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QUITMAN, Texas — A highly specific presentation plus one key bite gave Rick Clunn of Ava, Mo., the Day 1 lead at the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest benefiting Texas Parks and Wildlife Department on Lake Fork with 29 pounds, 4 ounces.

Rick Clunn, of Ava, Mo., is leading after Day 1 of the 2020 Toyota Texas Fest benefiting Texas Parks & Wildlife Department on Lake Fork with 29 pounds, 4 ounces. Photo by Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S.

Spending his day in the mid- to lower-lake region, Clunn targeted docks with an Ichikawa Rick Clunn RC King Kong Shad 10 squarebill. He found one particular structure most productive and relied on a specific undisclosed presentation.

“I fished several docks, but I caught all but one of my (limit fish) off of one dock,” Clunn said. “I found this dock in practice and it had a lot of fish holding in front of it. Today, I pulled up there and I did not see those fish, but I guess they were there.

“You can throw at that dock all day and if you’re not doing it exactly right, you’re not going to catch them,” he said. “I can fish behind three other boats and if they’re not doing (what I’m doing), I’m going to catch fish.”

Midday delivered an unexpected opportunity that propelled Clunn into the lead. Moving to another spot, he passed a round, sandy point that looked appealing enough to merit a few casts with a different reaction bait. One of them tempted an 8-9 largemouth, which stands as the day’s second-largest fish.

“I caught that big one trying to find other places,” Clunn said. “That was just one of those gift fish. I don’t even know where he came from and I couldn’t duplicate the cast.

“In practice, I was catching a few fish late in the day off of stuff like that. Most of the fish I caught, I caught them where I was expecting to catch them. But I didn’t expect to catch that one.”

Noting that Fork’s tremendous number of quality fish justifies its trophy lake reputation, Clunn said he caught about 15 keepers today, but his three big bites (8-9, 6-6 and a 5-9) were the difference-makers.

“This lake is so full of fish, you’re fishing over a thousand to catch one,” he said. “The key here is you have to get those two key bites to get you up over that 20-pound mark.”

Clunn said he plans on fishing a similar game plan on Day 2. He’s confident he’s around plenty of fish, but he said today’s bag was surprising.

“I didn’t expect to catch 29 pounds,” Clunn said. “The thing about the fall is that fish are finicky. But I’m doing something I like to do. This is Act I of a four-act play. Tomorrow’s Act II, so we’ll see what happens.”

Patrick Walters of Summerville, S.C., is in second place with 25-14. Fishing main-lake standing timber in about 20 feet, Walters described his area as fairly obvious. The key, he said, is finding the fish in the right depths for feeding.

“When they’re shallower than 10 and they’re not sitting in 20, or they’re not on the bottom, you can catch them,” Walters said. “There are fish on every inch of this lake, but when you find them in the right position, you can catch them.

“You want to find the bait, but there are certain pieces of structure and when you find it, it is usually the recipe for a good time.”

Walters said he caught his fish on a variety of baits including a big spinnerbait, a jerkbait, crankbait, dropshot and a big Texas-rigged worm.

Seth Feider of New Market, Minn., is in third place with 23-4. He caught his two best fish — a 9-9 and a 5-2 — on a Rapala OG flat-sided crankbait fished over a long, flat point in 4 to 6 feet of water.

“I started on a point where I’d caught three keepers in 18 feet of water in practice,” Feider said. “I wasn’t catching anything, but it was cloudy so I kept sliding up that point and caught those two in shallow water.”

Feider filled out his limit by throwing a 1/2-ounce Z-Man JackHammer ChatterBait with a Z-Man Razor ShadZ trailer.

Feider is in the lead for Phoenix Boats Big Bass honors with his 9-9.

Clark Wendlandt of Leander, Texas, leads the Bassmaster Elite Series Angler of the Year standings with 690 points, while David Mullins of Mt. Carmel, Tenn., follows in second with 681. Minnesota pro Austin Felix is in third with 677, Walters is fourth with 688 and Brock Mosley of Collinsville, Miss., is fifth with 667.

Felix leads the Rookie of the Year standings.

