Local fishermen making waves on MLF Tour
JASPER, Texas — Mount Ida’s Mark Davis appeared to struggle early for fans watching the Toro Stage One at Sam Rayburn Reservoir in his first day on the water.
After returning to an area with cellular service, he quickly shot up the leaderboard, having boated 10 bass in the first period of the day as he took a big lead in Group B. Davis caught a total of 12 bass for 28 pounds, 2 ounces Monday to gain the early lead halfway through the twoday Qualifying Round.
Pro Gerald Spohrer of Gonzales, Louisiana, is in a comfortable second place with seven bass totaling 26-2 while Brent Ehrler of Redlands, California, boated seven bass for 22-2.
Hot Springs’ Spencer Shuffield boated nine scorable bass Sunday to lead Group A with a bag of 29 pounds, 12 ounces in his first career Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour event. Dustin Connell of Clanton, Alabama, the reigning REDCREST champion finished Sunday’s round with 10 fish for 29-11 while Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Michigan, had 10 bass for 27-12.
The 40 anglers in Group A will finish their two-day Qualifying Round today while Group B will take an off day, resuming their competition on Wednesday.
“I caught my fish this morning on a Strike King Red Eye Shad,” Davis said. “I had found this area in practice, and I knew that the fish were there. I went in there this morning and started fishing shallow, and there wasn’t much going on, then I saw a couple of them come up and bust, way out off of the bank.
“The trick was that I had to cast it out and let the bait sink, then kind of pump it. It took a cadence with that lure to get them to bite. They wouldn’t just bite it on my cast and retrieve. You had to pump it, you had to work it out and kind of feel it around in the grass.”
Shuffield was excited to be leading in his first event on the tour.
“I got on a little something today that I didn’t know was happening, but it’s a way that I really like to catch them,” he said Sunday. “Everything that I’m catching is postspawn, and the way things are looking I think they’re just going to continue coming to me, more and more.”
Shuffield said that he caught all of his fish on two different baits — a Yo-Zuri
3DB Jerkbait 110 Deep and a drop-shot rig.
“In practice I was catching 50 to 70 fish a day, but today I probably caught around 30,” Shuffield said. “I caught a lot of 1-12 to 1-15 (pound) fish, today. But, all in all, I’m satisfied. Of course, I’d like to have a 5-, 6- or 7-pound cushion over second — one ounce isn’t even really leading — but I’ll take it for my first day.”
Scott Suggs, of Alexander, sits 15th (five bass, 13-6) as the only other Arkansan in the top 20 of Group A going into today’s second round. Stephen Browning, of Hot Springs, finished with six bass for 17-11 for seventh in Group B.
A complete list of results can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
Over the two days there have been a 9-pounder, an 8-pounder, three 7-pounders, four 6-pounders and six 5-pounders caught in the two days out of 322 bass for a total of 896 pounds, 11 ounces.
The MLF Bass Pro Tour Toro Stage 1 at Sam Rayburn Reservoir presented by Power-Pole is hosted by the Jasper County Development District and the Jasper/Lake Sam Rayburn Chamber of Commerce.
After each two-day qualifying round is complete, the anglers that finish in second through 20th place from both groups advance to Thursday’s Knockout Round, while the the winner of each group advances directly to Friday’s Championship Round. In the Knockout Round, weights are zeroed and the remaining 38 anglers compete to finish in the top eight to advance to the Championship Round. In the final day Championship Round, weights are zeroed and the highest one-day total wins. Full breakdown of the format can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.