It's day 3 of the Forrest Wood Cup, which means things will start getting more intense up and down the Red River, especially in Pool 5 where most of the remaining anglers have been fishing. We're back on the water this morning with Ron Festavan. We're looking forward to spending more time in the boat with him and bringing BassFans closer to the action.
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12:15 pm: We are off the water for the day. Sorry for the early exit. Have photos to edit and other follow-up items from day 2 to tend to. Thanks again for joining us. See ya back here in the morning live from the water.
11:52 am: It's almost high noon on the Red and Nixon just finished his limit. Probably up to 7 pounds now.
11:28 am: Nixon catches a short and promptly tosses it back. Andy Morgan pulls in behind us and sees Nixon fishing, then pulls up to him and says "It's no wonder I haven't caught anything in here the last two days." They chat for a moment and Morgan blasts off northbound on the river. He said he has a small limit.
11:20 am: A yellow crop duster just flew right over Nixon and the four boats watching him. We chirped to him that the plane should've dropped some fish in the area for him. "They should've dropped a grenade," he said, referencing the slow bite. Not 2 minutes later he lands a keeper, his fourth. "About freakin time," he says as he removes the hook and drops it in the livewell.
11 am: Nixon made a move upriver to a stretch he fished on Thursday. The heat is starting to make its presence felt but every now and then the breeze takes the edge off. Nixon is still pitching to reeds and laydowns when he's near them. Still stuck on three fish.
10:35 am: Monsoor left his reeds to run south. We came back up north and found Nixon deftly working reeds with a white jig. He has three small fish so far. He has eight boats watching him now.
10:10 am: We moved back north on the main river and Tom Monsoor and Andy Morgan are fishing across from each other. Morgan has since ducked back into an area locals call Three Fingers, where three cuts connect in the back to form a slough.
Monsoor is working down a reed line pitching. He swung one in the boat a couple minutes ago but it didn't make the cut. Co-angler champion Theo Corcoran is in the boat as his observer today.
No word on how Daniels is doing.
9:24 am: Update from White House ... Scheide just motored in and turned the corner with his motor trimmed up. He powered through some silt and headed to the back, passing by Arey on his way. No word on what he has. Nixon has decided to leave. Arey continues to work a grass line and a stump field.
9:15 am: We moved off Rose and ran back into White House Lake where Matt Arey and Larry Nixon are fishing a few hundred yards apart. Arey just caught a keeper where he's been fishing the first 2 days while Nixon is working on his big-fish hole. No word yet on what he's got. Water temp back in here is 82, but the heat from the sun is starting to win out over the cool breeze.
8:45 am: Avena pulled up and left, presumably off to find bigger fish. He just couldn't pull any quality bites off that rock cut. We ran south toward White House and found Mark Rose fishing a rock cut as well. He's got a spinning rod in his hand and has caught three in 5 minutes, including two keepers. He now has four, but no big ones yet.
8:35 am: We've left Scheide and idled out to the river and found Adrian Avena working the same rock cut he's been on the first 2 days. He catches one right away and throws it back. It was a keeper-size fish but those won't help him today as he tries to break back into the Top 10. He has two keepers, including one with a "3-pound head and a 1 1/2-pound body," he said.
8:05 am: It's fixing to be a bluebird day here. A nice breeze is blowing across this backwater right now as Scheide swings and misses again. We can't stress how thick the "stuff" is back here. Pads the size of large pizzas as far as the eye can see with thick stems and other assorted "stuff."
7:55 am: Scheide just missed one and immediately dives into his tackle compartment for something new. He put the frog down and has slowed down. Another swing and a miss. This has got to be eating at him. One or two of the right fish in here could make a huge difference. Another non-keeper that bites his soft plastic.
7:44 am: Of the Top 20 pros fishing today, eight fished the Bassmaster Central Open here in late April and three of them - Wesley Strader (2nd) Randall Tharp (4th) and Justin Lucas (7th) - finished in the Top 12. Others were John Cox (140th), Robbie Dodson (30th), JT Kenney (26th), Brent Ehrler (56th) and Jacob Wheeler (68th).
Experience on a venue like this is proving to be crucial this week and it obviously has served these guys well.
Scheide just caught one, but it's a short.
7:24 am: Scheide is still tossing a frog around. We've stayed back a ways from him but he's trolled a good 100 yards from where he put down his trolling motor. This seems like it would be a dynamite hot-water bite area with all the giant pads up out of the water. It'll be interesting to see how long he stays in here this morning, but there's a good chance he'll be back this afternoon once the sun goes to work.
7:14 am:We're following Ray Scheide back through a stumpy pad field presumably to where his frog fish live. It is thick and gnarly in here. Been idling for 10 minutes so far. He stopped just in the edge of a little gully where the pads thin out considerably. Goes to work with a frog. This is a big-fish house just from the looks of it.
6:45 am: it is cool and breezy at the ramp this morning. FLW will be using co-anglers as observers today with the Top 20 pros.
