Elite

A look at Sabine River 2025

A quick turnaround sends the series downstream for the MAXAM Tire Bassmaster Elite out of Orange, Texas.

Posted on
Captions by
Mike Suchan
It’s a quick turnaround as B.A.S.S.’s top circuit heads downstream for the MAXAM Tire Bassmaster Elite at Sabine River, May 15-18. This will be the seventh pro-level Bassmaster event on the Sabine hosted by the City of Orange.
The Elites are coming off another Century Club belt sweep at Lake Fork, which flows into the Sabine in northeast Texas and continues south to create Toledo Bend Reservoir before cutting through pine forests and bayou to Sabine Lake.
The expansive playing field for the 102 Elites includes parts of seven counties. The Texas-Louisiana border runs through the Sabine all the way to the gulf, but the Louisiana side is again off limits. Anglers can fish as far north as the Toledo Bend dam or as far southwest as Galveston County south of Houston.
The City of Orange Boat Ramp at 408 Pier Road is tournament central, with takeoffs there all four days at 6:30 a.m. CT. Weigh-ins will be held on park grounds at 2:30 p.m. All B.A.S.S. venues are free of charge.
The tournament is held in conjunction with the Orange County River Festival. The family friendly weekend expo opens at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday and Sunday, featuring live music and activities for all ages. The festival has helped Sabine River Elite tournaments set attendance records, including the highest total of 42,448 in 2023.
The Sabine offers a variety of target-rich environments from sandbars, bends and shallow woods. There are swampy areas, cypress stands and flat, grass-filled marsh. Power fishing techniques like flipping jigs and Texas-rigged plastics will be in play as will reaction baits, but finesse tactics could also play a role.
During his 2018 Elite victory, Greg Hackney fished a canal in his wire-to-wire victory rescheduled to early June because of high water. Hackney threw a buzzbait, a frog and jig in totaling 48 pounds, 5 ounces, including the big bag of 16-3 and big fish of 5-14 on Day 1.
In 2021, the top two anglers went opposite directions. Brock Mosley traveled through Galveston Bay into Clear Creek near Houston while Jason Christie made a risky run upriver to just below Toledo Bend dam. After two big bags, Christie held on to win with 43-15.
Marc Frazier had the biggest bass in that 2021 event, a 6-6, which is a difference-maker when 10 pounds a day can put an angler in the Top 10. “One big bite there can swing you 50 places,” Christie said. “You catch four keepers and you put a 4-pounder in there and that can be a big difference.”
After five runner-up Elite finishes, Mosley finally broke through with his 2023 Sabine title. The pro from Collinsville, Miss., started in 12th with 9-15, took a 1/2-pound lead with 11-7 then increased it to 3-1 with 12-14. Another 9-15 on Day 4 gave him the winning total of 44-3.
Jay Przekurat almost matched Mosley’s first and fourth days at Sabine with a 9-14 at Fork. He and Kyle Norsetter shared the Phoenix Boats Big Bass bonus in the event where all the Top 10 totaled more than 100 pounds to earn Century Club belts. Przekurat’s ninth-place finish added 96 points as his lead in the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year race grew to 45 points over Will Davis Jr.
Tucker Smith won the Fork shootout with 127-8, which ranks seventh-best all-time. Smith, a 23-year-old from Birmingham, Ala., now stands fifth in AOY and increased his lead in the Dakota Lithium Bassmaster Rookie of the Year race by a point over  roommate Paul Marks. Marks, who turns 24 on Saturday, edged Smith two weeks ago in the Lake Hartwell Elite and was runner-up at Fork, just 13 ounces back of Smith with 126-11.
The Sabine event should be just as close, albeit with much smaller fish. Coming off a 16th-place finish at Fork, Caleb Sumrall of New Iberia, La., said a big bass is possible, but expectations should be tempered. “The goal is to find those 2 1/2- to 3-pound bass,” he said. “Every spring, a 7- to 9-pounder comes out of there. But if you catch a 5 or a 6, you have a fish that you can ride for a couple of days. That’s a really big fish for (May).”
“I think a lot of people will have limits,” Sumrall said. “There’s no shortage of 12-inch bass, but it’s a matter of who’s gonna break over that 8- to 10-pound a day mark to have a good check. The guy that catches 11 1/2 to 12 pounds a day will probably win it.”
Sumrall said recent rains should present higher and muddier conditions in much of the Sabine waters. “It’s going to be full summer patterns,” he said. “You’re going to see people fishing a little dirtier water, but finding moving water, oxygenated water …  A lot of guys will come in with 7 to 8 pounds a day, but catching a 3-plus-pounder every day will be the biggest challenge.”
Bassmaster LIVE coverage will be available on Bassmaster.com on Days 1 and 2 starting at 8 a.m. ET and ending at 3 p.m. Roku will have coverage on Days 1 and 2 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and noon to 3 p.m. FS1 will carry the morning action on Days 3 and 4 from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. before moving to Bassmaster.com in the afternoon. 

Related