the blocked artery that caused the heart attack without performing major surgery.

But doctors advised Wendlant to take it easy for 6-to-8 weeks – a time frame that extends beyond the dates of the final FLW Tour tournaments, both of which take place in June.

“I’m going to do what the doctor tells me, but he said I should make a full recovery and that’s what I’m counting on,” Wendlandt said. “I was planning on fishing a couple of B.A.S.S. Opens later on, but I’m going to play that by ear now. But I do look forward to fishing the [Walmart FLW] Tour next year.”