By BassFan Staff
The fact that Tommy Biffle won the Mississippi River Bassmaster Elite Series is no real shocker – the sprawling, shallow-water venue is his type of place. The fact that he won it primarily by catching smallmouth bass, however, is a bit of a surprise.
The veteran from Oklahoma claimed his fourth career Elite Series victory on Sunday with a 4-day total of 64-02. His 16-13 bag was the best of the final day and eclipsed Aaron Martens – who'd led ever since Brandon Palaniuk was disqualified due to a culling violation on the evening of day 2 – by about 2 1/2 pounds.
Martens, who now has two runner-up showings and an 8th in the past three events, sacked 13-15 to finish with 61-11. John Crews, who settled into the No. 3 spot on day 1 and pretty much stayed there the rest of the way, caught a stout 16-06 on the final day for a 59-04 aggregate.
Fred Roumbanis moved up one spot to 4th with a 14-15 stringer that pushed his total to 56-08. He swapped places with Brandon Card, who caught 13-10 to conclude with 56-02.
Here are the final numbers for the remainder of the Top 12:
6. Todd Faircloth: 59-15
7. Bobby Lane: 55-13
8. Cliff Pirch: 55-11
9. Takahiro Omori: 55-07
10. Randy Howell: 53-05
11. Edwin Evers: 51-08
12. Cliff Crochet: 51-04
The final day was the calmest of the event as the competitors were able to stay dry and weren't forced to deal with heavy wind or lightning. However, a big-time monsoon that rolled through overnight had a big impact on the fishing conditions, as muddy water made many areas unfishable.
The derby marked the three-quarter pole for the 2013 season, with the final two events scheduled for the smallmouth-rich waters of Lake St. Clair at the St. Lawrence River in August. Evers will carry a huge lead in the Toyota Tundra B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year (AOY) race into the first of those, as he's 44 points up on Skeet Reese. To put that into perspective, Evers' lead over Reese is larger than Reese's margin over 11th-place Chris Zaldain.
Relief for Biffle
> Day 4: 5, 16-13 (20, 64-02)
Biffle's win moved him up to 27th in the AOY race, which would fall well inside the 2014 Bassmaster Classic cutoff after double-qualifiers were factored in, but he's glad he doesn't have to worry about that anymore.
"Probably the best part is I'm in the Classic," he said. "I can go to those next two (tournaments) and have some fun. I can swing for the fence and try to catch some big smallmouth."
His original plan for today was to stay put in his prime bronzeback locale, but he altered that at mid-morning when the action was slow. With one quality fish in his livewell, he came back upriver and flipped up a big largemouth, then went back to his main area to give it one more try.
It gave him another 3-pounder, but that was it. In the final hour, he ran to an island in the current that he'd discovered in practice and pulled the winning fish – two smallmouths in the 4-pound class – from a cut between the island and the bank.
He boated just 10 keepers for the day, which was down about 80 percent from day 3.
"I didn't catch a bunch today because I kept trying to catch those big smallmouths."
A Gene Larew Biffle Bug – whether bounced along on a Larew HardHead or flipped underneath a worm weight - was his primary weapon. Full details of his winning pattern, as well as those of the other Top-5 finishers, will be published soon.
2nd: Martens couldn't Upgrade
> Day 4: 5, 13-15 (20, 61-11)
Martens said he was keenly aware for the final 3 hours of the day that he didn't have enough weight to hold off Biffle. He was unable to upgrade during that period.
Aaron Martens has logged runner-up finishes in two of the last three events.
"I did all I could do – I kept trying things to get bigger fish, but I kept catching the same size," he said. "I think a lot of them had been caught – there were a lot of boats in that small area (throughout the event). If there'd only been like three guys in there the whole tournament, I'm sure I could've won.
"Everything got divided up and beat up and the big ones got tough to catch."
He's ravenous for a victory after so many near-misses recently.
"Obviously I had a really good tournament, but I want to win. At this stage of my career, I always fish like that."
He said he had as many as 40 spectator boats following him today.
"It made it a little difficult, but it was pretty cool. Kevin (VanDam) gets that all the time - it shows they're pulling for you."
3rd: Crews Content
> Day 4: 5, 16-06 (20, 59-04)
Crews was pleased with how the event unfolded.
"I feel pretty good about it," he said. "I definitely feel like I maxed out what I found. I really didn't feel like I found the areas that had the winning fish, but I did what I could with what I found and maybe next time will be my time."
Three of his final-day fish were in the 3 3/4- to 4-pound range. He also weighed a 3 and a 2.
"I executed pretty well. I had one fish that was pretty big blow up on a frog, but I never got it hooked.
"My water was a little muddy, but not bad. I was fishing out kind of near the main river channel, but above where the big river flows into the pool. From there on down got the brunt of it."
