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Jasper, Tex. – In a year that features anglers like Skeet Reese and Boyd Duckett that are having career years, one Texas angler is having the best single season of a solid career, and his performance has gone largely unnoticed.
Being from the East Texas town of Jasper, Todd Faircloth is known primarily as a shallow water, target oriented angler, but his consistency proves he is not limited. He proved that in claiming his first tour level win on Table Rock Lake in the final event of the 2006 Elite Series season. Table Rock is known for deep, clear water, light line finesse tactics and suspended fish.
The consistency began to turn to excellence after Table Rock
| In 2007, Faircloth has cashed nine paychecks including the Classic and the majors, finished in the top 20 seven times, and had a fourth place finish in the season opener at Lake Amistad. He is currently in 9th place in The Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year Points Race, his best position thus far in his career. He has also had top 20 finishes in each of the last four regular season events. |
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Faircloth, a 32-year-old veteran of 108 BASS Tournament entries has been steady for much of his career. Faircloth has cashed paychecks in 70 tournaments since entering his first BASS event in 1996. The Skeeter / Yamaha pro’s career earnings totals $610,712.30, making his average payday $5,654.74 per tournament.
“I have had a good year overall,” Faircloth told The BASS ZONE. “But, like any athlete, I see where I have not gotten all I could out of my water at individual events.” To start with the events that please him, Faircloth explained that he got the maximum out of his areas at the Potomac, and Lake Amistad, but knows he could have done better in others.
“I didn’t manage my time very well at Champlain,” Faircloth revealed. “The wind in the river concerned me, so I left earlier than I needed to and wasted about four hours fishing water I had no confidence in, and didn’t improve myself on the main lake. I also felt like I left a little behind at Lake Erie, and was disappointed I didn’t make the top 12 there.”
Other than those two finishes, Faircloth is pleased with his year. “I’m feeling really good about the season,” he said while driving to Lake Toho with his family. “It’s really hard to complain with a string of top 20 finishes, and a top 10 in the points; I’m really happy.”
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The highlight of his season thus far was his 4th place finish at Lake Amistad. “It felt really good to do well in my home state,” he said. “I don’t get to spend a lot of time at Amistad, but it is certainly the high point of the season so far.”
His position in the standings gives him some added confidence going into Toho. He explained that he has looked at the math and feels that he needs to only do average at Toho to make the cut for the 2008 Bassmaster Classic at Lake Hartwell in South Carolina. However, while he said he might feel freer to take a few chances, he wants to maintain his position.
“I was right on the bubble last year heading into Table Rock so to be in the position I’m in this year is different,” Faircloth noted. “I will practice the same as I always do, but allow myself to take a chance if I feel like I can go for the win. But, I want to finish the year in the top 10, so I won’t take too big of a risk.” |
His desired approach at Toho will be to pick up a flipping stick in practice and not put it down for the whole event, but knows that Florida presents a set of challenges he has to account for. “Florida and Texas are similar in that they have grass, but the lakes in Florida don’t have the contour that our lakes back home have, so I will have to figure out how they are relating to cover, and find out what they’ll eat.”
Like most of the other Elite Series pros, Faircloth is looking forward to closing out the season and enjoying some down time. “It’s been a long year, and we’re all pretty tired,” he explained. “I’m looking forward to some down time, and doing some hunting in the fall and winter; I probably won’t start fishing again until January.”
His wife Angie, his three year-old son Hudson and seven-month-old son Harrison are tagging along to the final event at Toho. Faircloth said that he and the family will have a few days to visit Walt Disney World before heading to Clark’s Hill for a Skeeter Owner’s Tournament there the weekend after the Elite Series season ends.
“I am actually looking forward to the Owner’s event, Skeeter does a great job, the tournaments are a lot of fun, and we get to really give something back to our loyal customers. I usually try and do the one at Lake Fork, but wasn’t able to this year, so I’m looking forward to it. I want to support Skeeter any way that I can.”
For More Information about Faircloth and his sponsors, visit: www.toddfaircloth.com
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