Walker working on a plan

David Walker started the day with a new prop on his outboard motor. The new wore off it pretty quick. Walker was leaving one of his first fishing spots when his prop thumped a stump. "It bent one of the ears back," Walker said. "I had to change it out." Walker was in a popular backwater area at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, but he didn't seem to mind the crowd. "If you get the right plan in an area this big, there won't be enough boats in here to stop it," Walker said. But he hadn't figured out the right plan yet. "I think the conditions are really good," Walker said, "but the fish don't act like it. I'm surprised. I think this is ideal. This is the best chance to catch your biggest fish. The bass are pre-spawn; they are as heavy as they are going to be all year. "It's muddy, it's shallow, it's cold, I like it."

DeFoe is “hunkering down”

Ott DeFoe mentioned Tuesday about having to find a few places to "hunker down" on the Red River for this event. "You can't do a bunch of running around," DeFoe said. "This isn't a place where you fish one place for an hour, then run somewhere else and fish for 30 minutes, then run some place else." But you really can't appreciate those remarks until you take a boat ride into the Red River backwaters. There are plenty of visible tree stumps, but there are just as many or more just under the water surface. There's a definite mud line you cross as you ride the stumps into the clearer backwaters. But there's no way to get there quickly. It's like a slow motion bumper car ride. Only after one of these boating adventures can you understand the importance of "hunker down" places. "You're going to have to really pick it apart," DeFoe said. "Go through it with one bait, then go back through it with another bait, then go back again with another bait." Having a dozen places that are holding fish simply won't do you any good here. "You're only going to be able to fish two, three at the most," DeFoe said.

Grigsby likes what he sees

Shaw Grigsby didn't run far to begin his last practice day, and he liked what he saw when he got there. "The water temperature is warming up quick," Grigsby said. "It's about to get to that point where it's pretty special." Grigsby said he was fishing 57- and 58-degree water at the end of the day on Sunday. The water temperature he found first thing Wednesday morning was in the same range. And with air temperatures expected to reach 70 degrees today, the water temp will continue to rise.

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