The King of the String is back! This MLF-style catch all you can tournament event is back for 2021 is without a doubt my least favorite and most dreaded event. Not because it isn’t a cool concept, it really is! It’s because I STINK at this format. But should be a fun time for everyone else on the water!
I’m a big fan of the MLF television show where they do the ‘every fish counts format’ and like it much better than the super confusing MLF tournament trail series. (I mean, you need a flowchart to track which day is what…) Catching as many fish as you can is fun and lessens the dependency on size of bass which puts more anglers in play to compete. My problem is in these tourneys I can’t seem to catch fish. In the two past NSKA King of the String (KOS) events, I have a combined TOTAL of 7 fish. Seven! That’s not even good enough for 25th place in the last KOS event. yikes.
Predicting 2021 Based on Past Results
Everyone enjoys trying to project what it will take to win or finish in the top 10 for these events. Often, KFF gets pretty close by looking at past data. This one is a bit tougher because we only have two data sets and neither was from this body of water specifically, nor this time of year.
One thing I do know, for someone to win, they are going to have to dethrone Roy Roberts who has twice now been the King (of the string).
In 2017, anglers could fan out across a 60 mile radius on a July day to find whatever water would work best for them to catch as many 11″ bass as possible. The field of 46 anglers caught 326 bass, an average of 7.08 bass per angler. Roy Roberts crushed the field with 27 bass for 344.25″ on the day. Christa Hibbs was second with 25/306.25″ and Nathan Henthorn did his river magic for 24/294.50″ in bass. Of the 46 anglers, 26 of them (57%) turned in at least five fish. Cole Sikes took Big Bass with a 22.50″ Lincoln Lake giant.
The KOS returned in May 2020 with a vengeance. The 72 anglers accounted for 567 fish, for an average of 7.80 bass per angler. Now that’s interesting…a bit of a jump in bass per angler (BPA), but pretty darn close. This event had a smaller radius of 40 miles, but still included a lot of small water. Rains the week of ruined many of the rivers for this one, making it more lake focused. Roy Roberts did it again, breaking his mark from 2017 by posting 28 fish for 375.75″ to win. John Wofford 25/346″ took second and Jason Coleman 25/321.75″ took third. Of the 72 anglers, 41 (57%) turned in at least five fish…interesting, just like in 2017. Big Bass for the event was a nice 20.75″ catch by John Wofford.
Now, this event is on the Dead Sea (a.k.a. Beaver Lake) in April. What does that mean? From past data, it seems that we’ll have an average of eight fish per angler, and, most likely 57% of the field will catch at least five bass, and Big Bass will be in the usual range of 19-22″ in length. We’ve also seen that 10th place is about half of first place on average.
What will happen?
A few things are working against big totals for 2021. Even though Roy Roberts has been on Beaver before and won both times, and many others have done well, for many anglers Beaver Lake is just not friendly for numbers of catches. Secondly, after the ice age we went through, things seem to be just a bit behind with the fish activity. Water is heating up all over the lake, which could change things on a dime…or make them more unpredictable.
The river area is a logical choice for a good day, with the water already near or above 60, it should be where spawn is happening first. The clear water in the lower end of the lake (lower meaning nearest the dam, not geographically) is full of smallmouth and spotted bass which could be key for a KOS event, but water temps are still stuck in the low-mid 50s. Then you have the mid-lake areas which are a bit of both worlds, little warmer water, but fewer spots and smallies.
My belief is the winner will be in the 25-27 range for about 335″ in total. Which would make 10th place around 13-14 for about 168″ in total.
Heavy Hitters – Still Time to Enter!
There is still plenty of time to enter the Heavy Hitters side pot for 2021! Check out the rules and how to enter from the previous post. You only need five big fish and there are seven events left. Don’t miss out and sign up today.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Thanks for reading and good luck! If you haven’t seen it, check out the video from Bull Shoals a couple of weeks ago. If you like, hit subscribe.