Cliff Prince described his lure choices this week as "throwing everything but the kitchen sink at them."
His go-to bait, especially for his bigger fish, has been a tube fished on a Booyah football jig-head. But he's also Carolina-rigged a Yum Mighty Craw and used a shaky head worm "that Terry (Scroggins) made in his garage." The soft plastics were all in green-pumpkin or watermelon colors.
Regardless of where Prince ends up today, he's made major progress at Bull Shoals, where he finished 95th last year.
"When I came here last year, I was really lost," Prince said. "I may have been the only one who didn't figure it out. I think I beat three people."
Actually he beat four, and one of them was his buddy in Yocum Cove all week, Steve Kennedy. Prince's Patatka, Fla., pal Scroggins also made a major turnaround at Bull Shoals. He finished 92nd last year, which essentially cost him the 2012 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year title.