Despite Weather Delays, McClelland Solidly in the Top 10 in Texas

ORANGE, Texas (March 20) — Two days of morning fog and sporadic showers in East Texas have wreaked havoc for the pros fishing at the Bassmaster Elite Series event on the Sabine River, but Cabela’s/GEICO For Your Boat angler Mike McClelland has fought his way to a lofty seventh-place perch.

“This is such a vast system to fish that you really have a hard time breaking it down to one area to work,” said McClelland, who has made long runs to his preferred spot each day. “I truly believe that more than anything that this is a mental game and I’m playing it the best I can.

“You have to be in a location where you truly believe there are fish. So many areas look like they would have fish, but they just don’t live there. You can’t even tell where the salt water and fresh water meet in most places. There’s just a lot of places that look really good that just aren’t.”

After finishing day one with five fish weighing 11 pounds, 7 ounces, McClelland bagged another four fish at 9 pounds, 8 ounces on day two. Heading into the third day of competition, McClelland finds himself seventh overall with 20 pounds, 15 ounces.

“There’s no doubt the fog delays have affected me big-time,” McClelland said. “We’ve taken off at 9:30 a.m. both days now. That’s two and a half hours less fishing, so I’m only getting about two and half hours to fish the way it is.

“To be able to catch four fish today and five yesterday in only two and a half hours, I can only imagine how good the results would be if I could fish for four hours.”

Looking to continue climbing his way up the leaderboard, McClelland will once again head to the same spot when the Elite Series anglers launch at 7:10 a.m. CT and return for weigh-in at 4 p.m. at the City of Orange Boat Ramp.

“I think the only thing that would force me to change my approach would be another fog delay worse than we’ve had,” McClelland said. “To be in the top 10 like I am, I will be in the first flight tomorrow, which will require me to be back here by 3:40 p.m. That means I have to be back 20 minutes earlier than today. It’ll be rough for me to go do much if we don’t leave before 9:30 a.m. due to the early time I have to be back, so I’m hoping for that fog to go away.”

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