BROOKELAND, Texas – The final weigh-in of the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Southwestern Division event at Sam Rayburn was one for the record books. Three different pros weighed more than 30 pounds on the day, and nobody was safe on the leaderboard. Coming in with a big lead after two days, Dakota Ebare faltered on Day 3, and Riley Harris surged to the top for his first MLF win.
Weighing bags in the mid-20s each of the first two days, Harris added 30 pounds, 9 ounces on Day 3 for an 82-10 total to earn the win as well as $29,930 and a berth in the $200,000 Toyota Series Championship this fall.
In second, Cody Ross blasted up the leaderboard with 36-2 on the last day for a 79-12 total. Finishing third, Dylan Thompson never cracked the elusive Dirty 30, but averaged more than 25 pounds a day for a 76-5 total.
All told, it was an amazing week on Big Sam – the lake kicked out 10-pounders left and right, and both first and second place surpassed the previous three-day Toyota Series weight record for Rayburn. In 2024, Colby Miller set the bar at 77-7, which Ross slid over with 79-12 and Harris left in the dust with 82-10.
“I knew they were coming to me the entire event”
The ideal tournament scenario for any angler is to find fish, and for more of them to show up every day. Often, it’s an impossible task – fish in the summer and winter are generally not flooding in or out of areas. Fishing fans might recall it happening a lot in May and June on Kentucky Lake during the heyday of ledge fishing, with weights going up day after day and leaders throwing back 3-pounders without weighing them because their expectations were set so high. This week at Rayburn, big fish were rolling into the shallows, routing along Texas drains, and Harris was right there to meet them.
“I think the inconsistent weather that has been happening in the past month has kinda made it hard for everybody to stay on them,” said Harris, who hails from Orange, Texas, and fishes both Rayburn and Toledo Bend frequently. “I knew this week they were coming into the spawning areas, and they hadn’t seen a lot of baits. And, man, it was just absolutely electric.
“I knew they were coming to me the entire event, I knew that I didn’t have to really go anywhere or go out, I just knew that I had to stay put, and they were just going to keep filtering in.”
Fishing from 5 feet to 15 feet deep, Harris was fishing typical Texas patterns, but with little to no company – which was not the case for many others in the event.
“I was just fishing the drains that were right there in spawning areas, they were just sitting in the bottom of the drains or up on the sides of them,” Harris explained. “I didn’t have any time to find any cranking fish or anything, so I just had to mainly ‘Scope the grass and the drains that were right there in the spawning areas.”
For baits, Harris relied on a 6th Sense Ozzie, a Neko-rigged 6th Sense Divine Shakey Worm with a 1/10-ounce weight, and an umbrella rig with three 1/8-ounce heads and two 1/4-ounce heads and 6th Sense Divine Swimbaits.
Shortened practice couldn’t stop Harris
Practice days this week leading up to the event were atrociously windy, and it almost seemed like having less practice was better. Coming in off events in Florida, Ebare and Lee Livesay both caught more than 30 pounds on Day 1 with just slight hints of practice. Harris was in a similar boat, having lost his lower unit on the weekend.
“I was pretty much off the water ‘til Wednesday,” Harris said. “I got to get out there when it was blowing really hard, and I was able to run a couple areas that I had confidence in, and I saw some things. But I knew it was only a matter of time before they were going to push up like they did.”
Being perfectly in tune with the fishery isn’t new for Harris, especially this year – he and Luke Potter won a February Texas Team Trail event on Rayburn with 41-9. Some lost fish certainly could have derailed his victory, though – Day 2 featured two heartbreaking mishaps.
“It was just freak accidents,” he said. “That 10 straightened out my hook. And then the 8, I guess I just had a soft spot in my line, and it just broke as soon as I laid into her, and she was sitting there flopping on top of the water in front of me trying to throw it. In an event like this where literally everything matters, I thought I blew my chance for sure.”
Still, dropping 30 on the final day makes up for a lot, and Harris was thrilled with the win.
“I have dreamt of this moment literally my entire life,” said Harris. “It’s really humbling because I wanted to compete at the top and I’ve been chasing this dream for years. And it’s finally just kind of all started to come together, and I’ve been able to put things together. It’s really humbling for sure, to see where we were and now where we’re at.”
Top 10 pros
1. Riley Harris – 82 – 10 (15) – $29,930
2. Cody Ross – 79 – 12 (15) – $11,404
3. Dylan Thompson – 76 – 5 (15) – $8,829
4. Todd Castledine – 74 – 4 (15) – $7,358
5. Dakota Ebare – 72 – 4 (15) – $6,622
6. Ryan Satterfield – 64 – 1 (15) – $6,886 (includes $1,000 Phoenix Bonus)
7. Lee Livesay – 63 – 12 (15) – $5,650
8. Brody Campbell – 62 – 9 (15) – $4,415
9. Nick Kincaid – 60 – 14 (15) – $3,679
10. Chad Mrazek – 59 – 15 (15) – $3,443
Complete results
