Sabine River Elite Series

Photo: BassFan

> Day 1: 5, 11-06
> Day 2: 3, 6-10
> Day 3 4, 6-10
> Total = 12, 24-10 (17th place)

I'm happy to leave here with a 17th-place finish. I'm a little disappointed in dropping from 9th to 17th from days 1 to 3, but Top-20 finishes are my goal for the whole season and to hit that in the first tournament is pretty good.

I fished in Louisiana in the Lacassine Wildlife Refuge. It opens March 15 every year so it'd only been open for a few days when we started practice. Because of that, there was a huge influx of local boats and when they stuck one, it went in the cooler. I had to make sure I stayed away from all that pressure.

On the first 2 days I caught seven of my eight fish sight-fishing with a Megabass prototype creature bait. The sun was out and I could seen the fish on those days. On day 3, when it was cloudy and rainy, I switched to a black Megabass Pony Frog and got four bites throwing that.

The whole shoreline looked great with the laydowns and the hyacinths and the reeds, but I skipped over all of that stuff and went right to the open pockets because that's where they were bedding in that clearer water.

> Day 1: 4, 10-00
> Day 2: 2, 4-03
> Day 3: 2, 3-12
> Total = 8, 17-15

I'm definitely disappointed that I didn't catch a limit the first day, because I should have. I lost one that was at least 5 pounds, maybe bigger, just 20 or 30 yards from where Terry Scroggins caught the 6-10. That was a pretty emotional hour, but that was the only fish I lost all week. Other than that, it was just hard to get a (keeper) bite.

I fished in the Calcasieu River and on Tuesday after practice I thought the only real question was what size my limits were going to be. It turned out that wasn't the case.

I flipped a Tightlines Whisker Beaver and a UV-Hog. I couldn't see the fish on the beds, but they were definitely spawning.

Photo: B.A.S.S./Gary Tramontina

Practice Recap
I'm piecing things together slowly but surely. It was a good practice all around. The key is finding some clear water and you'll find the fish bedding big-time. It's not like a typical Florida situation where there's a bunch of giants, but there are beds everywhere.

(On Wednesday) I checked some stuff that I looked at the first day and everything looks good. There are a lot of variables, though – it's a very long run and very risky. It's high-risk, high-reward because every time I set the hook it's a big one.

I've got one area near where Faircloth won it last time in Taylor's Bayou, but I didn't go there because I didn't want to deal with the crowds. I'll keep that one in my back pocket. For now I'm planning on making the long run. I only saw one guy there the first day.

Practice – Day 1
I don't want to get too specific, but I had a pretty good day. Of the 8 days I've fished here all together, this was the best one I've had. I'm just covering a lot of water and using my satellite mapping more than anything. I'm looking for water color changes – over the last couple of weeks this whole region has gotten a lot of rain – and shaking off a lot of bites.

The crawdads have been coming out the last couple weeks; on land you can see their holes everywhere. I've been playing around with a Megabass prototype bait, which is a crawfish imitator. I'm looking for color changes first, then keying on the crawdad pattern.

Photo: BassFan

Practice Recap
The water's warmer than last time, which will probably help the fishing a little bit, but I still think it's going to be pretty tough just because it's going to fish smaller. People know what the key places are. Some of the catches should be better, but it's just going to be tough because places will be more crowded.

I'm planning to make a pretty good run and that has me concerned because they're calling for a dense fog advisory in the morning and that never helps. That should make it pretty interesting.

Any limit would be great and I'd be tickled with 10 pounds a day. That might not win it, but my goal is to get to Saturday first and then worry about each day as it comes. The bite seems to be a little bit better and the fish are further along. Maybe they'll be a little more aggressive, but I don't think weights are going to be much different than last time.

If I had all day to fish and didn't have anybody around me, then maybe I'd be confident. That being said, I didn't stick many fish in practice and they could easily be a bunch of mudfish. I've had that happen before.

Practice – Day 1
It's kind of the same old Sabine it was last time other than it's a little bit warmer. This might be a decent fishery if you didn't have to run so far and share it with so many other boats. It doesn't seem like there are any real secrets and as big as this fishery is, it's going to fish fairly small. If somebody can find a special canal off by themselves, they're liable to do really well.

Last time it was more of a pre-spawn thing, but I think we're right in the middle of the spawn now. The discouraging part is that if you find something, you can be pretty sure that somebody else is going to find it, too. If I had an area to myself I think I could catch a few fish.

I've got 2 more days to expand on what I did today, so maybe I'll stumble across something unique or come up with a bait that might generate a few more bites.