Veteran Missouri pro Stacey King revealed that he underwent open-heart surgery recently for the second time in 5 years. He missed most of the 2007 FLW Tour season due to a double-bypass operation.
The latest procedure was done in September following one of the most successful campaigns of his long career. He was in contention for the FLW Tour Angler of the Year (AOY) award for much of the season before finishing 6th and he won the PAA Tournament Series event at Table Rock.
"They found a leaky valve in there and I found out in July that I was going to have to have it repaired," he said. "It's been 9 weeks now and I'm feeling good and strong and everything looks good."
He was recently able to resume participation in one of his other great passions, bird hunting, and bagged a limit of bobwhite quail on his third outing.
"I'm entered in all six Majors next year and I guess I'll fish the PAA again, too – I'll look that over when the schedule comes out. I thought about fishing the B.A.S.S. Central Opens, but I can't do that because one of them conflicts with one of the Majors."
