Photo: Bassmaster.com Stacey King likes to fish places he knows are chock full of big bass.

It's Good To Be The King
Once Again King Had Good Fall In Centrals

Thursday, December 11, 2003

Stacey King has been a tour pro for 14 years, but has lately been leaving more of a mark on the Bassmaster Central Opens. Check out these stats:

> Open Championship (Dec, Toledo Bend) – 5th
> Ouachita River (Nov) – 16th
> Rayburn (Oct) – 5th
> Oct 2002 at Rayburn – 9th
> Mar 2002 at T-Bend – 1st

Not only that, nine of his last 10 Top 10 BASS finishes (1996 through now) have been in Central Opens or Central Invitationals, and he particularly likes the big waters of Rayburn and Toledo Bend. Since King lives on Missouri's Table Rock Reservoir, and guided there for years before turning pro, he hasn't fished Texas any more than any other tour pros of equivalent or more experience. So what's going on?

Likes Texas' Big-Fish Water

"I've just been fishing well this fall," he said. "I'm not really sure what the reason is. I seem to have been focused and things have been going my way."

On his high finishes in Opens over the last several years, he said: "I like fishing Texas lakes. I fished them for many years (in BASS events), and they're known for being full of big bass. And I like to fish places like that. You don't go in with a pessimistic attitude because the odds are that you'll catch good ones, and it's good to start out fishing that way.

"I've always done relatively well on all Texas lakes. I always feel like there are opportunities for lots of big fish there, and that's why I like them so well. I used to get excited about fishing anywhere," he added. "But the older I get, sometimes the less excited I get when we get set to go to a tournament at a lake where there aren't many fish.

"A lot of lakes we go to (on tour) are maybe not real good fisheries, or you're fishing all week to catch a few small bass, or the weather is wrong. But it's hard to go to Texas when the weather is too wrong to catch bass there."

He noted that he's never lived in Texas. "I don't know that it's a factor, but I've become close friends with Tommy Martin, Larry Nixon and Rick Clunn, and they all came from Texas (Nixon, from Arkansas, used to guide on Toledo Bend). They've all given me input over the years about fishing Texas lakes, and you couldn't learn from any three better anglers than those guys."

Nothing Else Different

King said he doesn't fish the Opens any different than Bassmaster Tour events.

"I try to fish them all just about the same. A lot of times when I go to the Opens I get 4 days of practice (vs. 3, or really 2 1/2 with the tournament meeting, on the Tour). I fish pretty hard for 3 days, and then I usually will get up that fourth morning and fish a little while, then take some time to get stuff together. It's not a whole lot more practice (than for Tour events), but it's a little bit."

But he doesn't think that's enough of a reason to do better in the Opens vs. the Tour. "Maybe in the Opens the last couple of years I've tried to fish more to the patterns I like rather than just trying to do anything," he said. "I've come to the conclusion that you can't do it all. Try to do something you're accomplished at and make it work for you."

He also said that he might have a "more relaxed attitude" in the Opens. "I just go to have fun and enjoy it. I like the competition and I like the fishing, but I go to have fun. I don't just go to win."

Last but not least, that doesn't mean that Open competition is a cakewalk compared to the Tour. "A lot more guys are fishing the Opens, and you have to contend with hometown anglers in those events who know the bodies of water real well," he noted. "So I think we're competing with relatively the same caliber of anglers as on the Tour events."

Notable

> His sponsors include: Nitro, Bass Pro Shops, Solar Bat, Flowmaster, Inhibitor, Storm Lures, Mercury, Chevy Trucks and Gamakatsu.