Lee Livesay had packed his truck so he could start the trip back home to Texas as soon as he weighed-in Friday. He was certain he would miss the Day 2/Top 50 cut at the Pro-Guide Bassmaster Elite at the Mississippi River.
Livesay was heartbroken after weighing only 10 pounds, 13 ounces, Thursday, which left him in 85th place. In the process, he’d fallen outside qualifying cut for the 2026 Bassmaster Classic. Livesay was so pessimistic about his chances Friday that he didn’t stop to put gas in his boat.
“You have no idea how impossible I thought it was to come back from that,” Livesay said. “I had a terrible practice and a terrible day (Thursday). None of my roommates caught fish. I had no clue.
“The only thing I had was in the upper pool where I knew a couple of our guys had caught ‘em and they would be back there (Friday). I could legitimately go there because I had practiced there. But I wouldn’t want anybody to do that to me, so I wasn’t going to do that to them.”
So, what did the 40-year-old, five-time Classic qualifier do? He just went fishing and caught the biggest five-bass limit – 21 pounds, 11 ounces – that’s ever been weighed in an Elite Series tournament on the Mississippi River at La Crosse, Wis. It rocketed Livesay from 85th place to 7th place, and most importantly, back inside the Classic cut.
“Karma, fishing gods, something, I don’t know,” he said, trying to explain the dramatic turnaround. “By 9 o’clock, I still didn’t have anything. I decided to change things up. I went to some brand-new water, stuff I’ve never seen before in my life. And I tried some totally different techniques. I got lucky and hit a stretch where I caught a 2-pounder and a 4-pounder right off the bat. When I saw that 4, I was like, that’s the size you need. You know you’re doing the right thing and I kind of ran with that for a little bit.
“I got four or five more keepers but they’re all just small 2-pounders, and I was like, man, that 4-pounder was just freaking luck. But I had confidence that was the right size. You haven’t seen that in the last three days. Just keep fishing new water.”
Livesay added a 3 1/2-pounder doing the same thing in a different area. He felt like he needed just one more big bite to give himself a chance at making the Top 50 cut and fishing another day.
By that point, the funk from Thursday had left and “loosened me up,” Livesay said. So he put down the jig that had produced all his bass to that point, and picked up a frog.
“On the third cast, I catch a 5-8 and I’m ecstatic,” he said. “I’m in the cut. I’ve got almost 18 pounds.”
It was around 2 p.m. and Livesay still had some time to fish, but he was totally carefree by this time. He tried some different spots, caught an 8-incher, had a bowfin blowup on his frog, then landed a 3 ½-pounder, which produced a “Hell yeah!” shout.
“I’m like probably 100 yards from where I need to jump up on plane,” Livesay said. “I’m gonna fish my way out and just see if I get another bite, just to know if there’s more back here for tomorrow. I’m not gonna burn a 2 ½- pounder. I’m not gonna set the hook unless it’s a big one. About 10 casts later, a big one eats it. It’s a five-pounder. I’ve got 21-11 on my scale, loaded up the boat and drove back. I got back 45 minutes early, which I don’t ever do.”
Livesay’s fuel gauge was reading nearly empty at that point, not critically low. But it was reminder of how low his mood had been at dawn when he didn’t even stop to fill up.