McCall moves up, continues Texas tear
Local Jasper, Texas, pro claims opening round lead, Stren Series Central Division Angler of the Year award
JASPER, Texas – Eerily calm conditions and hot Texas sunshine squelched the bite for many anglers on day two of the Stren Series Central Division event on Sam Rayburn. However, even when the bite is tough, Chris McCall proves time and again to possess the uncanny ability to put fish in the boat.
On day two, McCall quietly sacked a 12-pound, 3-ounce limit, pushing his two-day total to 30 pounds, 4 ounces.
“It was slower today, but I made the mistake of going where I started yesterday,” said McCall, who had originally planned to fish the other side of the lake. “Later I pulled up on a different spot and caught a 3- and a 4-pounder.”
While he fished the Cane Toad almost exclusively yesterday, McCall added the Gambler Sweebo Worm to his arsenal today. He targeted fish in 2 to 5 feet of water using an ultraslow presentation. He fished the trick worm wacky style, with a small weight added to get the bait down through thick hydrilla.
After qualifying for the top 20 in the first position, McCall has now officially made the cutoff in each of the four Central Division qualifying events. That kind of consistency leaves little doubt as to who is king of Texas.
“I’m just covering a ton of water and moving around a lot,” said McCall, who easily locked up the Central Division points race.
“They are postspawn fish feeding on bluegill and shad,” he said. “There’s a little bit of a shad spawn right now, and I think that’s what’s keeping them up shallow. Hopefully, they will stay that way for another day or two and not go deep.”
The Jasper, Texas, pro also noted the angling pressure will increase for the weekend, especially on Saturday when a 300-team Bass Champs event will kick off.
“Tomorrow I’m going to fish everything I can fish. The guy that wins this tournament is the guy who catches a big sack tomorrow.”
Scott climbs to second
Ricky Scott of Van Buren, Ark., added 15 pounds, 5 ounces to his catch of 14 pounds, 12 ounces from yesterday to finish the opening round in second with a two-day total of 30 pounds, 1 ounce.
Scott reported tougher angling conditions; he only received six bites all day. He thinks part of the reason is that the water is dropping by a few inches each day.
“I got that one good one, and that is what saved me,” Scott said. “I’ve got the area pretty much to myself. I’m covering a lot of water and catching them on cypress trees and bushes with a homemade bait. I actually caught them shallower today than I did yesterday.”
While Scott focused on wind-swept areas yesterday, today he concentrated on shade.
“They’re not in the same places every day. I really haven’t caught two fish off the same spot.”
Thompson leaps to third
Bert Thompson of Benton, La., made a huge climb up the leaderboard with five that weighed 20 pounds, 11 ounces. Two of Thompson’s five keepers weighed nearly 7 pounds. It was those kickers that propelled him to third place with a two-day total of 29 pounds, 11 ounces.
Thompson said he caught all his fish with plastics on a stretch that is about 100 yards in length.
“They came early,” said Thompson, who has six top-10 finishes in his FLW Outdoors career. “I knew all I had to do was make the cut, so I quit fishing at about 10:30 this morning.”
A tournament veteran, Thompson has been fishing competitively on Sam Rayburn for 20 years.
“I’ve got probably four or five areas that I don’t prefish; I just save them for the tournament. My weight may go down, but it won’t go dry. I’m going to catch a limit tomorrow. Without a kicker I suppose I would have 15 pounds.”
Francis fourth
For those who don’t believe in fish tales, it is best to look the other way. Pro Stephen Francis moved up to the fourth position Thursday with a five-bass limit weighing 14 pounds, 12 ounces, but how he got there is mind-boggling.
“The first cast of each day I’ve got a big one, and that’s what has gotten me here,” said the Brookeland, Texas, pro. Wednesday’s first cast resulted in a 5-pound, 14-ounce kicker, and his first cast today yielded a 7-pound, 5-ounce brute, the big bass of the day.
