Keith Combs, who is from nearby Huntington, Texas, is the pre-tournament favorite to win the Lake Conroe GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods. Combs’ track record at Conroe is impressive, all compiled in recent Toyota Texas Bass Classics: 1st in 2013, 3rd in 2012, 1st in 2011 and 4th in 2010. With that combination of a local pro with stellar credentials, Combs is sure to draw a crowd on the water this week.
“In the TTBCs a lot of times, if I got to catching them real good, there would be as many as 50 boats following me,” he said.
Combs is concerned about a difference between where he was catching them then, and where he is catching them now, saying, “I was fishing a lot of offshore spots where I could just crank up and go. Now, for instance, if you are fishing a dock, then you’ve got to idle back out there (through the armada).
“I moved as many as 50 times a day during those tournaments. If you lose two minutes every time you move (while idling amidst the crowd), that’s almost two hours of your day shot. That’s a long time when you could have been casting. That’s my biggest concern.”
Actually, Combs has a bigger concern going into this final practice day: The fact that he’s not “on ‘em” like he hoped to be.
“I don’t have a lot of experience on this lake this time of year,” Combs said. “These are my first days here in the spring. I fished it in February a little bit. I fished it in September and October a lot. It’s not fishing like that now. It could though. I’m hoping it starts.”
Combs said he’s still got options left to explore, where Lake Conroe’s bass might be congregated in areas he can pattern. Therefore today’s practice is important.
“I don’t feel like I can win on what I’ve found so far,” he said. “I might not even be able to catch five every day. My practice hasn’t been that impressive. That only leaves a couple of options. I’m going to check one of those options today. If that doesn’t work, I’m going to fish the other option that I haven’t tried yet when the tournament starts.”
But here’s the thing about Combs, an accomplished power-angler. It doesn’t take many bites for him to put together a big bag of bass. As he stated in a recent column on Bassmaster.com, “In four of the five major events that I’ve won, including two at Conroe, the most keepers I’ve caught in a day of fishing was seven. On a few occasions, I was fortunate to have five. There is a surprisingly fine line between first place and last place in this sort of tournament. I know that the guy who wins this event will not be catching 20 fish a day. He’ll probably land five to 10 of the right ones.”