Quantity or quality? Tournament success generally requires some of both, but there’s no overstating the latter’s impact.
Case in point, Day 1 of the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest Benefiting Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has seen Lake Fork yielding several big fish. So far, the show-stopper was the 9-pound, 9-ounce toad that Seth Feider caught at 8:24.
The Elite from New Market, Minnesota caught his opening giant on a crankbait fished over a point in about 4 feet of water. At first, Feider was unaware of the difference-maker he had hooked.
“I hung one, leaned into him, and thought I was stuck, but then it took off,” Feider said. “I thought it was a catfish, then I saw it roll up and realized it was a bass.
“At first, it looked like a 5- to 6-pounder; but when I tried to get my arm around it, I saw it was a super mag. I straightened out two of my treble hooks fighting it when I thought it was a catfish.”
Along with the 5-2 he caught about an hour earlier, Feider found himself in fourth place (unofficially) on BASSTrakk.
Elsewhere, Coby Krieger fired the day’s first significant shot with an 8-2 at 7:05.
As of 9:30, Feider and Krieger held the top two spots in the Phoenix Boats Big Bass standings. The top-10 also included:
Shane Lineberger, 7-5
Ed Loughran III, 7-2
Brock Mosley, 6-12
Skylar Hamilton, 5-15
Bob Downey, 5-13
John Cox, 5-12
Clent Davis, 5-11
Greg DiPalma, 5-7
DiPalma has clearly mastered the quantity-quality equation, as his blistering start had him in the (unofficial) lead with a limit of 21-10 by 7:42.
There’s still a lot of time left to fish, but scoring those early big bites do two things for an angler. First, they calm the nerves by putting something substantial on the scoreboard. Second, they clue you in on how the fish want to play the game.
Taking that encouragement and insight into the day could bode well for the fortunate few.