Keeton Blaylock takes home a $20,000 check without catching a single bass on Saturday. His 23-06 pounds on days 1 & 2 held up for Keeton as he takes first place and wins by more than five pounds. According to flwoutdoors.com Stetson caught his fish on a secret swimbait in clear water after practicing up the river in dirty water. Stetson had to do a 180 on his strategy and proved that co-anglers have to be versatile and flexible as they never know each day which pro they will draw or how or where they will fish. Good job Keeton.
Beaver Lake refused to give up the predicted twenty pound sacks until day three. Bryan Thrift brought in a 20-8 pound sack, the heaviest sack ever weighed in an FLW event on Beaver Lake. Ron Shuffield leads the event with a three-day weight of 41-6. Shuffield only had three bass the first day and that might hurt him in the end. I had mentioned the Wiggle Wart bite and Ron Shuffield has one tied on but needs some wind blowing into his banks to help the shallow bite he needs to maintain the lead. Shuffield says he is fishing new water every day and that is important in a four day event and hopefully will pay off for him on the final day.
Never count out Stacey King who is tied for third Matt Arey. King, who has been very consistent at the scales, failed to catch a limit on day three but still managed 12-5 pounds to stay in the hunt. Watch out for King on the final day as he knows these clear lakes and guided for years on Table Rock and knows what to do when the weather changes. The forecast is calling for bright sunny skies and high pressure and that will hurt the jerkbait bite and that has been the ticket for many of the pros and it will be the ones that can adjust that will win this thing. These four day events really test these pros and I think really bring the good ones to the top.
Get ready bass fans for an exciting conclusion to this one on Sunday. Catch the weigh-in live on flwoutdoors.com and see who made the adjustments needed. The other possibility in this one will be the possibility of a shallow bite as the sun warms the coves and if that happens look for a few largemouths to come to the scales and with them a little higher weights for the angler that makes this pattern work. That is if that bite ever develops. Bass fishing is a great sport with so many variables to consider and the Beaver Lake event is proving to challenge these anglers.