When conditions turn tough at Table Rock Lake in Missouri, it pays to be a local. The high, bluebird skies and slick conditions today created a challenging bite, and three locals rose to the top.
Shane Long, from nearby Sarcoxie, whacked 16.78 pounds – the day's best bag – and moved up from 9th into the lead.
Right behind him is fellow Table Rock ace Kelly Power, who caught 14.38 today and moved up from 12th to 2nd.
BassFans may recognize Power as a longtime brand manager at Champion Boats. He left Genmar before fellow managers Gary Clouse and Teresa Johnson departed to form the Phoenix Boats company. (Clouse is competing this week and finished 52nd.)
Another Missouri stick, Brian Snowden, is 3rd. Snowden, who's fresh off a win at the Toyota Texas Bass Classic, caught 12.25 today and improved two spots to 3rd.
Jig specialist Gary Klein's lurking at 4th. Klein noted that he's not going to have a camera in his boat tomorrow – something the less accomplished leaders will have to contend with – and "anything can happen at Table Rock." Klein's 11.56-pound limit moved him up four places today.
Smallmouth fanatic Dave Lefebre made a huge move from 27th to 5th with a 15.68-pound limit, but he's still haunted by a four-fish bag yesterday.
Day-1 leader Chris Brasher limped in with a single fish and fell to 13th.
The field is now cut to the Top 24 for the final day tomorrow. Points leader Edwin Evers was last in the cut with 16.68. Rob Burns was first out – 2 ounces in back of Evers.
Tomorrow's forecast calls for at least a little wind, which could help many of the pros who struggled under glass-calm conditions today.
Long Comfortable
A 2 1/2-pound lead at most lakes isn't much. At Table Rock, it's significant simply because 4-pound bites are so scarce.
"I just have to go out there and fish what I've got," Long said. "Kelly's a good fisherman on this lake, but I feel pretty comfortable where I'm sitting right now. I caught them really, really good today – probably 30 or 40 keepers. I really caught a lot of fish and I feel like I can go out and catch them again. But you never know – it's fishing.
"It's not easy by any means," he added. "I just have a few key areas they're really grouped up in."
He weighed all three species today. His biggest was a 4.60 and three others were over 3 pounds. He said his bite happened all day long.
He didn't fish the three previous PAA Series events this year, but entered this one because it's in his backyard.
He wants to turn pro next season – he has a Forrest Wood Cup berth through the Central AFS, where he was points champion, plus a guaranteed berth in the FLW Tour. But he's waiting to hear from title sponsor ANPAC Insurance about support for the tour level. A win this week would certainly help.
"It would be awesome," he said. "I won the Stren at Lake of the Ozarks last fall, but I'd have to say this would be a bigger win that that. It's not necessarily the money – I think the Stren's worth more value-wise – but this would be worth more for my sponsors and for the prestige in trying to move forward in tournament fishing."
2nd: Power On Strong Pattern
Power's done exactly the same thing the past 2 days and he doesn't think the pattern's going to fade tomorrow. What he especially likes about his deal is that if one of the three species stops biting, another takes over, so it's less fragile than some other species-specific patterns.
"I'm going to fish to my strengths tomorrow," he said. "I feel good about what I'm doing. I caught a lot of keepers the last couple of days – a lot of good fish – but I had some opportunities today to kind of blow this thing out of the water.
"I've done the same thing the last 2 days and it hasn't changed a bit. They got to be a little bit fewer today, but they got bigger, so I feel good about it. I've lived on this lake my whole life. Let's put it down tomorrow and see what happens."
He thinks there's a chance he could catch 18 pounds tomorrow – he saw better than that today – but he'd be happy to catch 15, he said.
"That's what I'm going for. I kind of duplicated it 2 days in a row and covered the same water, but I haven't beat it. If I catch a fish I keep going. My intention tomorrow is to cover the same thing early and if it doesn't work, or I'm missing a couple of fish, I've got secondary areas that I haven't even touched yet. All I need is five bites."
4th: Klein On Smallies
Klein broke a big one off today – a good smallmouth of maybe 5 pounds, he thinks – but he's on a good class of fish and he should have another shot at one of those tomorrow.
He trails leader Long by 4 1/2 pounds.
Gary Klein says he's 'close' to figuring out some largemouths.
"I'll tell you, I'm just one good bite away from making this thing interesting," Klein said. "That's a good position to be in. It's Table Rock, anything can happen – we saw what the leader did yesterday. And the guys ahead of me all have cameras in their boats and I get to go fishing and have a good time.
"I've got a pattern figured out for smallmouths and that's been kind of my go-to thing," he added. "Most of the fish I've weighed have been smallmouths. And I think I'm close to figuring out some largemouths. I've been catching a few (largemouths) every day, but they've been mixed in deep with the smallmouths. I'll probably fish a little different tomorrow. I'm going to keep thinking about a better bite and if I figure that out, it could be history. I'm excited about it. It's going to be fun."
5th: Lefebre Lost Fish Too
Lefebre had a limit of smallmouths in the boat after 20 minutes of fishing this morning. He spent the rest of the day on largemouths and caught a 4 1/2 and a 3 1/2 but lost a 5-pounder. His final limit today weighed 15 1/2 pounds.
