January 26, 2025
BROOKELAND, Texas – You know you’re having a good tournament week when the only thing you’re chasing on the final day is a record.
Such was the case for Oxford, Ohio’s Brody Campbell on a blustery, cloudy Saturday at the Toyota Series Southwestern Division season opener on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. Campbell left the dock with a 9-pound, 13-ounce cushion over second place and a shot at the record for total weight in a three-day Toyota Series event on Big Sam. Campbell didn’t eclipse the record, but he nonetheless earned his second career Toyota Series win, bagging 16 pounds even on the day to bring his three-day total to 70-05.
“I’d never even been to Texas until last year,” Cambell said. “(Sam Rayburn) sets up nothing like the Ohio River, where I was born and raised, and the caliber of fishermen down here is just insane. But I’ve caught five fish over 10 pounds down here already, and I’d never even seen a 10-pounder until I came to Texas. I like it down here.”
Campbell had modest expectations heading into the tournament, thinking that 14 to 15 pounds a day was a realistic goal. After a mechanical issue delayed his start for two hours on Day 1, he began fishing an offshore timber field that sat in 30 to 50 feet of water and dropped a Deps Sakamata Shad on a 3/8-ounce jighead to an 8-08 largemouth that his Garmin LiveScope revealed was holding tight to the timber 25 feet down. That first fish was a momentum-starter that propelled him to 27-01 and the Day 1 lead.
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Campbell backed that up with 27-03 on Day 2, fishing the same pattern in the same area in the middle of the lake, to stake a 9-13 lead over Cole Moore.
While a near 10-pound advantage heading into the final day is almost a shoo-in on most fisheries, Campbell admits that his back-to-back 27-pound limits on Days 1 and 2 – and the cushion they afforded him when he headed out on Saturday – didn’t exactly give him a can’t-miss feeling with the likes of Moore, Ebare and Miller lurking in second, third and fourth. All three anglers can boast 32- to 35-pound five-fish limits on Big Sam among them.
With a modest goal of at least 15 to 16 pounds in mind when he left the ramp Saturday, Miller’s wish was to return to the same general offshore area in the middle of Rayburn where he had built his lead. But that area lay right in the barrel of sustained 10-mph winds and 20-mph gusts, which turned the middle of the lake into a no-man’s-land of waves that made it impossible to fish effectively.
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“The wind kind of ruined my spot,” Campbell admitted. “I couldn’t really tell how rough it was out there until I got there, but I had a suspicion that it was going to be a different kind of day. Once I got out there, it was rough rough. I gave it about 90 minutes first thing, but I had to scrap everything and just go fishing. I feel like I got lucky having two 27-pound days out there to start.”
Campbell’s Plan B came out of pure instinct (and a desire to get out of the washing machine at the middle of the lake).
“I just ran to the first pocket that was out of the wind,” he said. “I headed to the beach and got in a protected pocket that I’d never even been to before. I just needed something that was out of the wind, and I found a little corner in that pocket that had a lot of threadfin shad. They weren’t very big, but I was able to scrape up a bunch of fish. It was a totally random place, but I caught the most fish there I had all week.”
Campbell stated earlier in the week that he was fishing to cover his entry fees for the year. He’s well on the way, with a $67,522 payout that includes $35,000 in Phoenix Boats contingency money.
“I just came here from Florida, where I won a big team tournament on the Kissimmee Chain last week; I have good momentum going,” he said. “I’ve worked hard at this sport. I spent 300-plus days a year on the water last year, so it feels good to be fishing good and to start the season rolling with good momentum.”
Here are the final totals for the Top 10:
1st: Brody Campbell, Oxford, Ohio, 15 bass, 70-5, $67,522
Mike Hawkes of Sabinal, Texas earned Thursday’s $500 Berkley Big Bass Award with a bass weighing 9-05. Two anglers split the award on Friday – both Cole Moore of Anacoco, La., and pro Kevin Lasyone of Dry Prong, La., brought a bass weighing 8-14 to the scale.
