BASS Elites on Sabine

The BASS Elites fish the Sabine next week Thurs 4/8--Sun 4/11. Greg Hackney is the defending champion and this year the tournament should be another shallow water slugfest. Looking forward to it once again...

Crapshoot, I'll be following this one closer than the MLF heavy hitters since its in TX.

Really looking forward to this one. The Sabine is a fun place to fish and I hope its a great event.

By the looks of it the local community is putting together a big show to coincide with the Elite series event all in the same general area. A car show, live music starting at 6pm on Saturday, art and crafts shows, lots of local vendors too. As always, it will be BASS sponsor gold! I hope they catch them good!

Coincide?
So the annual arts in the park show joins with the annual car show years ago, but did it to coincide with this years BASS open?

That sounds like a question you may want to ask the local organizers to answer. After all, they are the ones who scheduled all these different attractions to run during the same time. If I am not mistaken, Sabine was originally scheduled at around this same time, then got postponed to later due to COVID concerns, (as was the classic) and then after the state govt lifted restrictions it was decided to reschedule back to original dates, so these dates have been in the works for many months.

Not sure why there is even a question; it’s better for everyone involved to have as big of a weekend event as possible. And the nice thing for the local tourism officials is it will be showcase LIVE on Fox Sports Saturday and Sunday

have they put Louisiana waters off limits? wasn't there some confusion over what was private vs. public waters in Louisiana?

Yes, no fishing in Louisiana waters per the rules I read.

[quote=Big O
Not sure why there is even a question; it’s better for everyone involved to have as big of a weekend event as possible. And the nice thing for the local tourism officials is it will be showcase LIVE on Fox Sports Saturday and Sunday
[/quote]

The official website for the Art show says the event is coinciding with MLF Heavy hitters.

Gonna be some crowded areas since basically half their good water isn't available as in years past. Really only 2-3 areas you can win in typically down there. Curious to see who goes all the way to clear lake to avoid the crowds.

Bass tournament and arts and craft show doesn't exactly attract the same demographic. Maybe BASS is following someone's lead and trying to attract housewives

When are the practice days?, I bet more guys than usual make the 2 hour run to Houston.

Practice started today.

Promise you one thing. Hackney will not win. That fishery has chnaged alot after the storms and their old spots have grates with no boat access

Gates on the texas side?

I'm pretty sure someone as good as Hack can find new spots. He has as much chance of winning as anyone in the field

We know where Hackney won last time and there is no gate on that canal been fishing there for 35 years.

I agree with this, it is all good! I fish those canals all the time! Also, the Louisiana waters were also off limits in 2018 when Hackney won. No changes, fishery is like it always has been, very challenging to catch the bigger fish. There will be lots of limits caught.

I m going to keep the Hack Attack on my FF team!

When someone says make the run to Houston, where exactly are they going and what water ways are they using?

Head south on Sabine and follow intercoastal canal west towards Galveston Bay area.....then north/north west towards some brackish canals, creeks.....

Another area they fish a bunch is west of Sabine river in the Neches river north of Interstate 10 above the saltwater barrier. Huge areas to spread out and fish. Lots of productive water.

Ok that makes a little more sense. They are talking in the general direction of Houston, not Houston proper.

Is the Trinity ever in play? What would the run time look like?

I could be way off but Kriet and a few others made the long trek over there during the tournament before. The first time they were there, ~2013ish

I think only 2 guys made the Houston run in 2018, McClelland and someone else? IDK the old shows are archived to watch on the bassmaster website.

Didn’t Wheeler try that run a couple of years ago and run his boat up on a sand bar somewhere?

Pretty close, they run to clear lake area. You get about 2-3hrs of fishing time in. It's a 2-2.5hr run

Yes, I believe so.

Yep, and got stuck and had his marshal help and got in trouble for it.

I think Skeet fished the Trinity last time they were here and had a decent finish.

Was it a gar?

Anybody remember this a-hole that was running people off from fishing?

That actually says Dickinson Tx not Louisiana

Several including McClelland fished Clear Creek west of I-45. Long run. A bunch of it in saltwater.

They are here.......I drove to the city of Orange ramp after lunch and the parking lot was full of BASS Elite wrapped trucks with trailers while they practice.

I wonder if anyone has done this and accidentally pumped saltwater in their livewells with a limit of fish when fueling up on the way back

Livesay just arrived at the lock on the Trinity river, first time he went that direction all week. Will be interesting to see if he can catch a big bag over there.

He needs to just skip all that main river stuff and go straight into Pickets Bayou.

Congrats to Jason Christie.

4 days of fishing on the Sabine.

Phoenix Boats Big Bass - Taku Ito
Weight: 3lb - 7oz


Pretty disappointing IMHO.

Predictable considering the water. Tidewater and river bass. Big ones are rare. But I did read where there was a 6.6 caught. Don't know why it didn't make big bass.

Here's the 6 pounder:

I'd like to know the story on that one, he get a DQ?

It did make big bass. Taku fish was just the daily big bass for day 4

I remember it!

Thanks for the correction, I thought the 3lber was for overall BB not the daily big bass.

Heck of a boat flip for Fraizer.

I tried to watch it last night because it was the Sabine....mercer or one of the other idiots screamed Gi Gi Gi GIANT on a 4 pounder and I immediately turned the channel