By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
Quick, someone find the emergency number for the Missouri Department of Conservation. There’s something terribly wrong with the bass fishery at Table Rock Lake. The anglers in Group B of the Bass Pro Tour failed to extend the streak of 1,000-fish days to four during their Elimination Round today, settling for a pedestrian 953 bass. Amateurs!
To be serious, the catch rates have bordered on the absurd so far, as in absurdly good, so any kind of downturn was going to be noticeable. With the water levels falling at the serpentine Ozark lake, those beating the bank (and bushes) have had to make some adjustments.
The only adjustment Ott DeFoe had to make today was deciding how hard he wanted to pursue the two-day catch records set by Cliff Pace during the Group A Elimination Round. DeFoe posted 23-14 in the first period to take over the lead for good. He hauled in 36 bass overall today for 54-14, which pushed his two-day weight to 133-00, just shy of Pace’s 134-13. His 91 bass caught between the Shotgun and Elimination rounds, however, did eclipse Pace’s total of 89.
“It’s the first time I’ve won a round on the BPT,” DeFoe said. “I have had several good days, but it’s my first win, so I’ll take it. It wasn’t my goal this morning to be honest. It was all about catching enough to survive and then getting to practice after that. I was able to practice a lot and there were a few places where I pulled up the trolling motor after catching one. Were there four or five more there? I don’t know. I hope to find out tomorrow.”
That’s when the top 20 from Group A return to the water to duel with the top 20 finishers from Group B in the Knockout Round. All of the prodigious catch totals from the first four days of competition will be erased as it’ll be a one-day shootout to determine the 10 finalists who will advance to Wednesday’s Championship Round.
Thunderstorms are predicted around Branson, Mo., for Monday night and Tuesday with hail possible and winds building to the 30-mph range, conditions that could trigger a delay or postponement of competition Tuesday.
Josh Bertrand, who was the Group B Shotgun Round leader, saw his weight fall off by nearly two-thirds today, but his 23 bass for 31-08 were enough to only drop him to second with 120-13 (82 bass). Cody Meyer clinched his third straight Knockout Round berth by adding 46-07 (26 bass) today, which put him in third with 117-00 (65 bass) overall.
Andy Morgan made it five straight Knockout Rounds with a 36-02 effort today that put him in fourth with 114-03 (70 bass) while Alton Jones Jr. racked up 40-09 in the first period to ignite the week’s biggest rally that saw him climb from 26th to fifth. He had a day-best 67-05 (after posting 38-05 on Saturday) and wound up with 105-10 (56 bass).
“It’s really what I’d hoped for on (Saturday),” Jones said. “I did the exact same thing in the same areas. I just had better results. I’d had a good early morning bite in practice. (Today) definitely boosted my confidence and allowed me to fish more freely. Later in the day, I caught some big fish off new stuff running the same pattern in new water.”
While Jones’ trajectory was upward today, Greg Hackney’s resembled that of an EKG printout. After starting the day in 8th place, he tumbled to 18th by the end of the first period and was 23rd entering the final stanza. He finally settled into an area that he figured had already been fished by other anglers, but he picked off 14 bass for 21-04 in the third to finish 19th with 85-10, 28-14 of which came today.
“I’d envisioned by noon that I’d be done,” Hackney said. “I gambled and shouldn’t have. I should’ve stayed where I was at.”
Stephen Browning was the only other competitor to move from outside to the top 20 into the Knockout Round. He went from 23rd to 14th by catching 37 bass for 54-09 today. Luke Clausen wound up claiming the 20th and final spot with 83-06 overall, edging points leader Edwin Evers by 2 1/2 pounds and snapping Evers’ streak of Knockout Rounds at five.
Dustin Connell and Chris Lane, who started the day in 18th and 19th, respectively, slipped down the standings throughout the day and finished 27th and 31st.
