Cliff Pace

    Paul Elias of Laurel and Cliff Pace of Petal are Mississippi’s two qualifiers for the 2011 Classic that is being held in the Louisiana Delta this weekend February 18- 20. While Kevin VanDam is the defending champion Elias and Pace both stand good chances of being crowned world champion this week. While Elias has qualified for 15 Classics and has one Classic Crown and World Championship in his favor, Pace has now qualified for four Classics and has a runner up finish as well.

    Although not as well known as many of his peers around the country, Elias has consistently placed in the money and come up big in winning the big ones when he needed it the most. Elias’ career reached a pinnacle when he won the 1982 Bass Masters Classic and was crowned World Champion. That win cemented his name among the best anglers in the world and it has stayed there until this day. Many of those anglers and legends he competed against back in that classic have now retired and have long since quit fishing competitively.

    Elias, however, has kept an even keel and continues to fish at a high level when other anglers and even athletes have long since lost their competitive edge. Fishing at a high level during the championship fishing series is very stressful on an angler’s body and to do it for so long in all kinds of weather all around the country is a testament to the ability, durability and tenacity of Paul Elias.

    Elias has 145 Top 50 finishes, 67 top 20 finishes, 41 top 10 finishes and 6 wins. Perhaps his most impressive win here in the latter stages of his career came during the 2008 Lone Star Shootout at Falcon Lake near Zapata, TX. Elias caught an astounding 132.8 pounds of bass on his way to winning the tournament and $100,000.00! During that tournament Elias shocked the bass fishing world with his catch and once again proved his deep water structure fishing prowess. With almost a million dollars in winnings on the Bassmaster circuit alone, Elias is surely a force to be reckoned with.

Pace Makes an Impact

    Cliff Pace has only been on the circuit a few short years but has already made a big splash and is a threat to win almost any tournament he enters. With almost $600,000.00 in winnings in his young career, Pace has already proven that he belongs among the elite fishermen in the world today and is on pace to break the million mark before too long!

    Pace has 55 top 50 finishes, 26 top 20 finishes, 18 top 10 finishes, two 2nd place finishes and 2 wins. The talented angler won the 2003 Texas Central Open and the 2004 Louisiana CITGO Open in addition to finishing runner-up in the 2008 Classic. Pace narrowly missed being crowned champion in that tournament as Alton Jones edged him out for the top spot.

    While Pace obviously is very talented and versatile he first burst into the national spotlight with his ability to fish a frog, or toad as some prefer to call the soft salad baits. Like many of Mississippi’s anglers Pace learned to fish a frog and became accomplished at it before frog fishing became popular on a national scale.

    It takes more than being a one dimensional fisherman to compete on the professional bass tour and Pace has consistently shown he has what it takes to compete with and beat many of the sport’s top pros. With his knack for finding and catching bass in a wide range of conditions in high pressure tournaments, Pace has what it takes to win the big one and is a pretty good bet to win the world championship before too long.

    Will the old savvy veteran Elias win his second Bass Masters Championship, or will it be the talented up and coming Cliff Pace? Both Elias and Pace have the ability to win the big one and if they get the right bites and breaks either could be crowned world champion at the end of the tournament. Though both can’t win, it would be cool to have both the champion and runner-up from Mississippi. It’s not out of the question that’s for sure.

    Good luck Cliff and Paul. We’ll be rooting for both of you!

    Contact  Mike Giles at 601-917-3898

or e-mail him at mikegiles18@comcast.net