HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - May 4, 2003 - So much for chickens, home-field advantages and even the jinx known as "localitis." Ron Shuffield bested them all to win the Bassmaster Tour event on Lake Hamilton.
Shuffield, 57, caught a final-day stringer of 12 pounds, 2 ounces to leap frog over Jay Kendrick and Mark Davis, the leaders of the first three days of the event, to win his seventh Bassmaster event. Shuffield of Bismarck, Ark. finished with 44 pounds, 12 ounces.
He wasn't the only angler leap frogging, either. Joe Thomas of Milford, Ohio caught the heaviest weight of the day, 13 pounds, 1 ounce, to move from fifth to second with 43 pounds, 14 ounces, while Davis of Mount Ida, Ark., who led after day three by more than a pound, fell to third with 43-5. Kendrick finished fourth with 42-10, Randy Howell of Springville, Ala. was fifth with 40-1, and Kenyon Hill of Norman, Okla. rounded out the final six with 31-2.
Shuffield made a big adjustment during the course of the final day to pick up precious ounces to make up for a third day deficit and move ahead by almost a pound. His four-day weight was mostly caught on a Zara Spook, fished around the last two or three boat docks leading out of spawning coves on the lower end of the lake.
But when the wind began to blow on the final day, Shuffield picked up a golden-shiner Stanley spinnerbait to catch his three largest fish. Those fish were picked off of windy banks as Shuffield trolled to his primary boat docks.
Those three, close to three-pound fish were the gold nuggets that most of the anglers were looking for all week.
"We all knew coming in that whoever won would have to catch a 3-pounder a day," Davis said. "Obviously, I couldn't find one today. Ronnie found mine and Jay's too."
Shuffield keyed in on about 20 boat docks during the course of the tournament, all of them leading out of spawning pockets where big pods of shad were present. On each day, Shuffield would get bit in the early morning on a Zara Spook in the extreme shallow portion of the bays. Once the sun came up, he would catch them on the backsides of the docks and then later in the day the fish would bite on the front corners.
"All of the docks were floating docks," Shuffield said. "But they had to have corner poles on front and back. I guess the fish were just suspended on those poles."
By the third day, Shuffield said the pattern was just getting better. Even though the weights weren't getting heavier, he expected they would.
"Every one of those docks would have a school of really good fish underneath them," he said. "I could see them come out and follow my spook, but it was always the smallest one that took the lure. I kept thinking those bigger ones would eventually hit."
They did. But not in the fashion he thought they would. On the final day, cloud cover moved in along with wind. While other anglers struggled, Shuffield picked up a spinnerbait and while moving to his floating docks and started catching fish on windy banks with a mud line and stationary boat docks that had pilings.
Thomas found similar luck producing his stringer on a Sammy topwater lure and jerkbait around boat docks in the mid-lake area.
Meanwhile, Kendrick and Davis were having to abandon their initial game plans to try and figure out a way to catch the bigger fish.
Kendrick's switch came with just over an hour to go. He changed from the topwater lure and Carolina rig of the previous days to a throwing a Zoom Trick Worm. The lure immediately produced an almost 3-pound bass.
"But it was too little too late," Kendrick said.
Davis, who expected to camp on a long running point, decided to hunt for bigger fish and take advantage of the changing weather. His tactic didn't pay off.
TELEVISION
A special telecast of "The Bassmasters" will air on Sunday, May 18 from 5-6 p.m. ET. The original airing will chronicle event 9 of 10 on the Bassmaster Tour, which will take place on Lake Hamilton in Arkansas.
BASS SPONSOR EXPO
A new component of the Bassmaster Tour events this season is the interactive BASS Sponsor Expo area. Sponsors present exhibits, many of which are interactive and provide an enjoyable experience for all family members. The Expos are free to those attending and take place from noon until 6 p.m. on Fridays; and from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday at each Tour stop.