"I just wish I would have got them in the boat yesterday. I lost a few yesterday and made a bad call and ran way up the White River and wasted my whole morning.
"And I should have had a lot more today. I had a 2 1/2 that I needed to get rid of and lost that 5-pounder. With what I lost yesterday and today and only weighing four fish, I should be leading this thing."
Dave Lefebre had a limit in his fist six casts this morning.
He noted that he's running a pattern across the lake and it's working so well he can pull up on new water and almost call his shot. And he has yet to see a boat fishing that pattern.
"It's exciting, but I just hope it doesn't end up that bringing in four yesterday is the nail in the coffin. I need at least 18 pounds tomorrow to have a shot, but my jig's going to be around them. I know 18 pounds will be looking at my jig tomorrow."
Notable
> Stacey King came in light today with 9 pounds and fell six spots to 8th. "I was really disappointed," he said. "I had the bites to do well and just didn't capitalize on them. I had some fish hooked that came halfway to the boat then got off for no apparent reason. It was just one of those days."
> It was "one of those days" for former leader Brasher too. He said everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The fish wouldn't bite his jig, his backup areas were either covered up or dead, and he eventually connected with a single keeper late in the day on his primary spot. "How could I not be disappointed? Coming here, if you'd told me I was going to be in 13th after the 2nd day, I'd be thrilled. But after having a 4 1/2-pound lead, to go out and not catch anything – it's tough."
Day 3 Standings
1. Shane Long -- 10, 29.28
2. Kelly Power -- 10, 26.75
3. Brian Snowden -- 10, 26.49
4. Gary Klein -- 10, 24.80
5. Dave Lefebre -- 9, 24.73
6. Terry Butcher -- 10, 24.32
7. Rick Clunn -- 10, 24.21
8. Stacey King -- 9, 23.70
9. Matt Reed -- 10, 23.56
10. Ronnie Wagner -- 10, 22.63
11. Takahiro Omori -- 9, 22.43
12. Aaron Martens -- 10, 22.20
13. Chris S. Brasher -- 6, 21.25
14. James W. Watson -- 10, 21.12
15. Mark Rose -- 10, 20.52
16. Charles Bebber -- 9, 20.32
17. Tommy Biffle -- 8, 19.82
18. J T. Palmore -- 8, 18.85
19. Brian W. Travis -- 8, 18.80
20. Harold Allen -- 7, 18.53
21. Bradley Hallman -- 8, 18.00
22. Shinichi Fukae -- 10, 17.83
23. Tommy Martin -- 7, 16.70
24. Edwin Evers -- 8, 16.68
25. Rob Burns -- 8, 16.62
26. Craig M. Dowling -- 8, 15.63
27. Guy H. Eaker, Sr. -- 7, 15.32
28. Greg Vinson -- 5, 15.11
29. Woo Daves -- 8, 14.86
30. Mike Mcclelland -- 7, 14.26
31. Jami Fralick -- 5, 14.24
32. Lance Vick -- 6, 14.23
33. Justin Rackley -- 7, 14.20
34. Jason Christie -- 7, 13.85
35. Dion Hibdon -- 6, 13.32
36. Patrick Pierce -- 6, 13.18
37. Randy Haynes -- 5, 12.48
38. John Crews, Jr. -- 6, 12.46
39. Lance J. Williams -- 4, 12.45
40. Shaw Grigsby -- 6, 12.23
41. Ott Defoe -- 6, 11.79
42. Stephen Johnston -- 6, 10.89
43. Chad Morgenthaler -- 5, 10.28
44. Chris Daves -- 5, 9.99
45. Dave Mansue -- 5, 9.74
46. Eric Johnson -- 5, 9.60
47. Mark Menendez -- 5, 9.41
48. Art Ferguson, III -- 4, 8.61
49. Boyd Duckett -- 4, 7.58
50. Mike L. Williamson -- 4, 7.07
51. Charlie Hartley -- 3, 7.07
52. Gary Clouse -- 3, 6.86
53. Jonathan Black -- 4, 6.79
54. Harley Brigman -- 3, 6.78
55. Stuart P. Arthur -- 2, 6.60
56. Jeff Kriet -- 3, 6.35
57. David R. Hendrick -- 3, 5.57
58. Billy Mccaghren -- 3, 5.50
59. John Plumlee -- 2, 4.98
60. Sammy D. Burks -- 3, 4.73
61. Mark S. Williamson -- 2, 4.45
62. Tim Horton -- 2, 4.24
63. Lupe Garcia -- 2, 4.19
64. Darin Deatherage -- 2, 3.58
65. Sandra P. Karnes -- 1, 2.82
66. Wil Hardy -- 1, 2.54
67. Russ Clark -- 1, 2.08
68. Fred Roumbanis -- 1, 1.97
69. Keith Caka -- 1, 1.95
70. Joe Gerard -- 1, 1.74
71. Tommy Durham -- 0, 0.00
71. Sam Rosefski -- 0, 0.00
71. Gene Ellison -- 0, 0.00
