Finishing in the top 30 at Lake Tenkiller was super important for me. After a couple of rough ones during this year’s Texas Swing, I really needed that one to keep my 2026 Bassmaster Classic hopes alive.
Doing well in that event was also very important as we look ahead to the Northern Swing. Theoretically, I should do better in those final two events, but now I have a little bit of extra momentum going into them.
Those two Texas fisheries were new to me, so I didn’t know what to expect. In both events, I had the fish I needed to make the cut, but I lost them, so I wasn’t too mad about it.
I definitely enjoyed Lake Fork a lot more. It was more my style — LiveScoping around. The first day, I had a couple of fish on beds, and I got stuck fishing for them for too long. I ended up catching them, but I wasted too much time, so I didn’t have time to upgrade my other fish.
Day 2, I did a little better, but while I was fishing the timber, I ended up losing an 8-pounder that would have put me in the cut. That was the only fish I lost all week, but it’s too bad the one I ended up losing was the biggest one I’d have on.
Even though I left Fork with a low finish, I took away an important lesson. I needed to be more confident with what I was doing. I got caught between bed fishing and fishing for suspended fish.
For me, it didn’t work trying to do too many things. I should have picked one thing and stuck with that. It would have worked out better.
The Sabine River was less enjoyable, but I also learned a lot there. I learned the importance of slowing down and fishing areas more thoroughly. It’s not good to be running around; you have to spend as much time as possible fishing.
Usually, I like to fish faster, but I’ll fish more in one area. I don’t like to run around all over the place, but I like to move quicker.
I think that’s what hurt me on the Sabine; I threw a topwater a lot and they kept missing it. I should have slowed down and just started flipping around the trees. I might have been able to land the fish and get in the cut.
Lake Tenkiller was another first for me, but it reminded me a bit of home because of the clear water with both largemouth and smallmouth. I enjoy fishing for smallmouth, so that helped me.
I caught my smallmouth on shallow points and rocks. It was weird to also have largemouth up there, but the clear water definitely helped me out.
Overall, I think the key to doing well at Tenkiller was slowing down — the lesson I learned from the Sabine. Also, I came home after the Sabine and won a local walleye tournament. I think that momentum helped me do well at Tenkiller, so hopefully, my momentum from Tenkiller will help me in the northern events.
I’m particularly looking forward to Lake St. Clair because it’s all smallmouth. I was there for last year’s Open, and I didn’t do great, so I need to get some redemption.
