Lewisville, Texas – Summer’s sun and warming temperatures mean tougher times for anglers as they struggle to find largemouth bass amongst teeming boaters, skiers, tubers and recreational swimmers on Lewisville Lake in Texas for the third Elite 50 event of the four tournament season, June 1-4. Anglers expect lots of limits, but quality largemouths may be tough to come by.
“It’s been tough practicing these last two days,” said Florida pro, Terry Scroggins. “There’s been lots of boat traffic.”
Texan pro David Wharton agreed, “Today there weren’t nearly as many recreational boaters, so it was better. Number-wise you can catch quite a few fish, but the quality fish haven’t shown up.”
Texas is well known for its great fisheries and has often produced impressive limits from its legendary waters like Toledo Bend and Sam Rayburn reservoirs. This tournament is likely to produce lower weights, but anglers expect the competition to be just as fierce as ever.
“Everyone should bring limits to the scales, and you’ll even see some seven to eight pounders,” predicted Texas Pro Alton Jones. “Don’t expect to see more than a few. If you can catch a limit and a basszilla, that one big bite will go a long way.”
Scroggins says he’s fished everything on the lake, struggling to find his niche. His best bite has been shallow – in two to five feet of water – flipping around stumps and any standing timber he can find. His lure of choice is a green pumpkin Zoom Baby Brush Hog.
Wharton has also stuck to the shallow bite, flipping and pitching chartreuse- and junebug-colored soft plastics and casting shallow-running crankbaits. He’s fishing around standing timber and old willow trees in water less than eight feet deep.
“I don’t think you’ll see any deep structure fishing,” said Wharton. “I’ve looked but just haven’t found it. I’ll be beating up the bank along with the other guys and hoping that my bite turns out to be bigger.”
Alton Jones has been exploring the entire lake, and found success in all three layers of the fishing spectrum.
“I’ve been discovering as much water as possible and trying to limit my areas. I wanted to fish all layers – shallow, medium and deep – to find the best bite. I’ve tried both fast-moving and slow-moving baits, and I’ve tested it all to find my pattern.”
Jones has had his best bites in shallow to medium depths of 20 feet or less.
“You always want to fish cover,” Jones said. “This lake has lots of rock piles, and along the shoreline you’ll find some flooded willows. There’s some good cover to fish, you’ve just got to find it.
“The lake doesn’t look that big when you get out on it,” he added, “but I think it will fish fairly large. There shouldn’t be any guys fishing on top of each other. This is a good lake for a tournament this size.”
Part one of the Bassmaster Elite 50 Series event on Lake Lewisville will be telecast on The CITGO Bassmasters on Saturday, June 11 at 10:00 a.m. ET on ESPN2. Part two will air on Saturday, June 18 at 10:00 a.m. ET on ESPN2.
BASS is the world's largest fishing organization, sanctioning more than 20,000 tournaments worldwide through its Federation. The CITGO Bassmaster Tournament Trail, which includes the Bassmaster Elite 50 series, is the oldest and most prestigious pro bass fishing tournament circuit and continues to set the standard for credibility, professionalism and sportsmanship as it has since 1968.
Sponsors of the Bassmaster Elite 50 Series include CITGO Petroleum Corp., Toyota, Busch Beer, Purolator, Triton Boats, Mercury Marine, Berkley, Lowrance Electronics, MotorGuide, Bass Pro Shops and Cialis (tadalafil).
Local Sponsors include the Lewisville Visitors Bureau.
For more information, contact BASS Communications at (407) 566-2208 or visit www.bassmaster.com.
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