Stacey King's first season on the FLW Tour got off to a solid start with a 19th-place finish at Texas' Lake Travis, and he was eagerly looking forward to the next three events at venues that either suited his style of fishing or were the site of past successes.
Now it looks like the next time he'll fish competitively will be at the Detroit River in mid-July, and that's only if things progress as planned. The 58-year-old Missourian will undergo double-bypass heart surgery a week from today.
"It's just something I have to contend with," he said. "I haven't been having any problems, but this was just something that came up during normal examinations.
"I have a family history of heart problems and high cholesterol, and I've been taking treatment for that. But I have a very strong heart and my physical condition is good, and the doctors think I should be able to recuperate quickly."
Out of the Blue
King is an avid bird hunter during the offseason and often walks 7-8 miles a day over uneven terrain in pursuit of quail or pheasants. Even after the hunting season ended in January, he continued to take long hikes with his bird dogs, and had experienced no incidents of angina (chest pain that occurs when the heart doesn't get enough blood) or shortness of breath.
When he went in for his annual physical recently, his doctor recommended a CT scan. That procedure indicated some problems, and an angiogram that followed on Tuesday pinpointed them.
"At first they thought they could do angioplasty and take care of it with a stent," he said. "But they got to looking around in there and found a 70% blockage in one artery and a 50% blockage in another one.
"The blockages are right where the arteries form a Y, and they can't do a stent because of that Y."
More than anything, the 12-time Bassmaster Classic qualifier is dreading the several weeks of inactivity that will follow the operation.
"This may not be right, but I'm more concerned about the down time than anything. I'm just so darn active and it's hard for me to sit still. But I'll go by the book and do it the way I'm supposed to."
He's buoyed by the fact that a good friend, Bill Fletcher of Hot Springs, Ark., underwent a nearly identical operation last week and is doing extremely well.
"I talked to him (on Tuesday) and he said he's feeling better than he has in a long time. That's only 8 days into this thing, so that gives me quite a bit of confidence.
"I also have a lot of confidence in my surgeons, and the facility in Springfield where I'll have it done is world-class. They said it'd be 4-6 weeks until I'd be back to feeling normal and 10-12 weeks before I could fish tournaments or do any heavy lifting."
King hopes to return to the FLW Tour at the Detroit River in mid-July.
Favorable Schedule
King, of course, had hoped to maintain the momentum of his strong 2006 campaign, which he did with his 19th at Travis. And as noted, the upcoming FLW Tour stops set up nicely for him.
"They're tournaments that lend themselves to my style of fishing," the deep-jig guru said. "Fort Loudoun and Tellico down in Tennessee have a lot of big smallmouths, I've done well at Norman a few times in the past and I've always liked Beaver too."
He was also jazzed up about the Texas Bass Classic April 13-15 at Lake Fork, which is sanctioned by the Professional Anglers Association (PAA). He was slated to be a member of Team 1 along with Dave Wolak, Gary Yamamoto and Les Phelps.
"Having to miss that one just breaks my heart, but there's some lucky guy on the waiting list who'll get to take my place on that team."
If his recovery goes as scheduled, he might be able to compete at the Detroit River (July 12-15), where he finished 6th in a Stren event last year. If he's not quite ready for that one, then he plans to return for the Forrest Wood Cup at Arkansas' Lake Ouachita in early August. He qualified for the Cup with his 2nd-place finish in the Midwestern Stren points last year.
"Those tournaments I'm going to miss are ones where I would have had confidence, but I'll just have to bite the bullet and go on. I just want to tell all the boys to enjoy the season, and hopefully I'll be back fishing with them in a couple of months."
Notable
> King said FLW Outdoors will allow him to apply the deposits he's paid for this season to future events. "They've been very gracious in wishing me well and letting me know they'd do anything they could for me."
> He cautioned younger anglers that what they put into their bodies now will have an effect on their future health. "I'm a stickler for exercise and taking my medication regularly, but it can be pretty hard living on the road and it's hard to stay on the right kind of diet. I'd tell the younger guys to watch their Ps and Qs because it'll catch up with you eventually."
