Ozarks Veteran Chapman Expects Table Rock to be a “Junk Fisherman’s Dream”
BRANSON, Mo. – Table Rock Lake will provide the 80 anglers of the MLF Bass Pro Tour with endless possibilities to connect with scoreable bass, according to Ozarks fishing veteran Brent Chapman. Because of higher-than-normal water levels, Chapman believes that Table Rock will be wide open to almost any style of fishing when competition for the Berkley Stage Six Presented by TrueTimber kicks off on Friday.
“Table Rock right now should be a junk fisherman’s dream,” said Chapman. “With water up in the bushes, flipping and pitching will be effective, but so will topwater fishing for largemouth. The docks and flooded bushes will play big, I think. Spotted bass will be caught using shaky heads, drop-shots, and topwaters. Smallmouth will be similar baits to the spots.
“You can find a stretch of bank that looks good, and just go fish it and catch bass. You can finesse fish, throw crankbaits, seriously, just about any technique may work.”
Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Bass
As Chapman points out, the three major black-bass species could come into play this week. The question is which species will play the biggest in the “every scoreable bass” format?
“For years during five-fish-limit events, spotted bass didn’t usually play a significant role in winning here,” Chapman said. “You might’ve brought in one or two spots if you had to. Now, they may become much more significant.
“While largemouth will be larger for sure, you can find some big schools of spotted bass that can average 1 ½ to 2 ½ pounds. That’s significant for padding your total weight. Plus, you never know what you’re going to catch on Table Rock. You’re just as likely to hook a big spot as you are a largemouth when you flip into a bush or under a dock.”
Chapman expects smallmouth to be a little more difficult to zero in on.
“Smallies are more of a specific region of the lake fish,” claims Chapman. “Table Rock fishes big. Any area can be a player for spots and largemouth, but not for smallmouth. I’m not going to give away the specific areas I know about, but when you find smallmouth bass, they tend to be in one area, and not necessarily other parts of the lake.”
Pick Your Pattern, Pal
“Pattern fishing” should be a term heard repeatedly this week.
“Table Rock is a really terrific pattern lake,” Chapman confirmed. “If you find one type of cover holding fish, odds are really good here you can find bass on the same type of cover in another area. It’s one of the best pattern fishing lakes I’ve fished.”
Chapman’s assessment of what it’ll take to advance out of the Elimination Rounds: hefty weights.
“I believe it may take 65 or even 70 pounds of scoreable bass to get to the Knockout Round,” he said. “I believe Table Rock is going to show out in a big way. This event is going to show the versatility of the pros. You just need to be careful to not fish too much history and be ready to change to adapt to the conditions. Whether you jab your way to the top with lots of spotted bass, or go for the big punches with largemouth, this is going to be a very cool event.”