Rayburn Day 3 Midday Update

Favorable afternoon bite could shake up the leaderboard

Lingering bluebird conditions remain over Sam Rayburn Reservoir and the fishing suffered, at least during the first half of day three at the Costa FLW Series Southwestern Division event. The 43-degree morning takeoff temperature quickly gave way to pleasantly warm conditions and calm winds made it easy to crisscross the lake.

At the final takeoff, the top-10 boats scattered across this massive east Texas impoundment and blended with the predictable flood of weekend boat traffic. We caught up with day-two leader Ricky Guy north of the 147 Bridge in an area known as The Canyons.

During a short relocation, Guy commented that the bite was painfully slow. A lot of competitors had reported stronger afternoon action, but Guy also caught fish in the morning on days one and two.

He made several moves within The Canyons and the Angelina River’s western bank, but bites were few and far between. Around 11:20, Guy and top co-angler Randy Hicks got into a quick 5-minute flurry with a stand of buck brush next to a small gap yielding three fish to flipping tactics.

Guy nabbed a 2 1/2-pounder and Hicks kept one of his two. Key factors were a windward bank and rising water temperature.

Throughout the morning, Guy stuck with pitching the flooded cover, while Hicks mixed it up with flipping baits, lipless crankbaits and Carolina rigs with Zoom Baby Brush hogs

In other reports, third-place pro Cory Rambo lamented numerous missed fish, likely the manifestation of a sluggish post-frontal mood.

Someone will crack today’s code and find the right combination of location and conditions. We’re expecting reports of afternoon rallies and we’re looking for several position changes in the final standings.

Tune into flwfishing.com at 3 p.m. CT to see how it all unfolds.