Brent Long of Cornelius, NC won a close one today. It wasn’t Table Rock ace Stacey King who put the pressure on Long and his 3-pound lead. It was 2nd-generation tournament pro Spencer Shuffield with a bulging bag of bass that weighed 22 pounds, 13 ounces.

Long brought nearly 20 pounds (19-14) for a 4-day total weight of 78-13 and a 7-ounce margin of victory.

Troy Morrow of Georgia had a great day with 21-13 to tally 70-13 on the week.

Another Georgian, Clint Brownlee, placed 4th with 67-06 after bringing in 18-and-a-half pounds today.

King did not quite fill out a limit today. His 4 fish weighed 7 pounds, 14 ounces and he finished the tournament in 5th place.

Table Rock set up in earily similar fashion to last month’s major on Lake Hartwell. A wave of spawners had sight fishermen dreaming big. And the Alabama Rig was expected to be a huge factor. The rig, or a version of it, did play a significant role for some, most notably Shuffield, but bedding fish were largely a non-factor for most of the top finishers.

As on Hartwell, per-tournament rain storms brought stained water and shallow-to-mid-depth cranking and flipping opportunities that formed the backbone of most successful game plans.

Long stuck to the dirtiest stretch of water he could find. He got off to a good start, catching a 6-pounder on his 3rd flip of the morning. He noted that, due to droping, clearing water, if the tourney had ended a day later he would be out of luck. But his dirty water flipping pattern held against Shuffield’s onslaught.

Shuffield added some bedding bass today but he did much of his damage this week with his Swimming Frenzy – an umbrella rig that he and a friend build in their hometown of Bismarck, Ark.