Plenty of locals faltered today at the Table Rock PAA Tournament Series, but not Shane Long from nearby Sarcoxie, Mo. He boxed another solid 13-plus-pound limit and blew the field away by almost 7 pounds.
The conditions were once again all wrong for Table Rock - glass-calm water and high, bluebird skies – but Long still spooned up a 5-pounder to anchor his
three-species bag.
Long won the Lake of the Ozarks Stren last year, but said this win means more – it brings greater prestige, given the field and TV coverage.
The win paid him $5,000 plus a fully rigged Nitro boat package.
He and other locals were treated to an eye-opener today when Tommy Biffle went ultra-shallow and rocked a 6-plus-pounder alongside other good fish. Just like he did several years ago at Oneida in New York – another clear-water fishery – Biffle flipped to shade in inches of water and weighed 16.45.
Several of the top finishers noted how shocked they were that such fish would bite on a day like today.
Biffle moved all the way up from 17th to finish 3rd, and in so doing, locked up the Angler of the Year (AOY) title for the PAA Series. He receives free entry to next year's PAA Series and is guaranteed a berth in the planned All-Star events.
Aaron Martens also caught 'em today. Martens started the day in 12th, caught 14.21 out deep and moved up to finish 2nd – 7 pounds in back of Long.
Kelly Power, a local who began the day in 2nd, fizzled out with a 9.41-pound bag of dock-fish and finished 4th.
Brain Snowden, also a local, likewise fizzled with 10.16 and slipped two spots to finish 5th.
Long Spooned
Long wants to fish the FLW Tour next year, and his prize will help him toward that goal. The win should also help him boost opportunities with his title sponsor ANPAC insurance.
He spooned up fish all day once again, despite the glass-calm conditions, and relied on a few primary areas. There was clearly a tremendous concentration of fish there.
"It's great, man – a big relief," he said shortly after the win. "I'm glad it's all over with and done. It was a great win against a lot of good anglers.
"I had a great day today even though it was kind of slow. The fish weren't eating like they'd been – they were more slapping at the bait. I lost quite a few fish, but it all worked out."
Aaron Martens fished his trademark dropshot and largely targeted suspended fish.
About Biffle's shallow-water surge, Long said: "I was real surprised those fish bit that shallow, being high-pressure and bluebird. The guys kept telling me that it's never over 'til it's over, because these guys can catch a big sack anytime. They were right."
Long caught all his weigh-fish deep with a white Luck-E-Strike 3J jigging spoon, he said. The full details of his winning pattern will be posted soon.
2nd: Martens Happy
This marked the second time Martens posted a runner-up finish at The Rock. The first was at the 2005 Bassmaster Tour.
But in his eyes, given his position this morning, he was fishing for 2nd place, and he accomplished that goal today.
"I couldn't catch (Long) – he's just too good here," Martens said. "He's been fishing the lake for years, and it's hard to beat those guys in conditions like this. But I'm totally happy with 2nd. It's a good way to finish the year."
Martens largely fished deep brush and trees with a dropshot – a 4" Roboworm "Mini" in Aaron's magic and a Gary Yamamoto Shad Shape worm in watermelon/green-pumpkin. The fish today weren't relating to the brush anymore, he said – they were 40 to 50 feet away. He mainly targeted suspenders.
"In practice, I could catch 13 pounds easy. The conditions changed so much it got a lot tougher. In practice they were on brush and I could just rotate, but today they were suspended halfway up from bottom, so I tried to cast the dropshot out and kind of swim it through the water."
3rd: Biffle Went Shallow
Tommy Biffle busted on day 1 when he ran up the river and weighed just three fish for 6.22. But he went shallow the next day, rallied and ultimately finished 3rd. And in the process locked up the AOY title.
"That was what I was wanting to do when I came up here," he said of the title. "That was a goal I wanted to get done, and it's a good deal.
