Jason Christie, who has led the event since Day 2, arrived at his spot far up the Sabine River to find the water had risen even more.
The only angler who committed all four days to a long run — his about two hours — Christie’s fishing a narrow backwater creek, where shallow wood and cut banks were key targets for days 1 and 2. Relying mainly on a Booyah Covert Spinnerbait, he sacked up 15-1 and 13-14.
Yesterday, increased outflow from the Toledo Bend Dam inundated his targets, scattered the fish and limited him to 6-12.
Today, Christie was hoping the water level would recede, but the opposite scenario will make his job even tougher.
“It’s too bad the water came up more; it was going to be fun,” Christie said.
Christie entered Championship Sunday with a 15-ounce lead over Day-1 leader Brock Mosley, who has held the second-place spot for two days. Time management will play an interesting role today, as Mosley opted to stay close to the take-off site.
Christie said he’ll spend about 90 minutes in the area where he lost a good fish early yesterday and then push deeper into the creek.
“I did a lot of studying last night and I found a couple more spots,” he said. “I have five hours to figure something out, so we’ll just go fishing.