Mike McClelland never expected to be where he is. The wisdom rich Quantum pro thought this stop along the Bassmaster Elite Series trail would set up in his favor for a place near the top of the leaderboard.

Instead, the veteran known for methodically probing deep-water structure at this time of year when sweat runs down his Scottish skin is struggling terribly at Toledo Bend. After a meager 7-pound, 13-ounce limit yesterday, he sits in 80th place.

“It’s a shame when you’re on a lake this good, and you can’t catch ‘em any better than what I did yesterday,” said McClelland as he reached for a Smoke SL100SPT reel. “I’ll be honest, I never did locate any good schools of quality fish in practice. I just never found ‘em, and I’m still in scramble mode,” he admitted. Read More

If the weather on Elimination Day 2 of the Jack Link’s Major League Fishing Challenge Cup presented by Busch Beer at Lake Amistad was considered uncomfortable, then conditions on Day 3 were nearly unfishable. The third group of eight anglers competing in the elimination rounds arrived at the Diablo East takeoff and found that the winds had shifted directions.

The relatively mild temperature of the Southwest wind from the day prior gave way to a blustery Northern wind that brought chilly temperatures and big waves rolling into the launch ramp. This created challenges for the anglers and the production staff as waves were rolling in over the top of the official Challenge Cup Nitro and Bass Cat boats as they attempted to launch for the day.

With the winds expected to worsen, the Commissioner of Major League Fishing, Don Rucks, consulted with the anglers and producers about the conditions. Without having an extra day in the tight filming schedule, the decision was made to switch fishing zones. Read More