Tommy Biffle struck out on deep fish and then the water slicked off, so he knew he had to change.
"This is a pretty strong field from both tours," he added. "It's a lot of the same guys I fish against in BASS, and a lot of the good guys from FLW. And the fisheries were tough, but sometimes I'd rather have them tough. I seem to do better when it's tough than when they catch 100 pounds. It's not as fun, but sometimes they're better for me."
No surprise that he caught all his weigh-fish on his Gene Larew Biffle Bug in the Sooner Run color – the same bait he used to win the Ft. Gibson Bassmaster Elite Series earlier this year. He used his Gene Larew Biffle HardHead some in open water, but flipped with a 5/16-ounce weight.
Also of note: When someone like Martens downsizes, he steps down from 8- to 7-pound line. Biffle "downsized" this week and went from 25- to 20-pound Sunline Sniper fluorocarbon.
"The first day I tried to catch them out deep and I shouldn't have," Biffle said. "I really didn't know they were in the bushes. I fished a lot of bushes in practice and I was keying on deeper bushes. But they were in shallower bushes. The water's crystal clear, but I couldn't see any fish to give me the clue they were real shallow.
"After I had three fish that first day and the water slicked off (on day 2), I said, 'Well, I have to change.' That's when I started flipping. I wish I'd done that the first day."
Kelly Power fished docks all week.
4th: Power Spooned, Jigged
"I had a real good tournament – I had the bites, but just lost a few key fish," Power said. "Today, of the three I lost, none would have put me above 2nd. But Shane did awesome – he got the key bites when he needed them."
Power fished docks with a 3/4-ounce Jewel Football jig (PBJ) tipped with a Gary Yamamoto double-tail grub (green-pumpkin). He also caught fish on a 3/4-ounce War Eagle slab spoon.
"The first day I caught all my bigger fish on the spoon," he noted. "The second day I caught one of my big ones on it. Today my fish changed to the jig. I stayed down in the Indian Point area and didn't make any kind of move. I just stayed in the clear water. I think with no wind, the fish just got off the spoon and were on the jig a little better."
Notable
> Snowden on his 5th-place finish: "I didn't have the opportunities to win it, but I tried to do what it takes to win. I'm a little disappointed, but I didn't have the bites. Shane did a good job – he beat us pretty handily. I caught some on a dropshot the first day and some on a football-head. The second day I caught some on the football and a spinnerbait, and today I weighed all my fish on a finesse jig around boat docks."
> After the first day, Dave Lefebre told BassFan that he was on a smallmouth pattern nobody else was running (that he saw). He was moving into the backs of pockets and fishing the last bottom transition in that pocket – typically rocky shale banks that turned into pea gravel. The shad had to be there (he saw them visually dimpling the surface as he drove in) and he ran the pattern on new water every day from Kimberling all the way back to the ramp. "For 2 days I could call my shot, but it just didn't happen today," he said.
> Edwin Evers finished 2nd in the AOY race.
Final Standings
1. Shane Long – 43.34
2. Aaron Martens -- 36.41
3. Tommy Biffle -- 36.27
4. Kelly Power -- 36.16
5. Brian Snowden -- 35.65
6. Gary Klein -- 33.97
7. Stacey King -- 33.31
8. Mark Rose -- 33.27
9. Dave Lefebre -- 32.83
10. Takahiro Omori -- 31.20
11. James Watson -- 29.94
12. JT Palmore -- 29.36
13. Ronnie Wagner -- 29.35
14. Chris Brasher -- 29.10
15. Rick Clunn -- 28.11
16. Matt Reed -- 27.08
17. Terry Butcher -- 26.10
18. Charles Bebber -- 25.28
19. Edwin Evers -- 24.51
20. Bradley Hallman -- 23.04
21. Tommy Martin -- 21.77
22. Shinichi Fukae -- 21.60
23. Brian Travis -- 20.51
24. Harold Allen -- 18.53
