King Wins Table Rock PAA Bass Tournament

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Heading into the second event of this year’s PAA Bass Pro Shops

Tournament Series Presented by Carrot Stix, smart money was on Stacey

King to challenge for the title. Conventional wisdom was not

overturned this week as King led the tournament from wire to wire with

three limits of bass that totaled 58.52 pounds.

His 1 1/2-pound day one lead dwindled to just over a pound

yesterday, but on the strength of a massive 22.99 limit today, he claimed

the title by more than 6 pounds.

For his efforts, he won $5,000 in cash and a new Nitro Z-8 with a Mercury 225 Optimax outboard and TH-Marine Atlas jackplate.

King also had the biggest single bass of the tournament today, a 6.22-pound largemouth that earned him a Humminbird 898c SI combo.

The remainder of the top five, in order, included Hefty pro Mike

McClelland, Frog Tape pro Brian Travis, Booyah pro Terry Butcher and

reigning PAA Angler of the Year, Gene Larew pro Tommy Biffle.

While King cemented his status as Table Rock royalty with the victory,

behind every good man there’s a good woman. In this case the queen, also

named King, is his wife Peggy.

“I really didn’t have a lot of confidence going into today,†the Nitro

pro said. “I told Peggy that this morning. You think I didn’t get a butt

chewing?â€

Apparently the butt chewing she dished out sunk into his brain in a

hurry. He caught the tournament’s big fish on his second cast of the

day. King used a variety of lures, including jigs and swimbaits, but

related that every fish he brought to the scale this week came on one

of two oversized plastic worms – a Bass Pro Shops 12-inch Squirmin’ Worm

and a 13-inch straight-tailed hand pour.

King credited some of this morning’s success to second place finisher Mike McClelland.

“Normally, I like to fish that big worm fast,†King said. “But yesterday

on stage Mike said something about having to slow down to get better

bites. This morning early I fished it real slow.†That made a huge

difference. He had enough weight to win within the first few hours.

“Big fish like big baits, especially in the summertime.â€

King confirmed that he’d have thrown even larger worms if he could find some.

He did his damage on tapering points that abutted the river channel.

McClelland’s weights improved each day, and if it weren’t for King’s massive limit,

his 22-pound bag would have been the biggest of the tournament. Like

King, he fished large profile baits all week. They included a Jewel

football-head jig with a Zoom Brush Hog as a trailer, a big Zoom Ol’ Monster worm

and an unnamed swimbait.

“In a tournament like this, you have to make up your mind to fish for fewer bites with big baits,†he said.

After an uncharacteristically difficult Elite Series season, McClelland hoped that this event would be his “slump-buster.†He cost himself the chance to win by starting in the wrong place on day

one. He didn’t land his first keeper that day until nearly 1 o’clock and

managed to salvage the day with over 12 pounds in the last few hours.

While a runner-up finish can be disappointing, McClelland had a positive

outlook about the angler who beat him.

“This is where I learned to bass fish,†he 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.â€

Biffle and Travis spent most of their day flipping and each had his

lightest limit of the tournament. Biffle burned a lot of gas and a lot

of baits to amass his 45.26 pound total catch.

“I’d go up and fish one tree, then run two to three miles or up to ten

miles to the next one,†Biffle said. “You’ve got to be fortunate to get

the big bites and then when you get them you have to be lucky to get

them out of the bushes. I probably went through 200 to 300 Biffle Bugs

in the past three days.â€

The next tournament in the PAA Bass Pro Shops Tournament Series

Presented by Carrot Stix will take place August 18-20 on Alabama’s Neely

Henry Lake near Gadsden, Alabama.

Complete Results – Click Here