BROOKELAND, Texas — Few, if any, fisheries host more tournaments each year than Texas’ famed Sam Rayburn Reservoir, which means there are rarely surprises on the lake. However, with the water level currently about 7 feet low, Big Sam has taken on a different complexion. That could make for a wide-open event when the Cowboy Division of the Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine wraps up its season with a Super Tournament on Sam Rayburn Sept. 27-28.
This year, BFL anglers benefit from an expanded slate of Regionals, which minimizes travel costs and provides more opportunities to qualify for the $120,000 BFL All-American while fishing familiar, closer-to-home waters. Click here to find out more.
What to expect
Texas native Wyatt Frankens has plenty of experience on Sam Rayburn, including a win and eight other Top 10s in MLF competition. He expects this event to be different than the typical late-summer derby on the fishery.
With the water being so low, the submerged vegetation that often produces this time of year is sparse. Plus, there’s no bushes and very little wood cover in the water. So, while Frankens said it’s “not impossible” that anglers can catch fish shallow, he expects most of the pros to focus their attention offshore.
Offshore could mean a few different things. Anglers using forward-facing sonar to target bass roaming and chasing baitfish or suspended among standing timber are just about always going to have a chance to win on Rayburn, and Frankens said this event is no exception. However, he also thinks the potential is there for a brushpile bite to play as well as some old-school structure fishing.
“There’s some fish schooling up,” Frankens said. “The lake being that low, they’re going to school up on just traditional, old-school structure fishing – your ledges, your points, off the end of flats, your river-channel swings, your creek-channel swings.”
Frankens thinks it’s likely the top performers could mix and match offshore approaches, perhaps hitting a school early then running brushpiles or targeting suspenders to catch a kicker.
“I really feel like the guy that wins the event, he’s probably going to have a little bit of everything going on,” he said.
Baits to bring
There will undoubtedly be plenty of anglers slinging jighead minnows on spinning tackle, but Frankens thinks power tactics will produce, too. He predicted some will find success cranking for offshore schools, and big plastic worms can be good tools both around offshore structure and brushpiles. Lastly, at this time of year, it’s always a good idea to have a topwater on the deck.
What will it take?
While the low water might not make for as diverse an event as usual, Frankens thinks it might actually improve the weights, as the bass are less spread out.
Last year, it only took 28 pounds across two days to win the September Super Tournament. Frankens thinks that number will easily be eclipsed this year, possibly in just one day.
“It’s Rayburn,” he said. “Someone could catch 30, and if you do that, then you back it up with 15, you’ve got 45 in two days. So, I really think the guy that wins is going to have that low- to mid-20s a day. Maybe it’s 30 and 15, or maybe he gets up there with 22 1/2, 23 pounds a day. That’s a safe bet.
“It can get ignorant, though. Somebody could catch 55, 57 pounds in two days, too.”