We got the official word after 2 p.m. today: We are going to hold the second of five tournaments on the Huk Bassmaster B.A.S.S. Nation Kayak Series powered by TourneyX presented by Abu Garcia tomorrow on Texas’ Lake Fork.
Like other gatherings of sportsmen and fans around the U.S., the coronavirus had hovered over Lake Fork Marina & Motel, ready to send everyone home without holding the tournament. But this afternoon B.A.S.S. Nation Director Jon Stewart gave the thumbs up.
Whew.
I left Michigan in the early afternoon Thursday and got to Fork about 23 hours later, driving through most of the night, catching a snooze for about four hours at a travel plaza.
I’m glad the trip wasn’t for naught.
I got a late start Thursday as I had some writing assignments to finish and then spent some time sorting through all the tackle I’d brought last week to the first event at Logan Martin, pulling some stuff out, repackaging and condensing other stuff. I still have enough lures, line, replacement hooks and packs of soft plastics to stock a small bait shop—and stock it well.
I’ve not spent much time in Texas and realize I really like it here. It’s a place where the coronavirus wouldn’t seem to have a chance. Folks are just tougher here. Where else do you find two-lane country roads without a shoulder and a speed limit of 70 mph? How many other states still have smoking sections in restaurants?
Still the specter of this illness is obvious here. People are bumping elbows instead of shaking hands and at registration this afternoon the B.A.S.S. Nation staff and volunteers wore latex gloves. At least two bottles of hand sanitizer were out and ready for anyone to use.
Yours truly got here late enough to not have time to pre-fish and I’m okay with that. Especially after interviewing the local tournament director Patrick Malone who grew up fishing this lake and still counts it as his favorite. He said guys shouldn’t be spooked by this lake’s reputation for producing giant bass and just go fishing. He recommends a Texas-rigged lizard. I don’t think I have a pack of those among the one-hundred-plus packages of soft plastics I brought down with me, but I’m sure I can find some sort of creature bait these bass will bite. A Texas friend a couple weeks ago recommended a Senko Texas-rigged with a 1/4-ounce bullet weight. I have at least two packs of those.
Key tonight as I get ready for tomorrow’s launch at 6:45 a.m. will be winnowing down to a few confidence baits so I’m not overwhelmed with decisions. Right now I’m thinking I’ll be better off bringing just four rods tomorrow instead of the usual seven. I need the Texas-rigged creature, a jig, a Texas-rigged Senko and one rod spooled with 17-pound monofilament for surface lures and possibly crankbaits.
Who am I kidding? I’ll have all seven tomorrow. I’m thinking about trying a sort of magnum split shot rig with a quarter ounce tungsten bullet weight pegged a couple feet in front of a Senko—just to show these sows something different. They like the soft plastic sticks and a split-shot rig will make that bait plummet and glide in a fashion they might not have seen before.
A couple of competitors told me they had had some luck pre-fishing and were wishing they hadn’t caught some of the big fish that they did, since it might be difficult to get those bigs to eat again.
The nice thing about not pre-fishing is I didn’t sore-jaw anything. Hopefully the fish I need to put together a decent amount of inches. Predictions for the winning length of five bass range from 100 to 106 here in the land of Florida-strain giants. If I can find the kind of water that holds those fish and can get them to bite a Senko, I might do okay.