ORANGE, Texas — A marathon, not a sprint. You’d be hard pressed to find a more fitting phrase to describe Pat Schlapper’s wire-to-wire win at the MAXAM Tire Bassmaster Elite at the Sabine River.

Schlapper set the early mark with a Day 1 limit of 12 pounds, 2 ounces. The pro from Eleva, Wis., would follow with daily weights of 8-7, 8-9 and 9-10 for a winning total of 38-12.

Edging fellow Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series pro Patrick Walters by a margin of 2-4, Schlapper collected the top prize of $101,000.

“This means a lot to me that my friends and family surprised me and showed up,” said Schlapper, whose brother passed away last year. “This is for my family and my brother.”

A week after 62-11 earned him a 32nd-place finish in the Tackle Warehouse Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork, Schlapper endured the notoriously challenging Sabine River’s stingy ways.

“I caught my fish a few different ways; I had figured out different things and knowing when to do (each one) was the key,” Schlapper said. “I think one of the biggest reasons I out-fished a lot people in the area is that I was fishing a lot faster.

“A lot of people were fishing really slow, but I was just covering as much water as I could. I think that made a big difference.”

With cloudy, windy weather creating classic largemouth feeding conditions, Schlapper enjoyed his best morning of the week. Getting off to a quick start, Schlapper had a limit that went a little more than 9 pounds by 9 a.m.

As soon as he reached his first spot, he experienced an intense flurry that jump started his big morning.

“It was unbelievable the way that happened this morning,” Schlapper said. “That was actually the first spot that I found (in practice). I pulled in and the wind was just perfect to throw a Brazalo clacking buzzbait. It had a big gold blade and a black toad on the back.

“I just got to whompin’ on ’em for about 20 minutes and they were all quality fish. I missed one, but the rest of them choked it.”

Schlapper did all of his Day 1 work on the foundations holding a set of elevated pipes that crossed a canal off Taylor Bayou. On Day 2, he fished the pipe crossing, but also worked open bank.

Days 3 and 4 mostly comprised bank fishing, where he targeted grass, wood and undercut points. The first three days, Schlapper caught fish on a homemade 3/8-ounce Do-it Molds compact finesse jig with a Big Bite Baits chunk trailer, a dropshot and a Texas-rigged creature bait.

“I felt really good going into this tournament for some reason,” Schlapper said. “I was super confident, super calm. I feel like I made all the right moves and all the right decisions.

“I love the Sabine River.”

Walters of Summerville, S.C. finished second with 36-8. With his first three days yielding limits of 7-6, 7-2 and 9-9, respectively, Walters entered Championship Sunday in 10th place. Finishing strong with 12-7 — the event’s second heaviest (behind John Crews’ 12-9) — Walters gained eight spots.

Describing the key to his final-round success, Walters said: “Decision making. The Sabine is all about making decisions. You put some baits in your hand that you feel confident in and covering a lot of water until you find the fish.”

Walters caught most of his fish on a spinnerbait. Given the level of fishing pressure his main area had received, the final round presented an opportunity to make a bold decision that worked out as well as Walters could have ever hoped.

“I had been catching all my fish in Taylor Bayou, but today, I didn’t see it happening,” Walters said. “It wasn’t going to pan out because we had beaten it too much. The second day, there were 78 boats over there.

“That was way too many people over there, so I decided to stay close and fish close. The water had been dropping and clearing up and we just ran into them. I lost one good one, but I can’t complain.”

Japan's Kyoya Fujita finished third with 36-8. (Ties are broken by heaviest single day weight.) His daily limits went 8-8, 11-3, 8-9 and 8-4.

Fujita, who placed fourth last week at Lake Fork, caught his fish on a Texas-rigged Jackall Pine Shrimp and a Neko-rigged Jackall 4.5 Yammy. Spending most of his time targeting reeds in Taylor Bayou, Fujita kept his foot on the trolling motor.

“I did not catch my fish on forward facing sonar; I caught all of my fish power fishing,” Fujita said. “Speed is important. I made more casts, more casts, more casts to cover water.”

John Crews of Salem, Va., won the $2,000 Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors for his Day 2 4-14.

Wisconsin's Jay Przekurat won the $1,000 award for leading the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings.

Minnesota's Austin Felix won the $1,000 BassTrakk contingency award.

Crews also won the $2,000 Rapala CrushCity Monster Bag award for his Day 2 limit of 12-9.

Japan’s Taku Ito took home an additional $3,000 for being the highest-placing entrant in the Toyota Bonus Bucks program, while Alabama’s Kyle Welcher earned $2,000 for being the second-highest placing entrant.

As part of the Yamaha Power Pay program, Schlapper earned an additional $4,000, while Walters claimed an additional $1,500 for being the second-highest placing entrant.

Jay Przekurat of Plover, Wis., leads the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings with 544 points. Chris Johnston of Otonabee, Canada is in second with 502, followed by Fujita with 494, Trey McKinney of Carbondale, Ill., with 487, and Will Davis Jr. of Sylacauga, Ala., with 480.

Paul Marks of Cumming, Ga., leads the Dakota Lithium Elite Series Rookie of the Year standings with 418 points.

The MAXAM Tire Bassmaster Elite at Sabine River was hosted by the Greater Orange Area Chamber of Commerce.