By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
Three fish in the 9-pound class. Another a near-8 and the "runt" pushing 7 1/2.
Even for a guy who's caught hundreds of bass like those from Lake Fork, the massive final-day stringer that Lee Livesay compiled to win the recent Bassmaster Elite Series event was a dream-like haul.
"It was just surreal," said the well-known Fork guide from Longview, Texas who won his second Elite Series derby in a span of just over 6 months (he also triumphed last October at Lake Chickamauga) with a 4-day total of 112-05. "Nothing ever goes like it's supposed to, but every single variable went exactly right.
"To have family, friends and sponsors there and a gigantic bag caught almost all on topwater, it was just amazing."
The 42-03 bag more than compensated for Livesay's lackluster day 2, which saw him weigh just 17-14. His other two sacks registered 25-06 and 26-14 in the catch-weigh-immediate release format necessitated by the lake's slot limit.
He outdistanced Patrick Walters, the day-1 leader and the winner of last year's tournament at Fork, by exactly 10 pounds.
Bait Species Switch
Livesay, who was back to guiding the day after the event, exploited threadfin shad spawns the first 2 days and switched to gizzard shad for the weekend.
"I never even practiced on the places where I caught them on days 3 and 4," he said. "I'd found a bunch of bed-fish, but I never went to them. I also found a couple of new deals where I'd never fished, including one where I caught two big ones the first day, but I was also running all kinds of stuff that I already had history on."
The baitfish spawns were taking place on shell bars and small ridges in 3 to 5 feet of water. He said that 19 of his 20 weight fish were pre-spawners – the lone exception was a 6 1/2-pounder on day 3. Once he made the transition to the gizzard shad, he shared some area with some of the other leaders, including Walters, Brandon Card and Quentin Cappo.
His bait lineup included two 3:16 Lure Company offerings – a line-through Rising Son swimbait and a Work Horse glidebait. He also threw a 6th Sense Magnum Squarebill and a Carolina-rigged Netbait Little Spanky.
His topwater plug, which produced quality fish each day and four of the five specimens in the final round, was a bone-colored Heddon Saltwater Super Spook.
"I was just making long casts and working it real erratically," he said. "I wanted to move it around and not let them get a good look at it, so I was trucking it all over the place – I wasn't 'walking the dog.'
"I wanted them to think there was a shad up there struggling so they'd come up and blast it. Some of the strikes were like bowling balls falling out of the sky."
Because the fish at Fork are subjected to a substantial angling pressure, he took great pains to remain as quiet as possible. He kept his electronics turned off and his trolling motor was out of the water the majority of the time and he used his Minn Kota Raptor shallow-water anchors extensively to keep his boat in place.
He made his final cull at about 1 o'clock with a 7-15 that replaced a 4-01.
Winning Gear Notes
> Topwater gear: 7' medium-heavy Halo HFX Cranking Series rod, high-speed casting reel, 40-pound braided line, Heddon Saltwater Super Spook (bone).
Notable
> The win moved Livesay up to 4th place in the Angler of the Year race. "It's getting closer to the end of the season and I'm looking at the AOY points – anybody who says they're not is lying," he said. "I need to keep fishing smart and being consistent; cutting checks in every tournament is the plan."
> He finished 57th in last year's points race and thus won't compete in the Bassmaster Classic at Lake Ray Roberts (also in his home state). "I was really (upset) when I didn't qualify," he said. "I've spent a lot of time out there."
