Monster Bag Lifts Livesay To Bassmaster Elite Series Victory At Lake Fork
BASS PRESS RELEASE
Mega 42-03lbs final day limit secures win and Century Club for Livesay.
(Photo: BASS)
For three days, Lee Livesay caught quality fish, but nothing close to the Lake Fork potential he intimately knows. On Championship Sunday, the third-year Elite Series pro and local guide showcased his home lake’s treasures by winning the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Lake Fork with a phenomenal four-day total of 112 pounds, 5 ounces.
As the 32nd individual to enter the prestigious Bassmaster Century Club (a five-fish limit of 100 pounds or more), Livesay outpaced Day 1 leader Patrick Walters by a 10-pound margin. Along with his second Elite trophy — his first came last fall at Chickamauga Lake — Livesay won a first-place award of $100,000.
For Livesay, it was a monster final-day limit that weighed 42-3 and ranks as the third-heaviest, single-day weight in Bassmaster history that sealed the deal.
“I have no words right now, it’s amazing,” he said. “I’ve been around them, but I haven’t caught any big ones all week; I just survived. Everything just worked out and it never goes like that.”
Hailing from Longview, Texas, Livesay made no assumptions and fished hard until the last minute. But when the smallest bass in your five-fish limit goes 7 pounds, 6 ounces, good things are likely.
“I caught big ones everywhere I went,” he said. “I started off with big ones (a 9-2 at 7:14 a.m.) and ended with big ones (7-14 at 1:10 p.m.). It was just one of those surreal days, and it was amazing because I’ve spent a lot of time on this lake.”
Spending his tournament in Little Caney Creek, Livesay rotated among several secondary points where bass were chasing big gizzard shad. His main spot — a bar extending off a small island — allowed him to sneak into range of bass schooling on the opposite side without spooking them.
Throughout the tournament, Livesay caught fish on a mixed arsenal that included a 3:16 Lure Company line-through Rising Son swimbait, a 3:16 Lure Company Work Horse glidebait, a Megabass Vision 110 jerkbait, a Carolina rig with a Netbait Little Spanky, a 6th Sense Magnum Squarebill and a bone color Heddon Saltwater Super Spook.