5th: Big Boost for Card
Card was the AOY leader after the season's first two events in Texas, but three straight missed 50-cuts (including two finishes in the 90s) had sent him plummeting on the points list.
This finish put him back in Classic contention.
"After the Alabama River I was so bummed, but I think having that month off was really good for me," he said. "I stayed on Douglas Lake (in his home state of Tennessee) and caught some really big stringers, and that got my confidence back up. Now coming here and getting a Top-5 is pretty awesome."
He fished the lower end of Pool 8, where most of the water had a chocolate brown hue today in the wake of the previous night's storm.
"I caught pretty much everything off one rocky point – it was the only place I could find that had clear water. There was a strip right by the rocks that came out 15 or 20 feet and was maybe 30 yards long, if that. I just sat there and hammered on them."
8th: Pirch Pounded Docks
> Day 4: 5, 14-09 (20, 55-11)
Pirch is in a similar situation to Card: He bombed at the Alabama River (94th), but this performance got him right back into the Classic hunt at No. 28 in the points.
"I needed one like this to get back in it," he said. "That last one was terrible."
He spent the majority of the tournament fishing around docks flipping a jig of his own design (Clifford Pirch Outdoors) and dropshotting a Roboworm.
"There's a thousand ways to fish here, so I decided to go with my strengths. I found some docks with grass and wood that were holding fish, and I caught them on the dropshot a little bit later when I backed out.
"There was a bluegill spawn going on and a lot of good fish were shallow early in the tournament. After a day or 2 I quit getting those big bites and all I was catching were fry-guarders, so I moved out."
All of the fish he weighed today were in the 3-pound range.
"I culled so many times and it was for less than an ounce almost every time. I didn't get any real kicker bites – they were all just big-headed, skinny post-spawn fish."
Notable
> Day 4 stats – 12 anglers, 12 limits.
Day 4 (Final) Standings
1. Tommy Biffle -- Wagoner, OK -- 20, 64-02 -- 99 $101,000
Day 1: 5, 14-00 Day 2: 5, 16-00 Day 3: 5, 17-05 Day 4: 5, 16-13
2. Aaron Martens -- Leeds, AL -- 20, 61-11 -- 98 -- $27,000
Day 1: 5, 14-04 Day 2: 5, 17-03 Day 3: 5, 16-05 Day 4: 5, 13-15
3. John Crews -- Salem, VA -- 20, 59-04 -- 97 -- $20,000
Day 1: 5, 15-07 Day 2: 5, 13-01 Day 3: 5, 14-06 Day 4: 5, 16-06
4. Fred Roumbanis -- Bixby, OK -- 20, 56-08 -- 96 -- $15,000
Day 1: 5, 14-04 Day 2: 5, 13-06 Day 3: 5, 13-15 Day 4: 5, 14-15
5. Brandon Card -- Caryville, TN -- 20, 56-02 -- 95 -- $14,000
Day 1: 5, 14-09 Day 2: 5, 13-09 Day 3: 5, 14-06 Day 4: 5, 13-10
6. Todd Faircloth -- Jasper, TX -- 20, 55-15 -- 94 -- $13,500
Day 1: 5, 14-05 Day 2: 5, 13-15 Day 3: 5, 12-14 Day 4: 5, 14-13
7. Bobby Lane -- Lakeland, FL -- 20, 55-13 -- 93 -- $13,000
Day 1: 5, 14-05 Day 2: 5, 11-09 Day 3: 5, 15-04 Day 4: 5, 14-11
8. Clifford Pirch -- Payson, AZ -- 20, 55-11 -- 92 -- $12,500
Day 1: 5, 14-11 Day 2: 5, 11-12 Day 3: 5, 14-11 Day 4: 5, 14-09
9. Takahiro Omori -- Emory, TX -- 20, 55-07 -- 91 -- $12,500
Day 1: 5, 14-03 Day 2: 5, 12-09 Day 3: 5, 14-12 Day 4: 5, 13-15
10. Randy Howell -- Springville, AL -- 20, 53-05 -- 90 -- $11,500
Day 1: 5, 13-14 Day 2: 5, 13-08 Day 3: 5, 13-08 Day 4: 5, 12-07
11. Edwin Evers -- Talala, OK -- 20, 51-08 -- 89 -- $12,000
Day 1: 5, 13-05 Day 2: 5, 12-06 Day 3: 5, 15-03 Day 4: 5, 10-10
12. Cliff Crochet -- Pierre Part, LA -- 20, 51-04 -- 88 -- $10,500
Day 1: 5, 13-12 Day 2: 5, 13-00 Day 3: 5, 14-02 Day 4: 5, 10-06
