MLF Veteran Klein Adds Elimination Round Win to his Career Highlights List

Gary Klein notched his first-ever MLF Elimination Round win with 25 pounds on Great Pond. Photo by Josh Gassmann

March 6, 2019 • Joel Shangle • Cup Events

WATERVILLE, Maine – Throughout his Hall-of-Fame career, MLF pro Gary Klein has been the poster boy for the word “consistency”. He’s recorded multiple wins, claimed two Angler of the Year awards, and racked up nearly 100 Top 10s due to his ability to find fish on a day-to-day basis.

And now, thanks to a day where he consistently manufactured bites on Great Pond in central Maine, Klein can add “MLF Cup Elimination Round winner” to his list of career accomplishments.

Klein weighed in 10 smallmouth and three largemouth for 25 pounds on the day, giving him a comfortable Elimination Round win in the 2019 Summit Select (his first-ever round win in MLF competition).

“It feels pretty good to get a win against a group like that,” Klein admitted as he swapped out tackle at the end of the day. “Anytime you get a win it’s rewarding, but this one is especially cool to me for obvious reasons. I’d like to do it again.”

He’ll get that opportunity in Sudden Death, where he’ll be joined by Jason Christie (second in the round with 18-4), Takahiro Omori (15-2), Kevin VanDam (14-2), Tommy Biffle (13-12) and Brandon Palaniuk (12-4).

Finding the winning pattern

Whether he’ll match his success on Great Pond remains to be seen, but for the Elimination Round, the 40-year veteran had the right combination: a wacky-rigged Berkley The General, which he fished on 6-pound Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon, making extremely long casts to docks and letting his bait fall on a slack line to offer the most natural presentation possible in Great Pond’s crystal-clear water.

Klein started off the morning with a couple of smaller fish (a 1-8 largemouth and a 1-15 smallmouth), but then started to add quickly to SCORETRACKER with a pair of nearly identical smallies (3-0 and 3-3) in a 13-minute stretch before ending Period 1 with one more 2-7.

“I caught those two smaller fish and it kinda clued me in a little, but you don’t really know until you’ve caught a few more fish,” Klein said. “After I caught those two 3s, it started to get fun for me.”

Klein maintained a steady pace throughout the second and third periods, plinking away with The General and adding eight more fish to his total to keep pace ahead of Christie, who made a surge late in the day thanks to a 4-8 largemouth.

“I’ve been in that position many, many times where I’ve had a good first period, and then had things fizzle out, so I worked pretty hard to keep the pressure on throughout the day,” Klein said.

NOTES: Action now moves to Sudden Death for 18 anglers from the three Elimination Rounds … Sudden Death Round 1 airs Saturday, March 9 (2 to 4 p.m. ET) on the Outdoor Channel.