Elite

Combs cranks em’ on Day 1

Catch up with Keith Combs as he brings 'em in Day 1 of the 2022 Simms Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork!

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Photography by
Kyle Jessie
It was a beautiful start to Day 1 of the Simms Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork.
Our morning began with Elite Series veteran Keith Combs.
After a tough start to the season, Combs was way down the AOY standings, but a major turnaround was expected here at Lake Fork, a lake that Combs has a history of success on.
After a relatively short run, the Texas native settles in to an offshore area.
One thing that was consistant throughout the day was how much Combs moved areas.
For the better part of the morning, Combs would fish a spot for no longer than 15 minutes, then rotate to the next area.
Timing is huge when it comes to fishing for schools of offshore fish, and Combs was hitting as many areas as he could first early in hopes of landing on the school that was biting at that time.
Combs’ third spot produced his first keeper of the morning.
This keeper weighed 3-12.
Winds blew hard all morning at roughly 15-20 mph with much higher gusts.
After another short move, Combs begins navigating through the abundance of standing timber.
Fellow Texas pro Frank Talley was also in the same area, working over the trees with a more vertical approach.
The two anglers discussed their mornings to that point. Neither of the two got off to great starts however.
Moments later, Talley boats a solid keeper.
Once again, Combs makes a move to a new location.
Some of the places that Combs would fish, he would graph first before making a cast.
After seeing fish on his electronics, Combs shuts turns around to fire a cast and hooks up.
Despite hooking that fish shortly after seeing them on his graph, Combs fished the area for a while longer with no bites.
Combs makes a move back to his original starting spot and catches a 5-0 right off the bat.
This was a perfect example of how important timing is. Combs’ wasn’t able to boat a keeper on this spot early in the morning, but came back later and boats to fish back to back.
This 5-0 helped the cause a lot.
Before boating the 5-0, Combs made a bait change, which paid off immediately.
The very next cast, Combs hooks up again.
Combs’ fourth keeper is not quite the quality that he’s looking for, but he did mention that anything before 11:00 was a bonus.
The high winds made for bumpy boat rides late in the morning.

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