No blow, all go

Wind subsides for day three of Stren Series event on Lake Texoma

DENISON, Texas – After two days of pounding through huge wind-driven waves, anglers fishing the Stren Series event on Lake Texoma finally caught a break. Now, they just need to go catch some fish.

Days one and two brought gusty conditions with winds rarely falling below 20 mph and reaching as high as 40. Texoma’s big water stacked up and presented anglers with mountainous waves so big that some reported losing sight of nearby competitors when they slid into deep troughs.

As Friday dawned with light breezes, lots of sunshine and chilly air, anglers buttoned up, zipped up and readied themselves to put up or shut up. Most probably would have tweaked the forecast to achieve optimal conditions, but tournament fishing means playing the cards you’re dealt.

“A lot of the guys wanted less wind, but they need more cloud cover, which they’re not going to get today,” tournament official Tim Porter said. “Every day has been a different day. Day one it was cloudy and windy; yesterday they had a lot of wind and bluebird skies; today they’re going to have bluebird skies and virtually no wind.

“We’ve had a change in conditions each day, so the guy who’s really on top of his game is the guy who’s going to do it today. This lake is known for (inconsistency). If you find fish today, they’re not going to be there tomorrow. You have to move and adapt.”

Del Rio, Texas, pro Tim Reneau sees the day-three conditions as an opportunity ripe for the picking: “I’ll probably stick with creeks and rocks. The waves were so big on a lot of those spots that you couldn’t fish them. I’m going to target stuff that people couldn’t fish yesterday. If the water temperature cools a little bit, we might catch some on topwaters.”

Ronnie Hopkins Jr. of Mounds, Okla., has led the Pro Division for two days. He bagged 17-14 on day one and added 15-8 on day two for a strong 33-pound, 6-ounce total that gives him a 6-14 margin over second-place Douglas Jones. On the co-angler side, Bo Middleton of Elgin, Okla., also holds the lead he took on day one. His two-day weight is 18-2.

Anglers sitting high in the standings will probably stick with the baits and patterns that have produced thus far. Others still scrambling to make the money cut are more likely to go “junk fishing” – throwing an assortment of baits in an effort to find a productive pattern.

“Junk fishing will definitely be the name of the game today – especially for the guys in the lower half of the field,” Porter said. “They’re going to try everything today just to see if they can run up on a bunch of fish that are schooling to try and get a lot of bites quickly.”

Anglers at the day two weigh-ins reported needing to move around much more than the wind would allow. Those who found themselves limited by where they could run suffered as time ticked away. Moreover, slow running in hazardous water ate up valuable time going and returning.

Day three’s calmer conditions will alleviate some of the problems anglers faced the first two days, but even with light winds the water will remain stirred in many areas. That means a lot of looking with hopes of finding clean spots that haven’t been fished out. Ultimately, day-three success will come down to time management.

Tournament logistics

The Stren Series event, which runs Oct. 17-20, represents the last of four regular-season Texas Division events. The total purse for the Lake Texoma event is $275,225. The winning pro could earn as much as $65,000 in cash and prizes if various contingencies are met, and the winning co-angler could earn as much as $35,000.

Action continues at today’s weigh-in, scheduled to take place at 3 p.m. Central time at Hiport Marina, located at 120 Texoma Harbor Drive in Pottsboro, Texas.

Friday’s conditions

Sunrise: 7:35 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 43 degrees

Expected high temperature: 76 degrees

Water temperature: 71-72 degrees

Wind: W at 3-8 mph

Humidity: 25 percent

Day’s outlook: sunny