Barnes Keeps his Edge on Texoma
Tacking on four bass for 12 pounds, 15 ounces, Evan Barnes retained his lead in the Toyota Series presented by A.R.E. Southwestern Division event on Lake Texoma. With a 29-10 total, Barnes will head into the final day 10 ounces ahead of Blake Schroeder and looking for his first MLF win.
This event, which is presented by Abu Garcia and hosted by Discover Durant, has been a tale of lost fish and failed limits for the majority of the field. While that wasn’t the case for Barnes on Day 1, today he fell victim to it and can’t help but think what could have been today.
“It started off really good today,” Barnes says. “I thought I was fixing to have a stellar day again. I caught two largemouth pretty quick and one was a 3-pounder. Then I went back in my first pocket and ended catching a 3 ½-pound smallmouth in there. So, it was a good start.
“I finally rolled over to my other area, which is mostly smallmouth, and I had all the bites I could ask for, but I’d set the hook and they’d come off. Good ones, too. You could just tell. I think they were just in a bad mood. Maybe after that front yesterday, this being the first day after it. I don’t know, but they weren’t eating good like they were the first day.”
With plenty of time left in the day, Barnes ran a few other places to get his mind off of losing fish before pulling back up to his main smallmouth spot.
“When I went back through there, I got a couple more bites and lost them,” Barnes says. “It was not going good. Finally, I made a bomb, long cast and one eats it at the end of the cast and comes up jumping and is like 5-pounds. I thought, ‘Oh, thank you, Jesus.’ I got her in the net and knew that would be enough to get me fishing again tomorrow.”
Barnes has two main areas – one for largemouth and one for smallmouth – and both have plenty of fish in them. While he doesn’t plan on changing anything tomorrow in terms of where to fish, he may change up how he approaches them.
“Tomorrow, if the fish would just change their mood and actually bite it could be another one of those really, really good days,” says the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit pro. “I’m excited to get back out there because the hope of them actually eating has me excited. I’m going to do it a little different tomorrow too in terms of rotation. I’m going to start on my smallmouth and see what’s going on and go from there.”
The excitement of knowing you’re on good fish and are in the lead of a tournament is a feeling anglers never take for granted. Barnes knows he’s close to finally closing the door on a major win and it’s something he’s not going to let go of without a fight.
“A win right now would mean more than it ever has in my entire career,” he says. “I made a big decision to fish full-time this year. So, financially speaking this would be a blessing. But also it’d be a blessing in a mental way for me. I’ve never been in this position before. I’ve had a couple top 10s in the past, but never been leading going into the final day.
“At this point I’ll just put it in the Lord’s hands and I’m going to be thankful for it.”
Top 10 Pros
1. Evan Barnes – 29 – 10 (9)
2. Blake Schroeder – 29 – 00 (10)
3. Shawn Temple – 28 – 03 (8)
4. Chad Mrazek – 28 – 01 (8)
5. Billy Cline – 27 – 02 (8)
6. Mitchell Webb – 26 – 11 (8)
7. Wesley Dawson – 25 – 09 (8)
8. James Ware – 25 – 03 (9)
9. Cameron Mattison – 24 – 14 (10)
10. Tommy Dickerson – 24 – 06 (9)
Bean Takes Strike King Co-angler Lead
Bill Bean has made a few MLF Top 10s in his career, but none at the Toyota Series level. So, the fact he’s got a shot at the biggest win of his career isn’t something to take lightly. Weighing just four bass on Day 1 worth 9-5, he caught a solid limit today weighing 12-8 to hold just an 8-ounce lead over co-angler ace Keith Honeycutt.
Paired with pro leader Barnes on Saturday, Bean will certainly be around the right quality fish to help bring home a new Phoenix boat.