Friday’s takeoff is scheduled for 6:40 a.m. CT at Sabine River Authority (SRA) — Lake Fork. The weigh-in will be held back at the SRA — Lake Fork at 3 p.m.

Live coverage of the event will start at 8 a.m. on Bassmaster.com and ESPN3.

The tournament is being hosted by the Sabine River Authority and Wood County Economic Development Commission.

2020 Bassmaster Elite Series Platinum Sponsor: Toyota

2020 Bassmaster Elite Series Premier Sponsors: Abu Garcia, Berkley, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Skeeter Boats, Talon, Yamaha

2020 Bassmaster Elite Series Supporting Sponsors: Bass Pro Shops, Carhartt, Garmin, Huk Performance Fishing, Mossy Oak Fishing, Rapala

2020 Bassmaster Elite Series Conservation Partners: AFTCO, Huk

2020 Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest Local Hosts: Sabine River Authority, Wood County Economic Development Commission

About B.A.S.S.
B.A.S.S. is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport, providing cutting edge content on bass fishing whenever, wherever and however bass fishing fans want to use it. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the 515,000-member organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), television show (The Bassmasters on ESPN2 and The Pursuit Channel), radio show (Bassmaster Radio), social media programs and events. For more than 50 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.

The Bassmaster Tournament Trail includes the most prestigious events at each level of competition, including the Bassmaster Elite Series, Basspro.com Bassmaster Opens Series, TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Series, Carhartt Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School Series presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors, Bassmaster Team Championship, new Huk Bassmaster B.A.S.S. Nation Kayak Series powered by TourneyX presented by Abu Garcia and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic.

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Bass fishing’s funniest man, Gerald Swindle is neighboring with a 19-year-old thoroughbred gelding named Mistic this week at Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest on Lake Fork who shows strong resemblance to Rainbow Brite’s talking horse, Starlite.

But the 2-time Bassmaster Angler of the year sits 16 points outside of making the 2021 Classic – so this is no time for horsing around.

Swindle has had a phenomenal career. He’s made 18 Bassmaster Classics, notched (55) Top 10s, and won over $2 Million dollars in prize money, but he’ll be the first to tell you 2020 hasn’t been up to his standards.

“I’ve had days this year when I felt like I fished well enough to win an AOY title, and other days when I fished my guts out and just didn’t catch ‘em the way I thought I would,” he reflects. “I’m not stressed right now, but I know I need a Top 20 this week to qualify for the Classic.”

As most fans know, the recent three Bassmaster Elite Series events at Guntersville, Santee Cooper and Chickamauga fell way short of what autumn fishing ought to be, and Swindle thinks he knows why.

“Everybody has had more free time than ever and a government stimulus check to buy a top-notch sonar unit the past eight months. They have beat on these fish to the point every 14” bass in the country has earned a Masters degree in dodging crankbaits by now,” he grins.

At Lake Fork, Swindle may still sling cranks, but not the deep variety in search of the mega-schools pros like Keith Combs made famous here.

“Look, I’ve done it all in practice. Rode around staring at my sonar screens searching for the deep magic, and I haven’t found the winning spot,” admits Swindle. “So, I’m going to do what Gerald Swindle does best, I’m going to stay shallow, fish smart, fish methodically, and hope a big one shows up each day.”

Riding the momentum of a Top 12 at a very tough Chickamauga and an honest wave of holding himself accountable for a less-than-Swindle-like year … don’t bet against him digging himself out at Toyota Texas Fest to make his 19th Bassmaster Classic.

But it will take a Seattle Slew or Secretariat kind of performance this week on Lake Fork, and nobody is up for that challenge more than Swindle.

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Well-respected Lake Fork guide James Caldemeyer, who also competes in Bassmaster Open events, has caught or guided his clients to over 100 bass exceeding 10-pounds the past 16 seasons. But this week he can only point at 2-pound ‘squeakers’ and smirk in a humbling moment of self-depreciation.

Think about that! Caldemeyer has been a part of 100 bass over 10-pounds being caught on Lake Fork. That’s a mind-boggling achievement to anybody who has ever lipped a largemouth.

