Brock Mosley has thrived in Bassmaster Elite Series tournaments on the Sabine River. He’s advanced to compete on the final day each of the three times he’s been here, finishing second in 2022 and winning in 2023. He believes this week’s MAXAM Tire Bassmaster Elite at the Sabine River could be record-setting.
“You can go ahead and call Kevin Short and tell him that his Elite Series record for the lowest winning (weight) total for four days is in jeopardy,” Mosley said Wednesday evening, after three days of practice.
That record, set on the Mississippi River in Iowa in June 2009, won by Arkansas’ Kevin Short, is 43 pounds, 3 ounces. The Sabine River has come close to that. This marks the 7th time the Elite Series has visited this vast coastal waterway near the Texas-Louisiana border. Most recently, Mosley’s winning weight was 44-3 in 2023. Jason Christie won it in 2022 with 43-15. Greg Hackney took the title in 2018 with 48-3.
“Two years ago, when I won it, the Neches (River) was blown out,” Mosley said. “This year, everything is blown out. You cannot take a pen and paper and write up worse conditions for this event. Number one is the high, dirty water. Number two is the hard south winds that we’re gonna have that are gonna hold the tides in. It makes it even harder, even tougher. The fish just don’t bite.”
Getting bites usually isn’t a problem here. It’s getting 2-pound bites and up that’s the problem. When Hackney won in 2018 he weighed 16-3 on Day 1 that included a big bass weighing 5-14. He followed it with 11-15, 12-14 and 7-5 to win by almost five pounds.
“In previous years, when we came in March, it would take in the 50s to win those March events,” Hackney said. “When we started coming later, the weights were down a little bit. But, no matter, we’ve never seen it like this. This is by far the worst conditions of any time we’ve been here. It has a lot of fish in it. I like it here. It’s never been a place where I’m like
doom-and-gloom, not wanting to come, because I know I’m gonna get some bites.
“I’ll be honest, I’ve struggled to get bites this time.”
Toledo Bend Reservoir, upstream on the Sabine River, is full and has had spillway gates open this week. The Neches and Trinity rivers are running full too.
“There’s just so much unusable water,” Hackney said. “It’s not that dirty. It actually looks pretty good. But the fish don’t seem to like it at all. It’s colder, maybe that’s what it is. This is kind of a subtropical area that stays really warm, but the water temperature in that river is like 68 degrees. They like 85-degree water.
“I’m not making any excuses. I think a lot of fish are probably out in the woods. There’s so much water flooded out in the woods, and you can’t get to them. But that’s going to be fine for somebody.”
That’s the constant in these tournaments. Somebody always figures it out. Jay Przekurat, the current leader in the Progressive Angler of the Year points race, admitted he’s nervous about this one. The 25-year-old Wisconsin angler has been here before, finishing 40th in 2023.
“I don’t know if I’m the most nervous I’ve ever been for a tournament but it’s definitely up there,” Przekurat said. “I was probably more nervous for Lake Fork last week, honestly, just because there you have to catch them. Here you don’t really have to catch them. You just have to get one bite. That takes off a little bit of the nervousness just because one cast and you could be fine.”
While Przekurat isn’t confident about catching bass this week on the Sabine, he does have a simple plan.
“I think the main thing is just keeping my line in the water as long as I possibly can,” he said. “Just keep your line in the water in productive areas. You need one 2- to 2 ½ -pounder to make your bag. That makes your entire day. If you don’t get it, it’s probably because you didn’t present your bait enough times throughout the day.”
If that sounds a little light – one 2- to 2 ½-pounder – consider what the 50th-place weight after two days has been here over the last three Sabine River tournaments: 15-11 in 2018, 14-9 in 2022 and 13-4 in 2023. Basically, seven-plus pounds a day in a five-bass limit will get you advancing to Day 3.
Jason Christie is known for thriving in tough tournaments, as is evident by his win here in 2022. But this one is off the charts tough.
“I think that’s a 50-50 bet,” said Christie, in reference to this tournament setting an Elite Series record for lowest winning weight. “I wouldn’t be surprised. But with these guys, I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes 40 pounds, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes 55. When it gets tough like this, they are still bass out there. It makes some places accessible (that weren’t before).”
Christie said he spent three days of practice looking for one of those “glory holes,” but he didn’t find it. That doesn’t mean nobody else found it either.
“I don’t talk to a lot of (other anglers),” Christie said. “There’s a couple that I ran into on the water, and they were just shaking their head. But I know how these guys are. It’s kinda like playing poker. They’re gonna shake their head when they’ve got a handful of aces. We won’t know how tough fishing is until after (Thursday).”
