Brasher Pops 7-Pounder, Leads Big Names By 4 1/2

The PAA Tournament Series field arrived at Table Rock Lake in Missouri a few weeks too early. Pretty soon now, the fall transition will begin and big largemouths will move shallow.

Instead, the field faces a wildly unpredictable bite with scattered fish in all depths. Plus, matters were complicated today by a cold front that delivered high, bluebird skies.

Many in the 73-boat field struggled. There were seven zeroes and nine pros in the Top 35 failed to catch a limit.

But on the flip side, there were some stout weights up top.

Day-1 leader Chris Brasher, a relative unknown from Spring, Texas, boated a 7-pounder and a few other big bites en route to a 19 1/2-pound limit. After a 1/4-ounce penalty – his big fish died despite an early check-in – his weight settled at 19.27 pounds, which gave him a 4 1/2-pound lead over 2nd-place Stacey King.

Brasher had his weight by 10:30 then played some defense until the threat of a dead fish sent him to the docks.

King, a local and veteran, brought in a 14.71-pound limit that included a largemouth, two spots and two smallmouths.

Veteran Harold Allen sits a pound behind King with his limit of largemouths.

Next there's Jami Fralick in 4th (14.24) followed by Brian Snowden (14.12), who's fresh off a Toyota Texas Bass Classic (TTBC) win.

If Table Rock plays out tomorrow like in years past, weights should tighten up and an average of 13 to 14 pounds could be the mark to stay in contention on the final day. Brasher's 19 pounds will take him a long way, but he's got to back it up with at least 12 pounds tomorrow.

Brasher Played Some Defense

Brasher's an AFS Texas-division pro. He didn't have the money to fish the FLW Tour this year, so he decided to give the four-event PAA Series a shot because it gave him a chance to qualify for the TTBC at his home lake Conroe. He didn't make the TTBC, but could find some redemption with a win at The Rock this week.

He told BassFan that his day started with two decent fish almost immediately. He caught two more a little while later then roped the 7-pounder. After that he backed off and played defense on the spot that surrendered 19 pounds by 10:30.

"It feels real good when I didn't think there was any way I could catch a big one up here," he said. "After I backed off to let them rest, I was messing around in 100 feet of water and my graph went off. I went to kick the motor over and it was dead. I had to rewire some batteries to kick the motor over, and when I did, I went to check my fish and the big one was looking pretty bad, so I went to weigh in at about 2:00.

"The big one ended up dying on the way in. I hated to lose that big fish like that. I tried earlier to bleed her (swim bladder) four or five times. I got the rest bled right, but I couldn't get her to go down."

He's fishing deep – as evidenced by the swim-bladder issue – and doesn't know if he's got much beyond that one spot. He found others like it in practice, but his spot today was the best of the bunch. And because he never left, he doesn't know if any other boats hit his backup stuff today.

"Catching 19 pounds here is a feat in itself, so if I can repeat 19 pounds tomorrow I'd be real happy," he said. "But that 7-pounder goes a long way here. I'm confident I can go out and catch around 12 pounds tomorrow. I'm not catching a lot of fish, but when I get bit it's a good one."

2nd: King Happy

King's practice went okay, he said. He caught 11 pounds two of the days, and his best day was 14 pounds. He matched that best day today, so he's happy.

He caught a mixed bag of three species and noted the species are in the same places.

"I'm not on any great bunch of big fish. I'm just trying to be consistent. I have a lot of spots holding good fish if I could just get them to bite. The key for me, and I don't mind telling, is with this high pressure and bluebird skies, the fish are relating to cover. So I'm trying to find underwater timber or brush or boat docks – something that's got some cover. It's just so bright here and the water's relatively clear, the fish are looking for cover."

He did run banks this morning and caught three keepers doing that, then fell back to his cover pattern.

"If the water temperature was 10 degrees cooler we'd see a lot more 15-plus-pound stringers. But the water's still in the 70s, and there's no rain or runoff so the backs of the creeks are clear. Those aren't good conditions. But this lake's got so many fish, somebody's going to catch some good ones tomorrow."

3rd: Allen Catching Largemouths

Allen had a rough practice, he said, but adjusted today and got to catching them. He hauled in 14.60 pounds of largemouths.

"I'm really, really proud of the day I had," he said. "I really didn't think we had this much going in practice – it'd been a really tough practice – but I got in an area today, made some changes, kind of figured out a little more about what was there and what the fish were doing and ended up having a good day."

His best fish weighed a little better than 4 pounds. He had another close to that and the rest were in the 2-pound class. He made one stop on the way in and caught two smallmouths, but neither helped him.

"I don't know whether I hurt it or not," he said in reference to his area. "I caught them differently today than I did in practice. Maybe I expanded on what I already had – I don't know. But I hope I didn't hurt them.

"Like I said, the bite's been tough. We had this front come through and it was pretty cold this morning. It's kind of changed every day."

5th: Snowden From 3 To 60

Snowden, who like King lives in nearby Reeds Spring, described Table Rock as a "moody" lake. He was wanting to do one thing in practice, but the fish wanted none of it, so he ditched his entire practice today and fished new water.

