Stacey King told BassFan last night that he wasn't overly confident with a day of fishing left at the Table Rock PAA Tournament Series in Missouri. He told his wife Peggy the same thing, then got an earful from his biggest sponsor. He changed his mindset and in the first hour of fishing delivered an old-fashioned Ozarks butt-whuppin'.
King launched onto Table Rock this morning with a 1-pound lead, but had the tournament won in the first 90 minutes of fishing when he boxed nearly all of his massive 23-pound limit.
He finished 6 pounds ahead of his nearest competitor and pocketed more than $50,000 in merchandise and cash. It's also a meaningful win for the veteran pro. King bested his peers on his home water in the middle of his best season in years, and although he'll fish the FLW Tour finale as a longshot to win FLW Tour Angler of the Year, he now carries a ton of momentum into that event.
Mike McClelland, who ran a similar pattern to King, roped 22 pounds today and moved up three spots to finish 2nd. McClelland needed a strong finish after he wrapped up his worst tour season ever last week at the Wheeler Bassmaster Elite Series. McClelland termed this event "my slumpbuster."
Brian Travis came in light with 12.86 pounds and slipped one spot to finish 3rd. And Tommy Biffle likewise came in light with 13.03 and dropped two spots to finish 5th.
A 15-pound bag for Terry Butcher preserved his 4th-place standing.
The water at Table Rock is still exceptionally high, but it's receding. Biffle and Travis both flipped bushes and clearly that pattern faded as the tournament went on, perhaps because the falling water and climbing water temps finally pushed the quality fish back out into their summer channel homes.
King and McClelland, who fished channel-swing bluff-ends, intercepted a bite that was simply on fire today, and after months of rain and cold weather, their explosive day probably marked the official beginning of summer fishing on Table Rock.
King' Favorite Time
> Day 3: 5, 22.99 (15, 58.52)
King came into the event with a single goal, to win, and nothing much else mattered in terms of a finish.
"It worked out for me this time," he told BassFan shortly after weigh-in. "I just fished for big fish and this is one of my favorite times of the year to fish Table Rock. The big fish start to get onto their summer structure – it really fits into my gameplan and what I like to do."
King caught all his weigh-fish on big worms.
About his lack of confidence last night, King said: "I told that to my wife and she ate my butt off. I had to change my way of thinking by morning. You know, I really didn't know what to expect, but I had a place where I caught a 5-pounder and one other small fish the first day. I hadn't fished it since then, and my best area was played out yesterday – I milked it dry along with a couple of other guys."
He said he stopped on that spot he'd saved first thing this morning and it was happening.
"It's not way up in the James (River) – it's in the mid-James – and as I went up there, there was no one on the spot. I pulled right in there and set down right in the middle of a huge school of big fish. On my second cast I caught a 6-pounder and it was lights-out after that. I had the thing won by 7:30.
"It was meant to be this time."
He threw two big worms – a 12" Bass Pro Shops Squirmin' Super Worm and a 13" Go To handpoured straight-tail worm. Both were in plum and redbug.
The details of his winning pattern will be posted soon.
2nd: McClelland Happy
> Day 3: 5, 22.00 (15, 52.40)
For McClelland, this event offered some vindication. He suffered through a disastrous Elite Series season in which he cashed just one check and generally finished in the 70s and 80s. Quite a turnaround for a pro who was routinely ranked within the Top 10 in the world.
Mike McClelland said he made a bad decision the first day, but pulled out of it by noon and scrambled to save the day.
McClelland wrestled all year with wrong decisions, he said, and he was still stuck on that tack early this week. But he recognized a bad decision on day 1 and recovered enough to catch 12 pounds. If he'd made the right decision that morning, he perhaps could have caught King.
"I wish this turned out as a win, but I've been in a bad slump and hopefully this will get me on the right track again," he said. "Stacey had a little bit of a struggle yesterday and only caught 15 pounds, but came back strong. I let this thing get away from me the first day.
"My performance has been a personal battle this year," he added. "The thing about it is, you can't take for granted the competition in these PAA events. You mix in some of the best from FLW, from the Elites, and some of the best locals in any area we fish, and it feels really good to get on a body of water I'm somewhat familiar with and have a good tournament. I actually haven't been here in June since 2003 and I felt I really put things together to get back where I need to be."
An interesting sidenote: It was King who first took McClelland under his wing when McClelland started his career in the '90s. "This is where I learned to bass-fish," McClelland said. "If I'm going to get beat here, I want to get beat by Stacey King. When I was 16 years old he took me under his wing and took me out on the Bassmaster Tour with him. He's one of the most incredible anglers I've ever been around."
McClelland generally fished 10- to 15-foot depths this week and caught fish on a Zoom Ol' Monster worm, a swimbait and a 5/8-ounce Jewel jig tipped with a full-size Zoom Brush Hog.
3rd: Travis Stayed Shallow
> Day 3: 5, 12.86 (15, 47.37)
Travis spent his 3 days pitching a Pig Sticker jig, tipped with either a Strike King Rage craw or Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed craw, in shallow water. He averaged 17 pounds over the first 2 days, but the quality was never there to contend with King or in the end, McClelland either.
Brian Travis decided to stay close and fish his strengths.
"I just never got a big bite today," Travis said. "But I'm very happy with it. If somebody had asked me where I was going to finish after my practice, I would have probably bet against myself. I had a good tournament. I didn't miss any that might have helped me, and I fished as hard as I could and made the right decision to fish the way I like to fish.
"I stayed close to launch, maximized my time and really fished to my strengths."
He said his key area was a flooded gravel parking lot and boat ramp that was under 6 to 7 feet of water.
5th: Biffle Mixed
Day 3: 5, 15.03 (15, 45.26)
On the one hand, Biffle's happy that a 5th-place finish moved him up to 2nd in the PAA Series points, and he wants to win the points title for the second year in a row. On the other hand, he's disappointed he moved backwards to 5th today.
"I'd have liked to have ended up a little better here, but I was just struggling to get a big bite," he said. "There weren't that many big fish in the bushes, so I thought the only way I could have won was to get real lucky and get four or five real big bites. I didn't think that was going to happen. I'd have liked to have stayed in 3rd – you never like to move backward – but all in all it was a fun tournament."
He spent his 3 days flipping a Texas-rigged Gene Larew Biffle Bug in the Sooner Run color. His target was willow trees in about 10 feet of water.
Notable
> Todd Auten now leads the PAA Series points with one event to go. Biffle's 4 points behind in 2nd and McClelland's 8 points behind in 3rd. To view the points standings, click here.
> For the final Table Rock standings, click here.
