Soggy start at Sam Rayburn

Wind delays day one of American Fishing Series event

JASPER, Texas – In recent weeks on Sam Rayburn – usually known as a prolific fish factory with great potential for big bass – anglers have fought hard for a bite. And with miserable weather and a half-hour delay at takeoff Thursday, the reservoir turned into a battleground for the 294 pros and co-anglers competing in this week’s FLW American Fishing Series event, the second stop of 2010 in the Texas Division.

Though sustained cold-water conditions have slowed the bass bite here considerably, and despite the wet and windy conditions, some of the anglers seemed almost upbeat as they awaited the green light. There’s good reason for that. Compared to the Texas Division season opener last month on Falcon Lake – near the Mexico border at Zapata, Texas – today’s conditions aren’t half-bad. So many wild waves and ruined equipment were likely still fresh in the mind of Tournament Director Ron Lappin, who today made the decision to hold the 147-boat field back until 7:30 a.m. when Sam Rayburn had calmed.

But as any longtime tournament angler knows, weather – for better and worse – is a critical component of the sport of bass fishing. So with rain suits on, rod lockers filled to the lid with every bait presentation imaginable and competitive spirits wholly intact, the anglers eventually motored off toward Sam Rayburn Reservoir’s roughly 114,000 surface acres of fishable water.

On the fishing

Pro Stephen Johnston of Hemphill, Texas, won the American Fishing Series event here in 2007, and he frequently serves as a fishing guide on Sam Rayburn. With water temperatures lingering in the 40s since last December, he said the bite has yet to turn on, and the fishing has been slow, especially for the Florida-strain largemouth bass that dominate the weigh-ins at Sam Rayburn tourneys.

“It’s going to be tough,” Johnston said. “You can’t ask for any worse conditions.”

While guiding and during his prefishing period, Johnston said he had some luck catching fish offshore in water 20 to 28 feet deep. But today’s forceful gusts will make it difficult for both the offshore fishermen as well as those trying to stay along the edges of grass lines, where the bass have also been biting.

“With the wind like this, it’s really going to be tough,” he said. “I’ve got several places … I have covered one end of the lake to the other. Both ends of the lake are off color right now.”

Despite the water being cold and muddy, Johnston said there are many fish to be caught, it’s simply a matter of getting them to bite. He added that there’s currently an upside to the fishing conditions in that there is “more grass on the lake than we’ve had in years.”

Typically a prespawn tournament on Sam Rayburn would require upwards of 17 pounds a day to make the cut, but Johnston predicts 12 1/2 to 13 pounds daily may be enough for pros to make it to the final day Saturday in this week’s event. He said many anglers will likely fish lipless crankbaits, drag Carolina rigs along the outside edges of the grass and cast jigs.



Pro Dicky Newberry of Houston, winner of the circuit’s 2008 tourney on Sam Rayburn, put in four days of prefishing. He acknowledged that the bite is tough for a lake with such a stellar bass-fishing reputation, but he said there are plenty of fish to be caught – that is if anglers can coax the bass from their lethargy.

“There’s shallow fish and deep fish both,” Newberry said. “It’s a slow bite. It’s not the traditional Rat-L-Trap bite you usually see here.”

Instead of lipless crankbaits, Newberry has primarily been swimming a jig and swimbaits as well as fishing a light-weight lizard, “positioned on the inside of the grass line.” He said he has had his best luck – which isn’t much – in shallow pockets, so he’ll start things off near shore Thursday, leaving himself open to the idea of heading toward deeper water if necessary.

Tournament details

During the Feb. 4-6 tourney, anglers will take off from the Umphrey Family Pavilion, located at 5438 Rural Route 255 West, at Sam Rayburn Reservoir at 7 each morning. Weigh-ins will be held at the Umphrey Family Pavilion beginning at 3 p.m. Takeoffs and weigh-ins are free and open to the public.

The full field of pros and co-anglers will fish all three days, with the winners determined Saturday by heaviest accumulated weight. Pros will fish for a top award of $25,000 plus a 198VX Ranger boat with 200-horsepower outboard if Ranger Cup guidelines are met. Co-anglers will cast for a top award of $10,000. If the co-angler meets the Ranger Cup guidelines, they will earn an additional $5,000.

The American Fishing Series consists of four divisions – Central, Northern, Southeast and Texas. Each division will consist of three tournaments and competitors will be vying for valuable points that could earn them a trip to the American Fishing Series Invitational on Wheeler Lake in Decatur, Ala., Nov. 4-6. The points champion from each division will qualify for the 2011 Forrest Wood Cup and a fifth Forrest Wood Cup qualifier will advance from the Invitational that is open to the top 50 anglers from each division.

The Sam Rayburn Reservoir American Fishing Series tournament is being hosted by the Jasper-Lake Sam Rayburn Chamber of Commerce.

For bass-fishing fans unable to attend the festivities in person, you can catch all the weigh-in action live at FLWOutdoors.com with FLW Live. Show time starts at 3 p.m. Central today.

Thursday’s conditions

Sunrise: 7:06 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 49 degrees

Expected high temperature: 52 degrees

Water temperature at the ramp: 48-51 degrees

Wind: E at 13 mph, gusting to 26 mph

Maximum humidity: 95 percent

Day’s outlook: rain, becoming more intermittent around 10 a.m.; cloudy with temperatures steady near the low 50s; winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph