James Watson Wins Table Rock Lake Central Open
His final-day stringer turned out to be 16-01, his heaviest of the event, and it gave him a 3-day total of 46-02, good for a 3 1/2-pound win over runner-up Jacob Wheeler, who caught 17 pounds or more on each of the final 2 days. Watson called this the biggest win of his fishing career because it also guaranteed him a spot in next year's Bassmaster Classic at Grand Lake, another lake he's very familiar with. He also won a PAA tournament at Table Rock in September 2013. "I'd like to win something away from the house," he said. "I've been close a few times, but I don't want to get pegged as a guy who can only catch 'em in the Ozarks. The greatest thing about these deals is all of your buddies calling afterward congratulating you. There's a lot of respect there." Watson said the win caps off what had been a tough year on the water after finishing 92nd in points on the FLW Tour. "This win is special because of the Classic," he said. "I needed it and my career needed it. I've had some highs and lows over the last 16 months and it weighs on you. I don't want to be laughed at or known as a one-hit wonder." He said he had no regrets about his decision-making and gave himself a 100 rating on execution for the tournament. "Not to be arrogant, but I did everything that I needed to do without spinning out," he said.
Watson spent time on the water the 7 days preceding the tournament, some with his fiance and some with best friend and fellow FLW Tour pro Robbie Dodson, who's as good as there is on any of the Ozark lakes. He found the water clarity to be a little cloudier than is usual for this time of year. He noticed that on the second day of practice when he had a lot of followers, but very few fish committing to his bait. With Dodson in his boat, Watson was able to cover water with a variety of topwater baits while Dodson threw a Luck E Strike G5 crankbait. "The first day we practiced in some dirtier water and we found a decent bite still in the bushes," Watson said, "but the water was falling hard and I knew it wouldn't be long before it was out of the bushes." They ran up the White River the following day and Watson stayed with the topwater while Dodson stuck with cranking. Watson stuck a couple fish in the 3-plus pound range. "What I caught the second 3-pounder, Robbie stopped me and said, 'You'd be an idiot to not keep those baits in your hands,'" Watson recalled. "He said, 'Think about the stops we've made and you've caught three over 3 pounds. If you catch 15 (pounds) a day, you'll run awy with this thing.' I couldn't have agreed more. "It also helps when you have two experienced anglers throwing different baits. We weren't eliminating water; we were eliminating unproductive size and the most productive size fish were caught on that Luck E Strike Frantic Frog." Watson was banking on getting seven or so bites a day and he had plenty of water to cover to achieve that. "Figure from the mouth of Long Creek to Beavertown and up the White, there's no way I could fish every stretch in 17 days let alone 3," he said. Another key for Watson was his ability to share information with fellow competitors Casey Scanlon, Kelly Power and Greg Ryan, all in an effort to make sure they didn't recycle water amongst themselves. "I don't back track a lot of water here, and I think a lot of guys do, but they don't have the home-field advantage like me," he said. "Talking with those guys, we madesure we didn't recycle each other's water."
Competition:
Coming out of his practice, Watson figured a cumulative weight in the 42-pound neighborhood would have a shot at the win, but he knew a good start was imperative. He boated eight keepers on day 1, which brought breezy conditions that he used to his advantage. "It was blowing pretty good everywhere around Kimberling City so I was staying in the wind with the Whopper Plopper," he said. "I got a couple bites within 30 minutes of throwing it. I caught two keepers on back-to-back casts and that told me they'd eat it." He added another keeper snapping a spoon around a boat dock and used a crankbait to account for his fifth fish. The key, though, was the Whopper Plopper, a bait that fellow pro Ish Monroe turned him onto. "I found it going through Ish's stuff when he was at my house a few years back," he said. "I've been using it every since, but I've never been in a big tournament here to take advantage of it. The key was having the confidence to throw it all day long." He said he'd position his boat in 6 to 8 feet of water and make 45-degree angle casts toward the bank. Most of the fish, he added, would gulp the bait in the 2-foot range. "I was looking for rocks and running water that looked good and kept my trolling motor on high and fished fast," he added. His 14-05 haul put him in the Top 5 to start and it gave him more assurance that his topwater decision was correct. The topwater bite continued to be hot on day 2, but he wound up catching four of his fish on the new Luck E Strike Frantic Frog (see photo below) and another with a finesse jig off a dock. "I wasted three hours flipping boat docks," he said. "That's what you're supposed to be doing this time of year and every time I saw a shallow front, I'd flip it. I guess I should've been skipping them." The Whopper Plopper didn't produce, but he managed to catch 15-14 to take a somewhat commanding 4-pound lead into the final day. His bag was anchored by a 4-12 largemouth that he caught off a stretch he'd never fished before, an area Dodson had told him was usually good, but frequently overlooked. He endured "an agonizing morning" on the final day, but stuck with his topwater game plan and was eventually rewarded with a 16-01 bag that sealed the win.
"I started out with the Whopper Plopper on a windy bank and caught a short fish, then one that was barely a keeper," he said. "I found some slick water and threw the toad for a while without a bite, but caught two keepers on that." At 12:30, he was still with three fish, two of which he wanted to cull at the first chance. "I was going around a dock to go down a stretch of bank and I turned to Mike Webb, who driving the camera boat and said, 'It's too late to call an audible now,'" Watson said. "I knew if I kept doing what I was doing, sooner or later I'd run into some bass." He admitted being tempted to throw jigs around floating docks or pick up the spoon, but he finally got the clue he needed to stick with his topwater arsenal. "I went back to the Whopper Plopper and found some windy banks and had two fish miss it," he said. "That was my clue and I never put it down the rest of the day." He caught a 3 1/2-pounder off the end of a main-lake point, then went back to where he'd caught his big fish on day 2 and caught another one of comparable size. He wound up with eight keepers on the day. "I made the same cast I made when I caught that 4-12," he said. "I knew that gave me 15 pounds, at least."
Winning Gear:
Topwater gear: 7'6" heavy-action Waft Iron Feather casting rod, Johnny Morris Signature Series Carbonlite casting reel (7:1 gear ratio), 50-pound Maxima braided line, 5" River2Sea Whopper Plopper (loon). Watson recalled winning the PAA event using 65-pound braid, but opted for 50-pound last week for better casting distance.
Toad gear: Same rod, same reel, same line, 5/0 Zoom Horny Toad hook, Luck E Strike Frantic Frog (black). The Frantic Frog is one of the new baits in Luck E Strike's Chris Lane Live Motion Signature Series.
Main factor: "Most people don't think you can catch shallow topwater fish with bright skies in early October there. My commitment to those two baits is what won me the tournament. Most people would've called an audible, but I knew better with that weather."
Performance edge: "My batteries, which are made by The Lithium Battery Company. Since I've switched over to them, they've been amazing. Their study has shown that you can stand on 100 (on the trolling motor) for 13 hours before it's dead. My batteries were as hot on the last cast as they were on the first cast all week."
Table Rock Lake Winning Pattern BassFan 10/6/15 (Todd Ceisner)