"Hopefully I can go out and do some more of that tomorrow and it'll work again," he said. "I fished shallow for smallmouths this morning but must have run the wrong places. Later I caught two good largemouths in brush. Honestly, I caught some fish in 3 feet of water and some fish in 60 feet. When this lake turns over it really scatters the fish and that's why we're seeing so many ups and downs with the weights and guys catching them all different ways."

Also like King, his bag included fish of all three species.

"I'd be real happy with another 14 pounds tomorrow," Snowden noted. "That would be great. But we'll have to see what the leader does – if he can back that up with 15 or 16 pounds, he's figured out something that no one else has."

Notable

> Due to his early check-in, a photo of Brasher was not available.

> Mark Rose (21st, 10.19) was one of many pros who came in right around 10-pound mark today. "I was expecting to have a pound or two more than I had," he said. "Don't get me wrong – I'm thankful for those five – but it was a tough day with the high, bluebird skies. The fish had been feeding a little better than they were today so I'm thankful to come out of it with five."

> Mike McClelland, like Rose, couldn't connect with size. He's 22nd with 10.03. "It was a frustrating day because I actually spent more of my day trying to catch a big one than a limit. I didn't have my fifth fish until 2:45. Now that I see the weights, I'll try to catch a limit earlier tomorrow."

> Boyd Duckett came up one fish short of a limit. He's currently 32nd with 7.58 pounds. "The bite I was working on – it kind of evaporated," he said. "I was fishing timber that maybe was a little shallower and I had a few good bites in practice. I was hoping that it would hold up, but it didn't."

> This is the final event of the PAA Series season. Points leader Edwin Evers is currently 36th. Tommy Biffle, who trails Evers by 11 points, is 40th.

Day 1 Standings

1. Chris Brasher -- 5,19.27

2. Stacey King -- 5, 14.71

3. Harold Allen -- 5, 14.60

4. Jami Fralick -- 5, 14.24

5. Brian Snowden -- 5, 14.12

6. Rick Clunn -- 5, 14.10

7. Matt Reed -- 5, 13.53

8. Gary Klein -- 5, 13.24

9. Shane Long -- 5, 12.50

10. Randy Haynes -- 5, 12.48

11. Takahiro Omori -- 5, 12.42

12. Kelly Power -- 5, 12.37

13. Ronnie Wagner -- 5, 12.08

14. James W. Watson -- 5, 11.84

15. Terry Butcher -- 5, 11.49

16. Aaron Martens -- 5, 11.32

17. Charles Bebber -- 5, 11.08

18. Brian W. Travis -- 5, 10.65

19. Rob Burns -- 5, 10.55

20. Justin Rackley -- 5, 10.41

21. Mark Rose -- 5, 10.19

22. Mike Mcclelland -- 5, 10.03

23. Jason Christie -- 5, 9.84

24. John Crews, Jr. -- 5, 9.78

25. Woo Daves -- 5, 9.73

26. Shinichi Fukae -- 5, 9.45

27. Dave Lefebre -- 4, 9.05

28. Tommy Martin -- 4, 8.10

29. Guy H. Eaker, Sr. -- 3, 7.82

30. Greg Vinson -- 2, 7.82

31. Lance J. Williams -- 2, 7.73

32. Boyd Duckett -- 4, 7.58

33. Charlie Hartley -- 3, 7.07

34. Gary Clouse -- 3, 6.86

35. Stuart P. Arthur -- 2, 6.60

36. Edwin Evers -- 3, 6.54

37. Bradley Hallman -- 3, 6.38

38. Eric Johnson -- 4, 6.36

39. Jeff Kriet -- 3, 6.35

40. Tommy Biffle -- 3, 6.22

41. Dave Mansue -- 3, 6.19

42. J T. Palmore -- 3, 6.16

43. Craig M. Dowling -- 3, 5.90

44. Mark Menendez -- 3, 5.44

45. Jonathan Black -- 3, 5.06

46. John Plumlee -- 2, 4.98

47. Patrick Pierce -- 3, 4.86

48. Sammy D. Burks -- 3, 4.73

49. Chris Daves -- 2, 4.31

50. Lupe Garcia -- 2, 4.19

51. Ott Defoe -- 2, 3.90

52. Shaw Grigsby -- 2, 3.84

53. Darin Deatherage -- 2, 3.58

54. Billy Mccaghren -- 2, 3.35

55. Dion Hibdon -- 1, 3.25

56. Mike L. Williamson -- 2, 3.20

57. Sandra P. Karnes -- 1, 2.82

58. Wil Hardy -- 1, 2.54

59. Art Ferguson III -- 1, 2.53

59. Harley Brigman -- 1, 2.53

61. Fred Roumbanis -- 1, 1.97

62. Keith Caka -- 1, 1.95

63. Chad Morgenthaler -- 1, 1.82

64. Lance Vick -- 1, 1.81

65. David R. Hendrick -- 1, 1.76

66. Stephen Johnston -- 1, 1.75

67. Mark S. Williamson -- 0, 0.00

67. Tommy Durham -- 0, 0.00

67. Joe Gerard -- 0, 0.00

67. Russ Clark -- 0, 0.00

67. Sam Rosefski -- 0, 0.00

67. Gene Ellison -- 0, 0.00

67. Tim Horton -- 0, 0.00