Essentially there was a half-day of fishing at Lake Ray Roberts on Day 1 of the Bassmaster Classic. The early morning shad spawn produced quite a show, but the double-digit wind that kicked up at mid-morning changed the game. Despite that, there were still three 20-pound bags caught, led by Steve Kennedy’s 23-0.
“I’ve got a place I got some big bites in practice on Sunday that I didn’t go to,” Kennedy said. “The wind kept me off of it. So I feel like I’ve got more. I’m going fishing, and they’re smoking what I like to do.”
What Kennedy likes to do is throw a swim jig and a swimbait.
Patrick Walters starts the day only 9 ounces behind Kennedy at 22-7. He didn’t get to do what he likes to do either, and that’s throw a jerkbait at bass that are suspended in timber, like he did at Lake Fork last November when he topped 100 pounds over four days.
“The shallow bite is good first thing until about 9 o’clock, then the light switch cuts off,” Walters said. “Then you’ve got to do something different. If I can get an afternoon bite going and can catch ‘em in the timber, I think that’ll be what holds all the way through (the day).”
Drew Cook was disappointed he wasn’t able to hit the 20-pound mark yesterday, after encouraging practice sessions over the last week. He starts the day in fifth place, 6-6 behind Kennedy.
“Obviously, the wind didn’t help much,” Cook said. “It put a damper on what I needed to do. I only got to fish about a quarter of the stuff I wanted to – a quarter of the good stuff. We’ve got some water for (today) that’s not been fished yet. That’s the key. No one could fish it (Friday) because of the wind.”
The wind forecast for today looks favorable – single digits. The 54-man field will be cut to the top 25 after Saturday’s weigh-in. Plenty of drama should be in store today – all day, unlike the half-day we saw on Day 1.