RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – Zach King of Clarksville, Ark. brought a five-bass limit to the scale Thursday weighing 18 pounds, 10 ounces to win the Toyota Series event at Lake Dardanelle and earn the top payout of $40,000. Over the three days of competition King, weighed in 15 bass totaling 55-03 to gain the win by a 5-13 margin over Texas’ Todd Castledine, who finished second with a three-day total of 49-06, good for $15,500.
“I was feeling good coming into this tournament because I have a lot of local knowledge on the fishery,” said King. “I know where the bass are at and what they’re doing. The only thing I was worried about was the weather. I knew this cold front was coming but thank goodness the weatherman was wrong on the predictions. When we looked at the forecast, it was supposed to be 38 degrees on the final day, but when we woke up it was 50 degrees, which made a huge difference in the bite.
“They called for early storms and a cold front on the second day of the event, but when we woke up that morning, it was 76 degrees and the storms hadn’t hit yet.”
Despite all the anticipated weather that was late coming to fruition, King said the event ended up being “the perfect storm” for him.
“Everything aligned just right for me in this event,” said King. “It was warm two days prior to practice and the first two days of the event, but then the cold front hit and made it tough for a lot of the anglers. Thankfully, my local knowledge paid off for me when the conditions did change.”
King said he’s a big sight-fisherman and spent most of his time upriver in the Spadra Creek region, targeting spawning fish on beds.
“Probably 97 percent of my fish came from me looking at them on beds,” said King. “I was throwing a watermelon red flake-colored Yum Dinger, a 1/4-ounce War Eagle Spinnerbait and a 3/8-ounce Booyah Swim’n Jig on a Randall Tharp Money Maker ARK Rod with 15-pound Seaguar Line.”
He’d finished 2nd on the Toyota Series four times over the last 10 years or so and was due for a win.
“It feels amazing, and it was so great having all of my family here with me,” said King. “I’ve lived here and fished this lake my whole life and everyone has always considered me the ‘King of Dardanelle’, so it feels good to finally solidify that with a win on my home lake.”
Here are the final totals for the Top 10:
1st: Zach King, Clarksville, Ark., 15 bass, 55-03, $40,000
2nd: Todd Castledine, Nacogdoches, Texas, 15 bass, 49-06, $15,500
3rd: Erick Hurst, Clarksville, Ark., 15 bass, 49-06, $13,000
4th: Kirk Smith, Edmond, Okla., 15 bass, 47-15, $10,200
5th: Dillon Harrell, New Haney, Texas, 15 bass, 46-01, $9,000
6th: Cole Breeden, Lebanon, Mo., 15 bass, 45-14, $8,300
7th: Matt Baker, Glenwood, Ark., 15 bass, 44-05, $7,000
8th: Keith Combs, Huntington, Texas, 15 bass, 43-03, $6,000
9th: Jeff Lugar, Princeton, Texas, 15 bass, 41-13, $5,000
10th: Steve Lopez, Oconomowoc, Wis., 15 bass, 40-12, $4,000
For complete standings, click here.
