Kicker Fish pro Chris Brasher of Texas caught a five-bass limit weighing 19.27 pounds Thursday, including the day’s big bass of 7.11 pounds, to grab the lead on Table Rock Lake in the PAA Bass Pro Shops Tournament Series presented by Carrot Stix.
Brasher has a lead of more than five pounds over Bass Pro Shops pro Stacey King of Missouri, who had 14.71 pounds. King led a powerful list leaders recognized among the “who’s who” in professional bass fishing in the top 10 of the final event of the PAA Tournament Series season.
Following King are Skeeter pro Harold Allen of Texas (14.60 pounds), Nitro pro Jami Fralick of South Dakota (14.24), Nitro pro Brian Snowden of Missouri (14.12), Bass Pro Shops pro Rick Clunn of Missouri (14.10), Yum pro Matt Reed of Texas (13.53), Triton pro Gary Klein of Texas (13.24), American National pro Shane Long of Missouri (12.50) and Randy Haynes of Tennessee (12.48)
The tournament continues Friday, with the 7 a.m. launch and 3 p.m. weigh-in at Table Rock State Park Marina. Saturday’s final weigh-in will be at The Fountain at Branson Landing starting at 4:30 p.m.
Brasher said his limit came by 10:30 a.m. Thursday in flurries, with two fish early, then two right after he’d decided to leave. A little after 10 a.m. he landed the 7.11-pounder, and then played defense the rest of the day. He checked in an hour early to prevent fish care penalties; Brasher was docked a quarter-pound for one expired bass.
“I can’t complain a bit,” he said. “After getting my limit, I just backed off and protected the area, and threw a spinnerbait to see if I could get another big one.
“I had a pretty bad practice with a ton of fish but no size to them., and I found a little deal about noon on the final day of practice. I caught four in five casts and really didn’t know how good it would be. But I think the big ones are there and hopefully there are plenty of them.”
Brasher said he’ll start there Friday and go until about mid-day, then shift gears to other similar areas if he needs to do so.
King leads locals
A band of Mizzou anglers are perched among the leaders and a few more lurk outside the top 10, which could make Friday interesting after everyone dissects and adjusts from what they learned.
King is a veteran who lives in nearby Reeds’ Spring, as does Snowden, and Clunn lives in Ava about an hour northeast of Branson while Long lives in Sarcoxie. All are within a couple of pounds of each other and, if Brasher’s big fish don’t hold up, the leaders could shuffle.
“This lake has so many fish and I have jillions of places to fish,” King said. “I had eight keepers and I think I can be consistent. I don’t know if I can catch 19 pounds, but I’m going to try.”
King’s sticking with what works right now on Table Rock, which is shallow shade early and then deeper areas after the sun gets up. Parts of the lake are in transition with a thermocline turnover and bass are making moves following shad, so there’s a mixture of things.
“I caught them everywhere from 60 feet to 3 feet,” Snowden said. “It’s fishing tough … I had more rods out (on the deck) than I like to have.”
