Before the tournament started, Chris Lane mentioned that he would probably have more rods rigged for this event than any other in his history. This came from a guy who caught over 88 pounds at Toledo Bend last year in finishing second while being essentially One-Rod Todd. Lane caught the majority of his fish on a River2Sea Whopper Plopper topwater bait.
Lane wasn’t alone in expressing the multiple options with no strong preferences in ways to catch bass at Toledo Bend right now.
“You can do a little of anything,” said Fred Roumbanis. “I’m curious to see how this is won.”
If you’re watching Day 1 leader Jacob Wheeler on Bassmaster LIVE, you’ve noticed that he’s throwing everything but the proverbial kitchen sink at Toledo Bend’s bass, just as he said he would after weighing 25-1 yesterday.
“I’m definitely going to mix it up,” Wheeler said after weighing-in yesterday. “I’m looking at ’em, I’m fishing on the bank shallow, and I’m fishing deep. I’m not committed to any one thing. Of the five fish I weighed-in today, I think I caught them on three different baits.”
Ott Defoe, who was 18th with 17-7 on Day 1, offered much the same thing, saying, “There are so many fish in different stages of everything. I’m fishing from six inches to 10 feet. I’m not fishing any deeper than that. I’d need another boat full of equipment.”
Defoe said he had 20 to 25 rods rigged in his boat, and used 12 during the day, throwing a different lure on each one.
“Of the five fish I weighed-in, they were on three baits and on three different kinds of cover,” Defoe said.
The Bassmaster.com feature from last year “Lures of the Top 12 at Toledo Bend” has been widely viewed since being re-published prior to the start of this year’s tournament. The new version from this week’s event should be even more popular – and lengthy.