Eleven Group B anglers wound up eclipsing the 100-pound mark for their two-day totals while 12 racked up 60 or more bass over the first two rounds. The 60/100 club included Scott Suggs, who made his first Knockout Round by finishing 7th with 102-12.
Suggs, who finished 42nd at Smith Lake, said his experience in the Ozarks is what’s benefitting him the most at this event.
“I have fished here so much and I’ve got two or three deals going,” he said. “There’s a good chance I may do really well tomorrow or I may be 40th.”
One of the “deals” that’s working for him involves a shaky-head jig. He calls it an “old Ozark trick.”
“When the weather is right and you can do, it’s a deal where you’re going to get bit,” he noted. “It’s all about where I’m putting it.”
He had a shaky start today as he failed to land numerous fish he had hooked. He rebounded to catch 15-09 in the first 2 1/2-hour session.
While Suggs was scratching his head about the lost fish, Jones Jr. was flying up the standings.
He seized on an area where shad were spawning and boated a slew of bass that averaged more than 2-04.
“I can’t count on catching as many big ones as I did again. That was a blessing,” he said. “I caught a good number of fish and I think I have something that could carry me through depending on how the shad spawn goes in the morning (Tuesday).”
After that, he tried to move around to areas without getting bogged down.
“I’m in a region of lake that has a lot of fish and big fish in it,” he said. “Other guys are around, too, but for the most part, I’m fishing it a little differently than others.”
He followed up the 40-pound first period by catching a 5-02 in the second.
“What’s crazy about that is I caught a 3 and a 2 3/4 just prior to that,” he added.
Greg Hackney turned his day around in the third period after falling outside the top 20 following a slow morning.
Over the first five hours of competition today, Hackney had caught just six bass for 7-10 and he spent much of it kicking himself about his decision-making.
“It wasn’t the morning I’d planned,” he said. “The weather was not to my liking and I think it changed the fish a little bit. And the fishing pressure was another thing. It looked like a tournament was going on in the place I started. For a Monday, it blows my mind that many people were out there.”
After running by a stretch that he figured others had picked apart, he came back to it in the third and did all of his damage there.
“I hadn’t put much stock in it, but I got a lot of bites there in the last two hours,” he said. “I also lost four or five and caught enough to make it. I’m blessed to get another shot at them. Hopefully, I learned what not to do today.
“I’m going to spend my time making short moves tomorrow. I’m going to narrow it all down to seven or eight miles. It has all three species in it. For me to do well, one will have to be the dominant species, but I’m still going to need all three. I have fished here a bunch and when I do well, I catch all three.”
DeFoe said he did very little in the way of recycling water other than going back through an area that was productive on day 1 later today. He got three bites and shook them all off. He spent the last hour trying to eclipse Pace’s records.
“I caught one and I was 9 pounds away with an hour to fish,” he said. “I was in an area that once I got in there, I had no intention of coming back. I lost one that might’ve been close to 3 and I needed 3-03. With four minutes to go, I caught a 1-07 to get close.”
Confidence-wise, he’s as strong as he’s been in his career and he’s hoping he can carry it through the next two days.
“I’m able to make good decisions and it’s rolling good,” he said. “I’m confident, but I also know how fickle the game is. This is the first time I’ve made two cuts in a row. When I’ve had a good tournament, I try not to forget what happened the day before, but I kind of do. I wanted to take each day new for itself, especially when you’re not out there on consecutive days. Once I started doing that and not banking on yesterday or two days ago, in my good events that’s what has worked. Conditions-wise and where my bites came from, I think tomorrow should be good.”
