There are some dire forecasts about how tough bass fishing will be this week on the Sabine River. But with the perspective of the last two Elite Series tournaments here, you can see bass fishing is always tough on these tidal influenced waters.
When Chris Lane won with 50-0 in 2015, it took only 6 pounds a day to make the Day 2 50th-place cut and earn a $10,000 check. Skeet Reese was in 7th place on Day 1 with 12-0. He zeroed on Day 2 and finished the day in 50th place.
When Todd Faircloth won in 2013 with 49-6, it took only 5 pounds a day to make the Day 2 50th-place cut. Billy McCaghren weighed three fish totaling 6-9 on Day 1 and two bass totaling 3-7 on Day 2 for 10 pounds even.
What those two 50th-place finishes have in common is that it took only 5 keepers after two days. Reese caught all his on Day 1. McCaghren needed two days to catch five.
That’s probably going to change this year as the previous events had a 14-inch minimum length limit. This year’s minimum is 12 inches.
Bill Lowen enjoys tournaments like this, where it’s tough to get a keeper bite, saying, “I typically do better when it’s a grind. I don’t do good in those slugfests, and this is not one of those.”