David Williams thinks that if he hadn't had mechanical issues on day 1 of the Sabine River Bassmaster Elite Series, he might've given eventual winner Chris Lane a run for the top prize money.
Williams, a first-year Elite Series competitor from North Carolina, moved up 70 places in the standings on day 2 – from 94th to 74th. He then caught another solid stringer on day 3 to end up 16th.
"I couldn't get to my fish that first day and I just basically ended up practicing," he said. "I had one backup area that was close by that I went to, but Rick Clunn was sitting there and he caught about 9 pounds.
"If I could've gotten where I wanted to go, I might've had a chance to win."
He was about 10 miles downriver when his breakdown occurred, so he used his trolling motor to fish around the immediate vicinity and caught a lone 2 1/2-pounder. He weighed double-digit stringers from his primary area – the back of a creek off Taylor Bayou – on each of the next 2 days. He caught a stout 13-05 on day 2 and 10-11 on day 3.
He never had any company in there. He said he saw Lane and 4th-place finisher Brandon Lester fishing around the mouth of the creek, but his spot was a good 5 miles farther back.
He could detect the movement of spawning fish in that extremely shallow water and caught them on moving baits. A Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper produced the most bites, but he also enticed strikes on a spinnerbait, a topwater plug and a buzzbait.
"Those fish were pretty aggressive," he said. "It was like they'd never seen a bait before."
The Sunline Strong Performer, which focuses on the angler who makes the most significant single-day move in the standings at each tour-level event, is brought to you by the great people at Sunline.
