Livesay Takes Lead On Fog-Shortened Day At Bassmaster Elite On Chickamauga

DAYTON, Tenn. — The tournament’s shortest fishing day yielded Lee Livesay’s biggest bag, which allowed the angler from Longview, Texas, to take the Day 3 lead of the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at Chickamauga Lake with a three-day total of 43 pounds.

After a 2 1/2-hour fog delay, Livesay backed up his first two weights of 13-0 and 13-3 with a Day 3 limit of 16-13 and overtook Day 2 leader Stetson Blaylock by a margin of 1-15.

He did so by fishing a frog around matted vegetation — and was very specific in the type of vegetation he sought.

“I’m doing what I like to do. I like to pick up a big rod and a frog and hunt them,” Livesay said. “I’m not just fishing, I’m hunting individual fish. I know which mats they’re under; it’s just whether they eat it or not.”

Livesay said he’s targeting mats in two main scenarios. The first are located off small main-river bars. The key is what he calls supershallow water.

“Everybody’s fishing the deep mats, but you can’t catch them there,” Livesay said. “You might get a hit every now and then, but it’s random. I fish around the shallowest mats with a little rock under them and two of them have current under them.”

Livesay’s other mat scenario is on the back side of an island bar with a small depression in a flat. The area has scattered rock and tiny cheese mats (topped-out grass coated with a bubbly yellowish algae) within a larger mat.

“It’s 100 percent confidence, knowing where the fish are and not leaving,” he said. “Also, I’m being quiet; I’m push poling into some areas, keeping my trolling motor up and sitting there for (long periods).

“I’m casting as long as I can throw it. I caught a couple close today, but my best bites are coming way, way out there. Also, I’m trying to throw upriver and bring it down on my current-related spots.”

Livesay caught all of his fish on a Scum Frog Launch Frog. He alternated between black and white baits and made key modifications to each.

“I’m adding two 1/8-ounce tungsten weights and trimming the legs down really short; I don’t want them to have anything to miss,” Livesay said. “If you put this frog in the water, it sinks like a rock, but it makes a trail in that mat.”

Livesay’s starting spot was close to takeoff, so he was fishing while many of his competitors were still running. His first fish was a 4-pounder, followed by solid keepers that went 2-12, 2-5, 2-4 and 2-0.

He has great confidence going into Championship Monday.

“This is the first time I’ve felt it,” he said. “I’ve been third, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, but this is the first time I’ve felt like I had a shot. I’ve never had the right fish left and the confidence level.

“The good thing is I only had to hit my main spot one time. I missed one other big one in there and never went back.”

Livesay said he’ll follow the same general game plan, but he’ll have a Zara Spook on his deck in case he sees schooling bass like the ones that surprised him Sunday.

“On my first spot where I caught that 4 (pounder), some big ones came up schooling out in the open behind me,” he said. “Tomorrow, I’m going to have that frog on my left side and I’m going to have that spook on my right side.

“I may also have a 3/8-ounce football jig with a NetBait Paca Craw for the bluffs.”