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RIDGELAND, Miss. (March 13) — Cabela’s/GEICO For Your Boat angler Mike McClelland, the leader after the first day of action on Thursday at the Bassmaster Central Open No. 1 on Ross Barnett Reservoir, fell just short of fishing for the tournament victory on a difficult Friday.

McClelland surged to the top of the leaderboard on day one with a haul of 23 pounds, 5 ounces, but as good as the first day was, the second was simply unlucky. He caught two fish weighing 3 pounds, 13 ounces and missed the top-12 cut by 2 ounces.

“This sport is such a game of ounces,” McClelland said. “It’s unbelievable how much one bite can do to change your day or your tournament. You give me the opportunity to fish again tomorrow, and I might come back and win.”

McClelland finished tied for 13th place with a total of 27 pounds, 2 ounces, just behind 12th-place Stephen Browning’s bag of 27 pounds, 4 ounces.

“I missed it by literally 2 ounces,” McClelland said. “If I’d have had 3 more ounces, I would’ve made it.”

All McClelland could do was shake his head.

“It’s just one of them deals,” McClelland said. “When you fish well and things are going your way, everything goes right. That’s what happened yesterday. That was a flawless day. I never lost any fish and everything just seemed like it was in check all day long.”

Friday, however, was another story.

“I literally had three bites,” McClelland said. “I lost one of them that cost me the cut. It is what it is.”

But it does have McClelland fired up for his next tournament.

“Anybody who is competitive goes through the same thing,” McClelland said. “If you lose a basketball game by one point, you’re driven to play harder the next game and be that much more intense. This makes you want it that much worse.”

Cabela’s/GEICO For Your Boat angler Mike McClelland fell just short of fishing for the tournament victory on a difficult Friday at the Bassmaster Central Open No. 1 on Ross Barnett Reservoir.