Bassmaster Tour Lake Hamilton; Hot Springs, Ark. P r o S t a n d i n g s D a y 4
Angler Hometown No./lbs-oz Pts Total $$$ 1. Ron Shuffield Bismarck, Ark. 20 44-12 175 $100,000 Day 1: 5 13-09 Day 2: 5 8-07 Day 3: 5 10-10 Day 4: 5 12-02 2. Joe Thomas Milford, Ohio 20 43-14 174 $41,000 Day 1: 5 10-07 Day 2: 5 9-14 Day 3: 5 10-08 Day 4: 5 13-01 3. Mark Davis Mount Ida, Ark. 20 43-05 173 $26,000 Day 1: 5 14-02 Day 2: 5 8-15 Day 3: 5 11-07 Day 4: 5 8-13 4. Jay Kendrick Ooltewah, Tenn. 20 42-10 172 $22,000 Day 1: 5 14-07 Day 2: 5 10-04 Day 3: 5 8-13 Day 4: 5 9-02 5. Randy Howell Springville, Ala. 20 40-01 171 $20,000 Day 1: 5 10-02 Day 2: 5 10-09 Day 3: 5 9-15 Day 4: 5 9-07 6. Kenyon Hill Norman, Okla. 15 31-02 170 $18,000 Day 1: 5 11-00 Day 2: 5 10-10 Day 3: 5 9-08 Day 4: 0 0-00 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Big Bass Day 1 Kevin Wirth Crestwood, Ky. 5-03 $1,000 2 Peter E. Thliveros Jacksonville, Fla. 7-09 $1,000 3 Mark Davis Mount Ida, Ark. 3-15 $1,000 4 Joe Thomas Milford, Ohio 3-13 $1,000 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Totals Day #Limits #Fish Weight 1 6 30 73-11 2 6 30 58-11 3 6 30 60-13 4 5 25 52-09 ---------------------------------- 23 115 245-12
05/04/03 Bassmaster Tour BASS Angler of the Year Standings
------------------------------------------- Place Name St Pts ------------------------------------------- 001 Alton Jones Texas 1290 002 Jay Yelas Texas 1289 003 Roger Boler La. 1282 004 Mark Davis Ark. 1271 005 Shaw E Grigsby, Jr Fla. 1266 006 John Murray Ariz. 1254 007 Mike Wurm Ark. 1238 008 Mark Kile Ariz. 1233 009 Bud Pruitt Texas 1229 010 Kelly Jordon Texas 1216 011 Skeet Reese Calif. 1213 012 Zell Rowland Texas 1210 013 Gary Klein Texas 1207 014 Kevin VanDam Mich. 1201 015 Elton Luce Jr. Texas 1200 016 Dustin Wilks N.C. 1180 017 Jeff Reynolds Okla. 1168 018 Mike Reynolds Calif. 1161 019 Tom Mann, Jr. Ga. 1154 020 Ishama Monroe Calif. 1150 021 Jay Kendrick Tenn. 1146 022 Brent Chapman Kan. 1144 023 Todd Faircloth Texas 1140 024 Jeff Kriet Okla. 1137 025 Ron Shuffield Ark. 1123 026 Harold Allen Texas 1118 027 Randy Howell Ala. 1114 028 Jim Bitter Fla. 1098 029 Peter E. Thliveros Fla. 1096 030 Tim Horton Ala. 1078 031 Edwin Evers Okla. 1076 032 Kevin Wirth Ky. 1074 033 Curt Lytle Va. 1073 034 Kenyon Hill Okla. 1069 035 Chad Morgenthaler Ill. 1066 036 Jack L. Wade Tenn. 1062 037 Tommy Stiles Tenn. 1059 038 Joe Thomas Ohio 1056 039 Roland Martin Fla. 1047 039 Mark Menendez Ky. 1047 039 Gerald Swindle Ala. 1047 042 Matt Reed Texas 1034 043 Jimmy D. Mize Ark. 1029 044 Takahiro Omori Texas 1026 045 Terry Scroggins Fla. 1024 046 Allen Armour Ga. 1020 047 Mark Tyler Calif. 1012 048 David Wharton Texas 1010 049 Lance Vick Texas 1003 050 Pete Ponds Miss. 996