But that will have to wait another week. Right now the Elite Series pros have resigned themselves to the grind that will greet them as the 2013 season gets underway on the Sabine River which straddles the Texas/Louisiana border below Toledo Bend Lake.

How tough is it? “Abnormally tough,” said James Niggemeyer. “I’m going into my 7^th year of doing this and this week has been the toughest practice I’ve ever had.

“You can catch quite a few but catching 14-inchers (the minimum length limit this week) is a challenge. That’s the best word I can use to sum it up – ‘challenge’. Practice was challenging. I looked at a lot of different water and it looked the same everywhere I went.”

In addition to ‘challenge’ a key word this week will be ‘commitment’. Given the spread out nature of the waterway, anglers will not have time to change locations frequently. As is usually the case on delta fisheries, pre-tournament decisions will play a huge roll.

“I’m making a decent run, putting my head down and putting all my eggs in one basket,” affirmed Niggemeyer.

As for lure selection, it is simple this week. Pitching plastics and slinging a spinnerbait are the best tactics on this tidewater playing field. Niggemeyer will flip a Strike King Rodent and toss a ¼-oz. Strike King spinnerbait.

After the practice rounds Greg Vinson is “Certainly not comfortable. It’s tough to get a keeper. I talked to a lot of guys and if most of them are being honest 1-to-3 per day is all they’re catching. There are a lot of 12-inch fish.”

In faraway places most anglers hang their proverbial hats on something that reminds them of home. Vinson has found that, but it’s little consolation. “This place is a lot like the Mobile/Tensaw Delta. It’s similar in size and fishes similarly, but down there in Mobile we can keep 12-inch fish in a tournament.”

Vinson will make a big decision in the morning. “I’m split between 2 areas; still not sure where to go. It’s hard to put a lot of stock in either one.” One area offers quality but it would be hard to scratch out a limit. The other offers a solid chance to catch a small limit but nothing more. Vinson realistically hopes to get 3 or 4 bites per day. He adds another key word to our lexicon this week:  ‘survive’. “I’m really trying to – what’s the word – survive this one. It would be very easy to zero 2 days in a row here. You don’t want to mess around and put yourself out of contention for the Classic.”

 Saltwater intrusion from hurricanes killed many of the Sabine’s bass and those fish grow slowly as it is so recovery slow in coming. “You can see the results of the state’s stocking efforts but we need a couple more years. Those fish are all 12-inches or less,” noted Vinson. “The winner is going to have a little area that has a few quality fish. And right now, to me, a quality fish is anything over 2 pounds.”