Top 5 Patterns from Sam Rayburn – Day 1
JASPER, Texas – The kickoff to the Bass Pro Tour regular-season opener on Sam Rayburn Reservoir produced plenty of action, but anticipation is brewing among the 80-angler field for what’s ahead for the rest of the week as the weather continues to warm.
Spencer Shuffield’s Leading Pattern
2nd – Dustin Connell – 29–11 (10)
Just a single ounce behind leader Spencer Shuffield is the 2021 REDCREST champion, Dustin Connell. His 29-11 catch included the day’s biggest bass, a 9-pound, 5-ounce monster caught in Period 2.
Connell had a strong morning, as all 10 of his bass for 29-11 came before noon, most of it on a jerkbait.
3rd – Kevin VanDam – 27–12 (10)
VanDam is satisfied with his Day 1 finish after a tough practice.
“Two days is not a lot of time for a lake this big,” he said. “I had a few bites here and there in practice, but today, my first few fish were not scorable. I caught a nice one this morning and that kind of settled me down.”
VanDam disclosed that he’s mainly fishing offshore, and that the fishing should get better as the week progresses.
“I’m looking for areas where fish are staging fish are using as migration routes as they move to the spawning flats,” VanDam said. “The fish want to get up in the grass and bushes to spawn, but it’s still just a little cold for it, but I’m amazed at how quickly it’s warming up. The water temperature went up six degrees over the course of the day.”
4th – Ott DeFoe – 25-7 (11)
Despite finishing the day in fourth, DeFoe still has plenty of questions about the fishing and what the rest of the week holds.
“You would thinking being in fourth that I’ve found something that’s working really well,” DeFoe said. “The day started really good, but I learned that it was heavily spot specific. I tried to look for similar areas, but it was just one fish here and one fish there for the rest of the day.”
DeFoe caught the most scorable bass on the day with 11, but had plenty of other bass come to the boat today.
“I found out that a lot of those bites I was shaking off during practice were not scorable,” he says. “I caught 12 bass this morning before I finally got one over 2 pounds. The good news is I’m still within reach of the lead, and I’m going to do everything I can to win my group and advance to the Championship Round.”
5th – Edwin Evers – 23–9 (5)
Edwin Evers totaled five bass on the day for 23-9. That solid weight was helped tremendously by an 8-7 and 5-1 in the final 30 minutes of the day.
“I found a stretch that had some big fish moving up late in the day,” Evers said. “It felt good to end the day like that. I feel like I survived. This lake is changing so much, and I feel like it is going to keep getting better.”
Aside from the solid finish, Evers is happy to have covered some ground today.
“I fished all over the lake and definitely eliminated some water,” he said. “I fished a good portion of the lake and feel like I have it narrowed down a little more now. I have a feeling that cut weight is going to jump up quite a bit when we get back out there on Tuesday.”