Weather Forecast
> Tue., May 21 –Thunderstorms, High Winds - 80°/56°
- Wind: From the SSE at 15 to 25 mph
> Wed., May 22 – Partly Sunny - 88°/69°
- Wind: From the S at 10 to 15 mph
Group B Elimination Round (Day 4) Results
1. Ott DeFoe -- 55, 78-02 -- 36, 54-14 -- 91, 133-00
2. Josh Bertrand -- 59, 89-05 -- 23, 31-08 -- 82, 120-13
3. Cody Meyer -- 39, 70-09 -- 26, 46-07 -- 65, 117-00
4. Andy Morgan -- 50, 78-01 -- 20, 36-02 -- 70, 114-03
5. Alton Jones Jr. -- 25, 38-05 -- 31, 67-05 -- 56, 105-10
6. Bobby Lane -- 51, 73-07 -- 21, 30-14 -- 72, 104-05
7. Scott Suggs -- 37, 56-07 -- 29, 46-05 -- 66, 102-12
8. Justin Atkins -- 33, 57-12 -- 30, 44-15 -- 63, 102-11
9. Jacob Wheeler -- 46, 70-07 -- 21, 31-08 -- 67, 101-15
10. Marty Robinson -- 34, 51-10 -- 31, 49-05 -- 65, 100-15
11. Brent Ehrler -- 32, 53-08 -- 27, 46-08 -- 59, 100-00
12. Mark Davis -- 32, 53-14 -- 26, 40-06 -- 58, 94-04
13. Cliff Crochet -- 34, 54-01 -- 26, 40-02 -- 60, 94-03
14. Stephen Browning -- 26, 38-08 -- 37, 54-09 -- 63, 93-01
15. Wesley Strader -- 36, 51-00 -- 26, 41-07 -- 62, 92-07
16. Gerald Swindle -- 36, 54-06 -- 21, 33-15 -- 57, 88-05
17. Jonathon VanDam -- 26, 48-04 -- 22, 40-01 -- 48, 88-05
18. Jordan Lee -- 25, 43-01 -- 28, 42-10 -- 53, 85-11
19. Greg Hackney -- 32, 56-12 -- 20, 28-14 -- 52, 85-10
20. Luke Clausen -- 34, 50-06 -- 20, 32-16 -- 54, 83-06
The following anglers missed the cut and will compete in the Knockout Round.
21. Edwin Evers -- 24, 38-06 -- 28, 42-07 -- 52, 80-13
22. Matt Lee -- 26, 38-07 -- 26, 39-10 -- 52, 78-01
23. Kevin VanDam -- 21, 37-10 -- 28, 39-14 -- 49, 77-08
24. Takahiro Omori -- 20, 28-04 -- 29, 48-07 -- 49, 76-11
25. Terry Scroggins -- 22, 39-04 -- 22, 37-03 -- 44, 76-07
26. Brandon Palaniuk -- 18, 33-11 -- 23, 42-06 -- 41, 76-01
27. Dustin Connell -- 24, 42-13 -- 23, 33-00 -- 47, 75-13
28. Gerald Spohrer -- 25, 41-11 -- 20, 33-11 -- 45, 75-06
29. James Elam -- 16, 25-15 -- 35, 48-11 -- 51, 74-10
30. Alton Jones -- 22, 32-02 -- 28, 40-10 -- 50, 72-12
31. Chris Lane -- 23, 42-00 -- 15, 27-05 -- 38, 69-05
32. Brandon Coulter -- 26, 38-02 -- 18, 29-02 -- 44, 67-04
33. Mike McClelland -- 19, 31-05 -- 20, 35-06 -- 39, 66-11
34. Keith Poche -- 27, 36-10 -- 20, 27-01 -- 47, 63-11
35. Kelly Jordon -- 21, 32-10 -- 16, 30-15 -- 37, 63-09
36. Tommy Biffle -- 20, 32-08 -- 11, 23-15 -- 31, 56-07
37. Jason Lambert -- 12, 18-05 -- 21, 31-02 -- 33, 49-07
38. David Walker -- 8, 14-01 -- 20, 29-15 -- 28, 44-00
39. Boyd Duckett -- 5, 7-14 -- 19, 28-09 -- 24, 36-07
40. Shaw Grigsby -- 13, 23-10 -- 7, 10-03 -- 20, 33-13