However, this week, at least so far, big fish simply aren’t showing themselves, despite the fact they absolutely live here in a manner few reservoirs in America can rival. “If Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest had come here again in June like it was scheduled to, prior to Covid postponing it, we would have seen the same sort of mega-sacks like we saw when Brandon Cobb won in 2019,” says Caldemeyer.

“But this week we’re dealing with really cold nights and warm sunny days. Those big temperature swings seem to sort of ‘spin out’ Florida strain largemouth. Plus, we’ve got a high-pressure system, low water, a full moon, and the tail end of the fall ‘turnover’ staining-up the lake,” he explains.

Covid also caused a huge uptick in folks buying a license and going fishing as a safe and fun means of entertainment, which has led to increased fishing pressure on the famed fishery. But for the most part, fishing remained really good on Fork the past few months. And even right now, the sort of 1 and 2-pounders Caldemeyer is smirking at in the photo are fairly easy to catch – it’s the big ones that are particularly elusive.

“Big Florida bass are way smarter than most people realize,” says Caldemeyer. “If I was competing in Toyota Texas Fest this week, I’d focus on being midway back in the creeks, looking for any hydrilla and coontail vegetation I could find with shad present. Having shad around is absolutely critical to getting bit.”

Asked what lures he’d lean on most, he named a Santone swim jig, a small lipless crankbait, and a ChatterBait, and he predicts the angler who averages 19-20 pounds per day could claim victory, compared to Cobb’s crazy 28-pound daily average winning weight last year.

“I say it will take 20-pounds a day to win, but then I think about how tough it is, and I’m tempted to lower my guess to 19 or 18 pounds a day,” grins Caldemeyer.

“But look, this is Lake Fork, and things happen fast here. I’ve had days when my guide clients had a horrible morning, we go in and have lunch, go back out and catch the limit of a lifetime in the afternoon. So, don’t be shocked if all the sudden things change for the better this week,” he warns.

The post What would James do at Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest appeared first on Bass365.com.

If you need two guys to accompany you on a five-mile jog, help you move furniture, catch you a fat largemouth, or simply share a laugh and a cold beer, you’d be wise to get ahold of Bassmaster Elite Series roommates Caleb Sumrall and Lee Livesay.

Just don’t play checkers with them.

“I still have a scar by my eyebrow from when I kicked Sumrall’s butt in checkers at Guntersville last month,” grinned Livesay over coffee at Lake Fork’s iconic Minnow Bucket.

Sure enough, the scar is still visible, but neither would confess exactly how the surface wound got there, only that checkers and laughter were involved.

The good news is, it didn’t prevent Livesay from winning $100,000 two weeks later at the Bassmaster Elite on Lake Chickamauga, and a congratulatory banner now hangs proudly on the front face of the Minnow Bucket, where Livesay met clients each morning for guided fishing trips 300 days a year.

Sumrall actually does some guiding too, but on Toledo Bend Reservoir, where flooded timber, a lack of aquatic vegetation, and the presence of trophy bass remind him of this week’s scene at Lake Fork for the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest benefiting Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

“It’s tough, like real tough. I’d give Fork a letter grade C- right now,” says Sumrall.

Livesay is fast to confirm Sumrall isn’t sandbagging. “Caleb’s being too nice. Obviously, I love this lake. It’s been part of my life since I was 9 years old. But this week, we’ve got low water levels, no aquatic vegetation, a full moon, high pressure, and light winds – and that all equates to about a letter grade D by Lake Fork standards,” says Livesay.

Both agree that averaging 13-pounds per day on Day 1 and Day 2 of competition Thursday and Friday should be good enough for a Top 40 cut, and that squarebill cranks, ChatterBaits, spoons, and a time-proven Texas rigged worm will all play a factor.

But so far, no single lure has yielded super impressive results – to the point Livesay says at least 40 fellow pros have reached out to him for wisdom the past couple of days.

Big limits may be hard to come by at Fork this week, but the magical vibe of this 27,000-acre lake 90 minutes straight east of Dallas never ceases. Everybody knows giant bass live here – like the 13-pound 8-ounce beast Livesay once guided a client to using a Carolina Rig one magical November day.

For now, all 85 Elite Series pros can only hope for a little Lake Fork magic, and all would be wise to avoid a game of checkers with Sumrall and Livesay.

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