Elites take on Texoma

Day 1 of the GEICO Bassmaster BASSfest presented by Choctaw Casino Resort on Lake Texoma featured a flooded lake where most of the anglers outside of the tournament, were actually striper fishermen. These were gathered up near the main lake area and at first appeared to be spectator boats. But there were no Elites to be seen.

On up the lake, we find Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year leader, Greg Hackney.

Hackney was basically in his element, fishing flooded cover and picking apart thick pieces of bushes or downed trees.

Hackney started the day with more than 30-poind lead of the AOY standings and was looking for a way to distance himself from the rest of the forerunners.

Hackney would spend the first few hours picking apart cover, but suffered through a dry spell with no bites for a few hours.

Hackney eventually left the area he was in and found enough fish to finish in 11th place for the day. Meanwhile, Michael Iaconelli moved into an area not far away.

Like many of the anglers, Iaconelli was focused on the flooded cover of the lake.

And he was catching fish too, although this one was too small to go in the livewell.

But those small fish would be interspersed with bigger ones.

The flooded cover didn’t allow a good look at all those that came into the boat.

But a quick glimpse as the fish came in showed us this was a keeper.

Across the lake Hackney would be working some of the thicker cover.

And then keep moving, looking for the right kind of fish.

Iaconelli would stick with his area.

And he was hooking up too.

This one, though, would fall under the “too short” class.

But it came aboard with a keeper-sized splash of water.

That turned into a spray of water before Iaconelli could get his hands on the fish.

It didn’t take long for the short fish to go back into the water.

The next fish, though, came with a keeper-sized jump. If you look closely to the left of Iaconelli, you can see the fish airborne.

It came down with a big splash.

And immediately began skimming across the surface.

Creating even more of a splash.

Before making a final leap.

And getting pulled into the boat.

Iaconelli would provide a quick look before depositing it in the livewell.

Iaconelli would continue working the tangled flooded mess of the lake before moving on.

Paul Elias would be found hooking up with a fish.

This would be his second keeper of the day.

And provide Elias a boost he needed at the time.

He would quickly pose with it. Then get back to work.

And a few moments later, he would be hooked up again.

This one though wouldn’t meet the 14-inch minimum length limit.

And moments later, he would hook up again. But it would be short as well.

Skeet Reese would buzz by with four fish in his livewell.

But within minutes he would be hooked up with his limit fish.

The fish would come flying aboard.

Giving everyone a good look at the keeper.

The limit fish would make Reese overjoyed. Prior to that, he didn’t believe he could catch a limit.

With a limit in the boat, Reese would bear down a bit.

He quickly understood that the fish were biting better than in practice and realized he needed to turn it up a notch.

That realization was even more clear as he continued to catch fish.

In the span of 30 minutes he caught more fish than he had in practice.

And even had the opportunity to cull.

Throwing back a small keeper as a cull was one of the highlights of his day.

He finished the day with 9 pounds, 9 ounces about double the weight he expected, but well down the standings from where he hoped to be in 74th place.