Central Open On Table Rock Will Probably Be A ‘junk Fishing’ Tournament For Browning
Fishing is tough, the weather appears poised to make it worse, and Stephen Browning has not found anything close to a solid pattern to bank on, so he plans to “just go junk fishing” when the third and final Bassmaster Central Open Tournament starts Thursday on Table Rock Lake.
“We’ve got a cold front about to blow through and that is not going to help the situation,” Browning said. “Table Rock is notorious for fogging in and if we get some cold in the morning and there is no wind to blow that front out of here our day may be cut pretty short.”
If that happens, Browning said, he plans to fish pretty close to the launch site and try to make the best of whatever he can come up with.
“I don’t have a set game plan. I am kind of waiting to see what tomorrow morning brings,” the Little Rock, Ark., pro said. “This is one of those deals where I am getting a few keeper bites a day. It’s just old junk fishing. I don’t have anything to put a solid pattern together, so I am going to continue doing what I have been doing – fishing a little shallow, fishing a little deep and fishing a little in between.”
It’s not like there are limited options, he said. Table Rock offers a lot of different ways to catch fish – boat docks, timber in the water, brush piles, rock piles and other structures.
“All I need to do is go out there and fish what the conditions dictate, fish to my strengths and hopefully get something going tomorrow that will continue all three days,” he said. “After all, it doesn’t matter what you do in practice, it’s what you do in the tournament.”
Browning would love nothing better than to win on Table Rock and get the automatic bid to fish the 2016 Bassmaster Classic on the Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees at Tulsa, Okla., next March.
He placed 5th in the Central Open on Ross Barnett in March and 5th again in the second Open on Fort Gibson Lake two weeks ago, so the division final on Table Rock represent his last shot at making the 2016 Classic field.
“I was in pretty good standing in the Elite Series, but I messed around and fell out of contention the last couple of tournaments. So I am mighty hungry. If I don’t win I am not going to the Classic,” Browning said.
There is one other goal in the Central Open Final this week – the points title. Browning and veteran pro Tommy Biffle of Wagoner, Okla., are in a virtual tie for the title going into the last Open. Biffle, who finished 3rd at Ross Barnett in March and 6th at Fort Gibson Lake in September, leads Browning by a single point.
“Tommy and I are the only two guys who have had two pretty good tournaments, so it basically means if I cash a check in this tournament and finish ahead of him I’ll get the title,’ Browning said. “But I sure would like to win it and go to the Classic.”
Bassmaster Central Open
Oct 1-3, 2015
Table Rock Lake
Table Rock State Park
