Rayburn Day 2 Midday Update

Day 1 leader Setina struggling early

With only one fish in the livewell at 10:30, Joe Don Setina was probably hoping for a repeat of day one – at least the part where he sacks ’em up in the second half. We found the leading pro fishing the Black Forrest area that he worked the first day, and he’s sticking with the same routine of flipping heavy cover.

How heavy? Consider this little gem: Setina set the hook on a fish that buried in the cover. After some delicate manipulation of rod tip and vegetation, Setina pulled out … a bluegill!

“You can see how thick that stuff is when a bluegill wraps you up,” Setina chuckled as he gamely lifted the bream for a faux trophy shot.

Setina and several other boats in the area were poking around flooded coves and pockets and targeting trees and buck brush wrapped with thick vines and mats of windblown grass.

Setina mostly pitched Texas-rigged plastics, but he also threw an umbrella rig and a spinnerbait in open stretches. Pro Rob Burns reported catching several small fish on a spinnerbait, and Kenneth Chapman said a green pumpkin wacky-rigged worm with chartreuse dye on the tip had produced for him.

Overall, the action was slim in the first half of the day. It’s likely that a lot of the sweet spots got hammered on day one, and now we’re seeing the settling effect. Also, a cold front passing through the region has impacted the fishing.

Overcast skies persisted most of the morning, with brief periods of sunshine. The morning also saw scattered showers mostly on the lake’s east side.

Tune in to FLW Live at 3 p.m. to see who can overcome the tough conditions to make the top-10 cut.