An Elite Series tournament at Lake Fork requires a special format. And every aspect of this tournament this particular week promises to be special. As Patrick Walters said yesterday, “It’s going to be fun to fish and interesting to watch.”
The uniqueness of this event begins with the fact that there will be judges, not marshals, in all 99 anglers’ boats. Judges will officially weigh each bass caught, record it and release it. Therefore, BassTrakk will be, for once, an accurate gauge of the tournament standings throughout the day. An angler can bring only one bass to the weigh-in, and it must be a minimum 24 inches long.
Adding to the fun is the fact that we’re in the middle of possibly the height of the spawn on Lake Fork. As Keith Combs noted yesterday, a shad spawn has increased in intensity throughout the week, but bass are ignoring them, so far. “Lucky shad,” Combs said. “They get to spawn and nothing is bothering them. (Bass) just don’t have eating on their minds right now.”
So this promises to be a master class in how to fish for bedding bass.