The most significant victory of Shane Long's career couldn't have come at a better time. The 34-year-old from Sarcoxie, Mo. has been laid off from his job in the construction industry for the last 2 months, and his haul for winning last week's Ozarks Central Stren will come in mighty handy.
He focused his attention on a specific area of the lake and fished it for all 3 days. He was in 2nd place after each of the first two weigh-ins and jumped to the top with a 14-11 sack on the final day.
The victory culminated a season in which he made marked improvements in his finishes at each event. He opened with a 125th at Kentucky Lake, followed with a 98th at the Detroit River and notched a 12th at the Mississippi River.
His 47-06, 3-day total last week bested runner-up Zack Bull of Tennessee by a little more than 3 pounds. The win moved him up to 21st in the final Central points – well within the Top-40 cutoff for the Stren Championship in November.
Here's how he did it.
Practice
Long lives about 2 1/2 hours from the lake and fishes it two or three times a year on various circuits. He spent nearly a week there in preparation for the Stren, but that period didn't unfold quite as he'd expected.
His original plan was to explore a great deal of the lake, but he found concentrations of large fish in pockets between the Hurricane Deck Bridge and the 60-Mile Marker. They were holding on the deeper ends of docks.
"One day I caught 22 pounds on a jig in 3 hours, then I cut the hook off the jig and slammed another 20 pounds that same day," he said. "After that I was pretty much committed to that area and I spent the rest of practice trying to find the key docks that they were on."
He also discovered that he could catch some good ones on a swimbait while moving between sets of docks.
"There were some on laydowns, and if the wind was blowing really hard and making it tough to pitch the jig, I could get them to come out and get that swimbait."
Competition
> Day 1: 5, 18-07
> Day 2: 5, 14-04
> Day 3: 5, 14-11
> Total = 15, 47-06
A cold front moved in just prior to day 1 and brought clouds and rain, and Long figured the gray skies would scatter his fish out some. Such was not the case.
"They were still tight to the docks and they didn't start moving until the following 2 days," he said.
He spent the entire opening day in one pocket and compiled his best bag of the tournament, which was second-best of the day. It included a 5-11 largemouth (that was the only species he caught during the event).
"I caught all of them in about 2 12 hours. I fished every dock and beat the place up pretty bad. I left to go to another area that I thought was just as good, but there ended up being another competitor there."
He went to another nearby pocket to start day 2 and caught a decent limit, but nothing spectacular. He'd planned to rest his day-1 spot, but ended up going to it in search of a kicker. He was able to cull twice and hold onto the No. 2 spot in the standings.
He lost the only fish he'd lose in the event that day – a 3 1/2-pounder that came loose as he tried to swing it into the boat. "It bounced twice on top of the deck, and then it was back in the water."
He faced a 3 1/2-pound deficit to start day 3, which coincided with the launch of the gigantic Lake of the Ozarks Big Bass Bash and the hundreds of anglers it brought to the water. But he soon encountered an even bigger problem than the weight deficit and the increase in traffic – he lost an ear off his prop and spent an hour and a half sitting in a boat slip that was on his way to the fishing grounds.
He called tournament director Ron Lampen to let him know his situation, and Lampen was able to get in contact with the Evinrude service truck, which had already departed the site on its way to another event. Lampen secured the part and Mike Todd, who'd finished 71st but had stayed around to help out with the associated collegiate event, ran it out to Long.
That cost him about 90 minutes of fishing, but he quickly made up for it. He stopped in a small cut and caught one fish from each of the two rear docks (under the sunny conditions of days 2 and 3, the bass had relocated to the shallowest docks). He went to his day-1 spot and caught two more there, and then transferred to a spot he'd been saving and caught a 5-pounder and another keeper.
"All of them were all the way back on the very last docks that day. Every time I set the hook, the fish would kick up mud. They were in a foot of water or less."
Long caught most of his fish on a jig, but picked off a few with a Luck E Strike Bass Magic swimbait.
When the day was over, he didn't think he'd done enough to win.
"The guy leading (Bull), I knew he was fishing toward the dam, and I knew that area was going to get a lot of pressure. My only hope was it caused more problems for him than it did for me."
Indeed it did – Bull weighed a three-fish sack for just 8-02.
Winning Gear Notes
> Pitching gear: 7'6" heavy-action Falcon Cara flipping stick, Shimano Curado casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 20-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon line, 5/16-ounce Luck E Strike Stacey King Finesse Jig (black/blue), Luck E Strike Guido Bug trailer (black/blue).
> Swimbait gear: 7'4" Falcon Mike McClelland signature series heavy-cover rod, same reel,15-pound Seaguar fluorocarbon, 4 1/2" Luck E Strike Bass Magic swimbait (shad).
The Bottom Line
> Main factor in his success – "Those guys being willing to bring me that prop out on the water."
> Performance edge – "I have to thank the guys at Ranger Boats. We had enormous waves on Friday, and the way that big Z520 and the Evinrude handled them was nothing short of amazing. I also have to thank Luck E Strike for providing me with the tackle to win this tournament."
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