While you’re reading this, I’ll be doing some last minute practice on the Sabine River. The tournament starts tomorrow. I’m excited, more excited than usual. This is a new body of water for us. It’s going to make for an interesting and exciting week.
Calling this place a river doesn’t do it justice. It’s more like a maze of rivers, creeks, inflows, bayous and backwater areas. If you want to you can even lock. I have no idea how many miles of water are here but it has to be up there. I know for a fact that you can run more than one tank of fuel out of the boat in a day without trying very hard.
And, the really great thing — at least in my opinion — is that much of this water is uncharted. You can’t find maps or other references for it. That means we’re all on a scouting mission. Every angler starts from the same place. Lots of us will find places that no one else knows about. And, for the most part, what you find is what you’ll get. Whether or not that’ll make it fish big or small I don’t know yet but I’m sure it’ll fish good.
Because of all that it’ll be a tournament where the winner will have to make a lot of decisions besides just how to catch his fish. There’ll be a ton of planning and strategy involved. How far to run, how to manage gas usage, avoiding physical damage to your boat and motor, and a bunch of other things will come into play. As far as I’m concerned that’s the way a professional level tournament should be. It’s about doing the whole package right, not just catching big fish.
The local population is great, too. They’re not used to seeing Elite Series anglers so everyone around here is excited. You can’t go into a restaurant or a gas station unless someone comes up to you and wants to talk bass fishing or doesn’t want to get your take on how the tournament will go.
I love that part of things almost as much as I love to catch fish. It’s wonderful to see that kind of local enthusiasm and to realize that this is a sport for everyone. What’s better than seeing a father or mother take their kids to a weigh-in and leave with autographs and pictures of almost every Elite Series angler?
B.A.S.S. did this one right, and I’m not just saying that to be politically correct. This is a super way to start the season. Now, for those of you who want to see giant bass you’re going to have to wait a week until we go to Falcon. I don’t think you’ll see real big bass this week. It’s more likely to be won by ounces than by pounds. But again, that’s good. It’ll make the finish exciting.
Overall, this is about as good as it gets. I encourage everyone to lock onto this site and follow the action. This is professional bass fishing at its best.