BASS Comunnications

"Based on my practice, I'd say the tournament went about as well as it could've gone," he said. "You don't spend a lot of time on stuff in practice and I didn't realize the numbers of fish that were in those areas. Once I settled in and fished them hard, I was getting twice as many bites."

He focused on ridges with breaks on them in Pool 5 and targeted fish in the 2- to 5-foot depth range. He paid close attention to the transition areas such as creek channels and depressions.

He threw a spinnerbait for the first 2 days, and then caught his big day-3 sack on a jig when the sunny, post-frontal conditions pushed the fish tight to wood.

"I stayed in one little backwater area the first 2 days, but I left it on the 3rd day and fished a place I hadn't been to since practice. The interesting thing about the Red River is when you look at it on a map or even visually, you'd think there'd be huge amounts of stuff to fish. But when you get right down to it, it fishes pretty small.

"A lot of people end up in the same areas because there really aren't that many that are fishable."

> Spinnerbait gear: 7' medium-action Falcon Expert split-grip rod, Quantum PT casting reel (6.3:1 ratio), 20-pound Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon line, 5/16-ounce War Eagle Finesse spinnerbait (sexy shad).

> Jig gear: 7'4" medium-heavy Falcon Mike McClelland signature series rod, same reel, 20 or 25-pound InvizX, 5/16-ounce Jewel Finesse or 3/8-ounce Jewel Football jig, Zoom Super Chunk Jr. or Zoom Ultravibe Speed Craw trailer (green-pumpkin). Read More

McClelland fished extremely well over the final 2 days, but couldn't overcome and opening-day bag that was shy of 14 pounds.

"This Classic was the sixth I've fished, but the only one I've contended in," he said. "I got myself behind the 8-ball on the first day, so everything I did after that was an accomplishment.

"I made up ground every day, but it's still kind of hard knowing I was 2 pounds and 12 ounces from the biggest win of my career."

He caught his big stringer today from Pool 5 on 3/8-ounce jewel football and finesse jigs.

"I just fished isolated stuff. I knew under these conditions, with the high skies, the fish were going to lock down tight.

"I'd committed to staying in Pool 5 prior to coming to practice last week, and it worked out well. If I'd made a few different decisions I might've taken a run at winning this thing. At times the fish were pretty active and I should've covered as much water as I could instead of resorting to the little jig and the plastics."

He fished his primary area until 9:30 today and didn't get a bite. He caught one right away at his second stop, then picked up a jig and slowly built his stringer. Read More

McClelland threw a spinnerbait most of the day and backed it up with some flipping fish. He said the gloomy weather made his fish easier to catch.

"I was able to dial them in a little better," he said. "I basically went through the same area, but I adjusted a little bit and hit a few little deals that I didn't hit yesterday, and that ended up helping me."

He caught about a dozen keepers, the biggest of which was a 4 1/2-pounder.

"It was pretty well over for me at 12:30. I tried to expand a little bit in the same area, but nothing came together."

"I feel like the opportuntiy (for a huge bag) is there, but I just don't know if these fish are pulling in or if they live in that backwater. There were more fish grouped up in there today and there was one spot that I caught four or five in a row off of.

A small duck blind has produced eight bites for him over the 2 days. "It's got poles on each of the four corners and one corner has some good brush on it." Read More

Mike McClelland had a solid day, but just lacked the big bite.

"I got about the same number of bites I felt like I'd get – about 11," he said. "What changed for me was if I got that many in practice, a couple would be 4 or 4 1/2 pounds, and that didn't happen.

"The quality definitely fell off and I'm sure it was due to the high pressure. But I didn't fish a lot of my water today. I'll run through a little quicker tomorrow and then go hit the stuff I didn't get to today."

He fished a mixture of wood and pad stems, with the wood being most productive. His bag was topped by a 3-pounder. Read More