His two-day total weight was 29 pounds, 9 ounces.
“If the big bass want to hunt me, I’ll let them. If they all decided to eat, I’d be in great shape.”
Stringer vaults to fifth
Catching the biggest limit of the tournament thus far, Bradley Stringer qualified for the final round in the fifth spot with five bass weighing 23 pounds, 4 ounces, pushing his two-day total to 28 pounds, 15 ounces.
“I had the first two in 10 minutes,” Stringer said. “To go out there and figure them out feels pretty good.”
Stringer caught his fish in two completely different areas: one on the north side of the lake and the other on the south end. Stringer used two distinct methods along points and ledges to catch his fish. One was cranking a Norman DD22 and the other was dragging a black, blue-tail Stanley Wedge Carolina rig.
The Huntington, Texas, pro finished his hefty limit by catching a 5-pounder right before he left for the ramp.
“If you can find them concentrated, you’re going to catch them.”
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 pros in the final Stren Series Central Division event on the Sam Rayburn Reservoir:
6th: David Mauldin of Tomball, Texas, 28-2
7th: Wade Middleton of San Antonio, Texas, 28-1
8th: Lendell Martin Jr. of Nacogdoches, Texas, 27-5
9th: David Moore of Cambridge City, Ind., 27-0
10th: Russell Cecil of Willis, Texas, 26-12
Webb traps 11-14, owns opening-round lead
In the Co-angler Division, Tim Webb of Olpe, Kan., leads the chase for a top award worth as much as $35,000, including a 519VX Ranger if contingency guidelines are met.
On day two while fishing with pro Kevin Reynolds of Bentonville, Ark., Webb caught a five-bass limit from the back of the boat weighing 11 pounds, 14 ounces to push his opening-round total to nine bass, weighing 27 pounds, 6 ounces.
“We fished sandy points on the main lake,” said Webb, who finished the last Central Division event on Lake Texoma in 17th place. “I caught a few on a wacky-rigged worm until midmorning, then it died off.”
At that moment, Webb made an adjustment by switching to a 1/4-ounce Chompers jig.
“It feels great; it’s been a lot of fun. The big thing as a co-angler is being able to adapt to whatever your pro is doing. I feel if I’m put into a situation, I can adjust. You just have to make the right decisions based on what he’s trying to do and get yourself dialed in.”
When informed that he would be fishing tomorrow with McCall, Webb said, “You can’t ask for anything more than that.”
High five
Finishing the opening round in second place was co-angler phenom Bill Rogers, who caught a two-day total of 25 pounds, 14 ounces.
The Jasper, Texas, resident caught two fish Thursday that weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces on a Carolina rig. On day two, Rogers fished shallow with frog specialist Sid Havard.
Robert Audett of Jasper, Texas, is in third place with a two-day total of 21 pounds, 14 ounces.
Tom Medlock of Licking, Mo., is in fourth place with a two-day total of 21 pounds, 9 ounces.
Medlock caught his fish Carolina rigging a Lake Fork Creature Bait. This is Medlock’s sixth time qualifying for the cutoff.
“It’s the greatest feeling in the world,” he said. “We basically caught fish all day long, but they’d come and go. We just stayed after them.”
John Duhon of The Colony, Texas, is in fifth with an opening-round total of 20 pounds even.
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers in the final Stren Series Central Division event on the Sam Rayburn Reservoir:
6th: R.D. Lewis of Hemphill, Texas, 19-15
7th: Ray Burnett of Cleveland, Texas, 19-8
8th: Bill Guillory, of Jasper, Texas, 19-2
9th: Eddie Stag of Jasper, Texas, 19-1
10th: John Cure of Jasper, Texas, 18-8
Competition resumes Friday at 6:30 a.m. Central time from the Umphrey Family Pavilion. The top 20 pros and 20 co-anglers will start from zero, and the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers after Friday’s weigh-in will advance to fish Saturday.