BROOKELAND, Texas — Sam Rayburn Reservoir has a legendary reputation as a lunker bass factory, but it’s not exactly known for consistency. The East Texas fishery often sees wild swings in weights, and thus the leaderboard, from one day to the next.
Friday morning, though, Day 1 leader Brody Campbell didn’t have to wait long for a jolt of confidence that he could follow up his 27-pound, 1-ounce limit from the opening day of the Toyota Series Southwestern Division season. Campbell pulled up to the same area where he caught all his fish Thursday and boated a keeper on his first cast.
That would be a sign of things to come. While Campbell said the action “wasn’t fast and furious,” he never had to power up his outboard, instead spending the full day panning around the same area and steadily building his bag.
The end result: a 27-4 limit that brought his two-day total to 54-5 that has the Ohio native nearly 10 pounds clear of Cole Moore entering the third and final day of competition. Meanwhile, in the Strike King co-angler competition, Justin Swayze jumped into the lead thanks to a 10-4 bag that brought his total to 22-0. Lurking just 15 ounces behind him is four-time co-angler winner Alan Bernicky.
“It was a good day,” Campbell said. “I pulled up to my little area and I caught one on my first cast. And then I just kind of eased around this certain area that I had, and I just picked off 27 pounds throughout the day. I didn’t catch many; it wasn’t fast and furious. But I caught a 6-pounder here and went down another 100 yards and caught a 5-pounder there. I just eased around.”
Campbell is targeting fish that are suspended offshore in about 20 feet of water. While that might seem like standard winter procedure, he’s evidently found a sweet spot the rest of the field overlooked.
“I’m pretty much in an area by myself,” Campbell said. “It reloaded overnight, so maybe it’ll reload again.”
Campbell’s primary concern about replicating the feat for a third time is the southeast wind forecast for Saturday, which could make it more challenging to precisely target his fish.
“We’ve got some wind coming in, so that wind is going to really make it tough on me, I know that,” he said.
Then there’s the fact that on Rayburn even a 10-pound lead isn’t safe. The fishery produced a 38-pound limit in last February’s Tackle Warehouse Invitationals event, and the three anglers directly behind Campbell (Moore, Dakota Ebare and Colby Miller) all live nearby and have stellar track records on the lake. Ebare closed out his 2023 Toyota Series win on Rayburn with 32-4, while Moore and Miller combined to catch a limit that weighed just over 35 pounds on Day 1 of their win at the Brandon Belt Grand Slam last March.
“I’m going to just try and make every cast count and try to catch as big a bag as I can,” Campbell said. “I’m definitely going to stomp on the gas and try to catch 30 pounds, because there’s giants swimming out there. It’s full throttle tomorrow. I’m not going to let up until the last second. I want to win a Toyota Series (event) again. I need to pay my entry fees for the year, for the rest of my tournaments.”
Campbell is hopeful that he’ll only need about 15 pounds to seal the deal. Even if the wind blows, he’s confident he can hit that mark.
His goal, however, is set much higher. If he can bring in another 23-3, he’d top Miller’s winning weight of 77-7 from last February, which marked the largest winning total for a three-day Toyota Series event on Rayburn. He knows he’s around the caliber of fish to do it.
“Colby’s a buddy of mine,” Campbell said with a laugh. “I’m going to try to take that record from him.
“We’ll see how it goes. But I’m around big ones. If I can get them to go, I’ll have another big day.”
Top 10 pros:
- Brody Campbell — 54-5 (10)
- Cole Moore — 44-8 (10)
- Dakota Ebare — 43-4 (10)
- Colby Miller — 41-10 (10)
- Hayden Marbut — 40-6 (10)
- Chad Mrazek — 40-4 (10)
- Haydan Marshall — 38-13 (10)
- Mike Hawkes — 37-15 (10)
- Marshall Hughes — 37-12 (10)
- Wesley Baxley — 37-12 (10)