BROOKELAND, Texas – The second stop of the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Southwestern Division heads to Sam Rayburn for what should be an outstanding tournament. With water in the bushes, a frighteningly windy practice and warm weather forecast for the tournament, it’s an exciting mix – lots of unknowns and big fish biting.
The weekend that was
As usual, Rayburn has been kicking out big weights this winter, and the Bass Champs event on March 1 is a good example. Earning the win, Hayden Heck and Milton Adams weighed 36.37, and Todd Castledine and Russell Cecil finished second with 28.5. Obviously, weights of that caliber don’t extend throughout the field, but it’s a good indication of what could happen on the upper end. We’re also just a couple weeks later than last year’s Toyota Series event, which was won by Colby Miller in late February when he sacked up 77 pounds over three days.
Setting the scene
With dirtier water than earlier in the winter and plenty of water in the bushes and haygrass, Rayburn doesn’t look like it usually does in the wintertime. For some, it could be taken as a sign to get on the bank, but practice reports don’t indicate that the winning fish are there at the moment. Instead, it sounds like there are fish moving a lot and big ones biting but few sure things to go on.
“Rayburn’s always good,” said Alec Morrison. “The biggest thing for me was I haven’t seen it in a few weeks, and a lot has changed since I was here last for the [Bassmaster] Open. The water is way up, probably 3 or 4 feet higher than it was when I was here last. And, with that, the water has gotten slightly dirtier in most areas, especially above the Highway 147 Bridge and up the Ayish Arm.”
Per Morrison, the rapidly changing conditions have fish on the move.
“I have not found grouped-up fish like I would have expected or would have liked to,” he said. “With all the changing conditions, one thing is for certain: They move around a lot. I feel like a lot of the ones I’m catching are kind of on the move, and they’re not really stationary or positioned on anything in particular. It’s almost like I’m just catching them as they’re rolling through.”
Still, if an angler can stay around fish, the potential is high. The bass are healthy and plump right now, and word is they’re biting well, which is not always the case for the highly-educated bass on Big Sam.
“Although it can be hard to get around them at times or stay around big ones at times, it does seem like when you are around them, you can get them to bite pretty well,” said Morrison. “I’ve caught some big ones in practice, and I know other people have. It just might be a matter of staying around them all day, which is looking like the tough part.”
The winner of the first Toyota Series event on Rayburn this year, Brody Campbell was basically in line with Morrison’s assessment – they’re bitey right now.
“I think it’s going to be an absolute slugfest; it’s going to take some big weight,” said Campbell. “There’s big fish out deep still, some big fish moving up shallow, I even caught one flipping a bush – no ‘Scope. The water’s a little bit more stained than when we were here last time, so they don’t ask as many questions. It seems like they’re biting a little better.”
The complicating factors
While the fish may be hungry, it doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy on the field – the last several days of practice have some wondering what the fishing will look like today.
Per Castledine, the cooler weather from practice has some fish moving in reverse.
“Saturday was the warmest the water had been, and then Sunday was warm but cloudy,” said the Texas legend. “After that, the water temps hardly got above 55. There’s no more pushing. The ones that are up there are moving back, and I’ve always said the hardest ones to ever catch are the ones that move on back from being up.”
The severe winds from basically around the compass also have Castledine concerned, as the field will be starting the event out of touch with a big portion of the lake.
“The last two days, it has absolutely blown from different directions,” he said. “So, it’s hard to get a good idea of what’s going on, because we’re going off of, like, three days ago. No one could get on the main lake for the last two days.”
Additionally, while the winds have muddied up some banks, Castledine said they have also scattered the forage and perhaps the bass following along.
“I don’t know enough about LiveScope – I mean, I know a lot, but I haven’t seen two massive days of wind and seen what happens,” he said. “It absolutely destroys the shad. When you catch them, the shad are all balled up. Now, you just see shad at freaking every depth, every level.”
Of course, when you consider the caliber of the field, it’s hard to imagine they’ll have too much trouble figuring things out. After all, it only takes five bites, and many of the anglers in this one have done some serious damage on Rayburn over the years.