Bass kept moving into his area every day, and Harvey Horne kept intercepting them to win the Arkansas River Central Open.
Keying on fish moving shallow to spawn each day, Horne tallied a three-day total of 52-07 to claim his first Open victory and take home a boat and motor package worth $58,000 plus $5,075 in cash. He also qualified for the 2018 Opens Championship, Oct. 18-20, at a location to be announced later.
The Bella Vista, Ark., angler said he caught his limit by about 9:30 a.m. Saturday and finished with 18-08 to seal the victory. “I caught three of the fish off beds today and caught two out of brushpiles in a little deeper water,” he said.
His main lure throughout the tournament was a 5 1/2-inch Big Bite Baits Fighting Frog (in the confusion, tilapia and hematoma color patterns) attached to an All-Terrain Swing Head Rock Jig with a 6/0 Gamakatsu G-Finesse Hybrid hook.
Horne said he usually never goes out the final practice day for the Opens, but this past Wednesday he wanted to check out one last spot. When it produced a 6-pounder, he decided it would be one of his primary areas for the tournament. The area was a small gravel pit off the main river that featured a hole about 10 feet deep.
“They had pulled into that little area to spawn,” he said. “The females were sitting out there in the middle in a little deeper water, and the males had pulled up on the beds. I didn’t catch any bedding fish until today.”
He believes spawning bass moved onto the beds Friday night.
Lake Fork guide Justin Margraves also targeted spawning bass to finish second with 48-09. “I had one area that had fish moving in to spawn, so I had more fish showing up every day,” he said.
Following are the final totals for the top 12:
1. Harvey Horne: 52-07
2. Justin Margraves: 48-09
3. Derek Hudnall: 47-08
4. Justin Lucas: 45-13
5. Tyler Rivet: 44-14
6. Dustin Reneau: 43-12
7. Drew Benton: 41-05
8. Benjamin Blaschke: 41-02
9. David Gillham: 38-07
10. Greg Vance: 38-00
11. Brandon Lee: 34-05
12. Frank Talley: 30-00
