Swimbaits and cookies
Pros go all out for big bite on final day of East-West Fish-Off
DEL RIO, Texas – It’s down to the wire on the final day of the FLW Series East-West Fish-Off. On the takeoff dock this morning, pros were pulling out all the stops for a big bite.
On one side of the dock, Kellogg’s pro Dave Lefebre, currently in third place, was making some last-minute adjustments to his swimbait. Over the last two days, Lefebre has developed a new love affair for swimbaits.
“I’m telling you, I’m a changed man,” said Lefebre, who has bagged 24 pounds, 12 ounces and 20 pounds, 3 ounces on the plastic baitfish imitation, respectively. “I can’t believe I’ve gone this long without incorporating this lure into my regular arsenal. Now that I’ve had some success on it, I can look back over the last couple of years on situations where it would have probably worked pretty well.”
Lefebre said he feels a lot of swimbait fishing is timing.
“It’s been best the first two hours of the morning and then the last hour of the afternoon,” he revealed. “Up in the day I can’t get bit on it as well.”
On the other side of the dock, M&M’s pro Pat Fisher was tieing his big swimbait back on.
“I caught two giants on it the first day, but I didn’t throw it yesterday,” Fisher said. “I’m going back to it today, for sure.”
Fisher needs to make up 5-1/2 pounds over his competition, western pro Rob Riehl.
“I saw a big school of bass holding on one place late yesterday afternoon,” Fisher said. “I can’t wait to go back in there this morning and throw this thing on them.”
Meanwhile, farther down the dock, Eastern Division pro Steve Kennedy has just about given up on swimbaits. Instead he was digging through a bag of chocolate chip cookies that were as big as swimbaits.
“If it worked for Jess, it’s got to work for me, too!” Kennedy exclaimed.
If you’re confused by Kennedy’s comments, here’s the scoop.
On day one of the East-West Fish-Off, Steve’s wife, Julia, made a batch of “magic cookies” for several of the competitors, including co-angler Jess Caraballo.
When Caraballo returned that afternoon, he weighed in five bass – remember, this is Lake Amistad now – for 7 pounds, 6 ounces.
On stage, Caraballo thanked Julia for the cookies, but said the problem was that the cookies were too small – hence his paltry catch. He then requested much bigger cookies for day two.
Kennedy obliged by making Caraballo “giant” cookies on day two and lo and behold, Caraballo caught a 10- pound bass, the biggest bass of his life.
So needless to say, Steve, who has weighed in low-teen limits over the last two days, had his own bag of giant cookies this morning.
Much warmer conditions and very little wind are on tap for today and things could get crazy at this afternoon’s weigh-in. With the last two-day’s of intense warming in South Texas, the Lake Amistad big girls should be heading shallow any hour now.
The day three weigh-in of the FLW Series East-West Fish-Off will begin Saturday at 3 p.m. at the East Diablo Launch Ramp at Lake Amistad Marina.
Saturday’s Conditions
Sunrise: 7:28 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 48 degrees
Expected high temperature: 77 degrees
Water temperature: 55 to 60 degrees
Wind: light and variable
Day’s outlook: much warmer