Deaver on Top to Start at Sam Rayburn
BROOKELAND, Texas – Fishing Sam Rayburn is all about those giant bites. Well, Randy Deaver had three of them and landed two, and that made all the difference.
Catching fish is certainly not an issue at the final stop of the Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. Southwestern Division presented by Outlaw Ordinance. By 9 a.m. this morning, anglers out on the water were saying they’re hands were bleeding from catching so many fish. Problem is, shallow or deep, most are small.
Deaver felt he was in the same boat, but a magic little stretch produced an 8-pound, 12-ounce kicker, a 7-pounder and a missed 6-pounder than buoyed his Day 1 leading bag of 23-5 to take the early lead.
“I was hoping for 14 pounds a day, and anything extra would be a bonus,” Deaver said. “Well, today I was blessed.”
Like most everyone, Deaver caught the fire out of the fish in practice, but the quality was never there. He was hardly alone, as plenty of top pros, including last-year’s winner Keith Combs, seemed baffled at weigh-in today as to where the big girls are hiding. And if that wasn’t frustrating, the lack of success today on the very obvious shad spawn happening all over the lake definitely had anglers scratching their heads.
The one thing Deaver knew was he was going to forgo the shad spawn because of his boat number but still stick it out up shallow, figuring every 10th fish he caught would be of the right quality. And for most of today, that held true until he pulled up on a stretch around 11 a.m.
“I had one little stretch where I think they’re spawning, where some females just pulled up,” Deaver said. “It’s only 75 yards, but I caught that 8-12 and the 7 within 15 minutes of each other, and it was almost every cast.
“I can’t see the beds, but I think they’re deeper ones because of how I’m catching them.”
Obviously, that kind of quality had Deaver pleasantly surprised and encouraged for tomorrow. However, he also admits he feels his shallow bite is a dying pattern. Fortunately, what he’s specifically looking for seems to be overlooked by everyone else, as he never had anyone else by him, and he has three more stretches he didn’t touch today saved for tomorrow.
“I figure what I’m doing is a dying deal; they’re leaving,” Deaver said. “But I’m all in shallow. I know the specific thing I’m looking for. So, I’m going to hit that one good stretch again tomorrow and then the other three I saved and see what happens.”
Top 10 Pros
1. Randy Deaver – 23 – 05 (5)
2. Brian Schott – 22 – 15 (5)
3. Marshall Hughes – 21 – 10 (5)
4. Jack York – 21 – 04 (5)
5. Cal Cameron – 19 – 09 (5)
6. Keith Combs – 19 – 06 (5)
7. Larry Dean – 18 – 12 (5)
7. River Lee – 18 – 12 (5)
7. Wyatt Frankens – 18 – 12 (5)
10. Hayden Heck – 18 – 09 (5)
Hardaway Sets the Co-Angler Pace
There are few better ways to learn a fishery or fishing in general than being a Strike King co-angler. That’s exactly what Brody Hardaway wanted to do.
Turns out, he not only learned a lot, but he’s also leading the event with 16 pounds, 14 ounces.
“I’m surprised,” Hardaway said. “I just wanted to learn a lot, and I did.”
Fishing with pro Cole Stewart, the two started out fishing deep brush piles when the co-angler stuck a key 6-pound kicker on a Texas-rigged worm. He managed one more keeper before the two moved to a shallow flat and commenced putting a beat down on the fish with vibrating jigs.
“We caught fish all day,” Hardaway said. “We probably caught 30 fish each. It was fun.”
Top 10 Strike King Co-Anglers
1. Brody Hardaway – 16 – 14 (5)
2. Erik Knutson – 15 – 07 (5)
3. Phillip Conley – 15 – 01 (5)
4. James Moore Jr. – 14 – 09 (5)
5. Jay Childs – 14 – 02 (5)
5. Levi Thibodaux – 14 – 02 (5)
7. Daniel May – 14 – 01 (5)
8. Robert Chavers – 13 – 08 (5)
9. Jared Ganey – 13 – 04 (5)
10. Albert Ignacio – 13 – 02 (5)