Patrick Walters, of Summerville, S.C., is leading after Day 1 of the 2021 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork with 32 pounds, 14 ounces.
Photo by Seigo Saito/B.A.S.S.
April 22, 2021
Walters Takes Lead With Massive Catch At Bassmaster Elite On Lake Fork
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QUITMAN, Texas — Patrick Walters of Summerville, S.C., took advantage of a dramatic increase in opportunity to sack up a five-bass limit of 32 pounds, 14 ounces to lead Day 1 of the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork.
November saw Walters capture his first Elite title on Fork by topping the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest benefiting Texas Parks and Wildlife Department with a four-day total of 104-12. In that fall event, Walters targeted standing timber, but today’s leading limit came from staging areas outside the spawning pockets.
“My plan this morning was to start on shallow points and catch one or two fish,” Walters said. “When I got out there, I was surprised how many fish I started to see; it was like they multiplied from practice.
“I caught my first 7-pounder (around 7 a.m.) and I said, ‘That’s the fish I was here for.’ Then, I caught my second one and I was like, ‘Whoa, this may happen.’”
From there, Walters began running points and inspecting each spot with his Garmin Panoptix LiveScope. He reported finding bass grouped in numbers far exceeding anything he’d found in practice.
“Every point I started going to, the fish quadrupled on the places I found them, whereas in practice, on my starting spot, I caught one on a glidebait and it had one with it. I went back there today and there were 15 fish sitting on that spot.
“After that, I just starting running areas like that, and I’m pretty surprised what’s showing up. They almost seem prespawn, so I don’t know if that bite is going to get even better.”
Noting that he caught one small fish in 45 minutes of bed fishing, Walters said he spent the majority of his day throwing a glidebait and multiple jerkbaits on the offshore spots.
He wants to see his fish in a particular depth zone, as this indicates an interest in feeding. Walters found that not all of the fish he spotted on LiveScope were actually ready to go.
“I’m really surprised by the fish that are showing on the majority of spots I’m fishing, but it’s just getting them to bite,” he said. “There’s a weird bite going on; you have to fish slow sometimes, but I think if we keep our foot on the gas and fish for the aggressive fish, I think we can catch some fish this week.
“Hopefully we can just ride it out and make it to the weekend. That’s the plan — just make it to Championship Sunday.”
Friday’s forecast for rainy, windy conditions could play well for Walters. Many of his competitors spent larger portions of their day sight fishing. A dimmer day will significantly limit that pursuit, but Walters is prepared to deal with any impacts on his game plan.
“You can’t control any of the variables, especially Mother Nature, so you just have to adapt and go with whatever you’re presented with,” he said. “We’re just going to go fishing tomorrow and stay on our toes, adapt as much as possible and hopefully get five good bites.”
“This is a heavily pressured lake and they see these baits (often), so something different gets them fired up. When I’m there at the right time, it’s fast and then I get off of them.”
Brandon Card of Salisbury, N.C., is in third place with 27-6. Bed fishing was his opening game plan and while Card sight fished a 4 1/2-pounder, he ended up catching all of his weight fish by targeting offshore hard spots from 7 to 20 feet.
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2021 Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork 4/22-4/25 Angler Hometown No./lbs-oz Pts Total $$$ 1. Patrick Walters Summerville, SC 5 32-14 100 $1,000.00 PHOENIX BOATS BIG BASS —————————— |