BROOKELAND, Texas – Dakota Ebare has come close by ounces with astonishing frequency throughout his young career. In spite of fishing more events than anyone in the sport, the time for the Texas pro didn’t seem right. But now it is.
Ebare won the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Southwestern Division on Sam Rayburn with a weight of 32 pounds, 4 ounces on the final day. After tying for seventh on Friday, Ebare won with a total of 48-10, and he earned $80,500.
It all started at Sam Rayburn for Ebare, who has chased a career in fishing harder than anyone else.
The first two tournaments I ever fished here were BFLs – I finished 166th and 105th, and I remember those very vividly because I took my last classes online. Ebare is originally from Louisiana. After learning a little about it, I did well in some college tournaments, but it took me a couple of years before I started catching good bags and winning local tournaments.
Although this is a volatile place, it is always changing, but it has been a great help when traveling across the county. They’re always on the move here; you get so much pressure, sometimes the lake is high, sometimes it has grass, sometimes it doesn’t. I moved here in 2017 because I wanted to make a living fishing. That’s why I call it home now, and it’s been great.”
After a debut season on the Bass Pro Tour filled with high points, Ebare enters the 2023 season with new sponsor deals and a lock on a professional fishing career.
The stuff Ebare mentioned doesn’t come easily to him. “I’m going to keep working, and I’m going to go from daylight to dark to accomplish that,” she said. Today, I felt like I got a little bit better, which was a big step forward. Hopefully, it will allow me to trust myself more, and not worry about getting that win simply because I want to. Because finishing second and third so often takes a toll on you.”
While he was on the water, Ebare never thought today would be his time.
He never felt at ease today, he noted, having pulled in more than 25 pounds before noon. He felt it was going to take a massive amount of weight to win the tournament, and was duly impressed with Wyatt Frankens’ 47-pound showing over the two days. His spirits sank when he arrived back on shore without any big catches. He hadn’t expected such a total, believing his haul to be in the high twenties, which clearly wouldn’t have been enough. Despite knowing this, he didn’t give up and kept going right until the bells sounded, stopping only at the dam for an eleventh hour attempt at a couple of fish.
It was his time.
“I have faith that everything is in God’s time, and I value that very much,” Ebare said. My faith has allowed me to do this for a living, and I truly believe He has allowed me to do so. Everything happens in due time, and it was finally my time, and I’m very grateful for that.”
The Rayburn standards set the standard
Since he’s spent a lot of time on the water in the last few years, Ebare certainly has some tricks up his sleeve, but he didn’t necessarily break new ground on Sam Rayburn. Strike King 6XD, umbrella rig with 1/4-ounce heads and Rage Swimmers, Strike King Elite 300 jerkbait and football jig were his baits. The fish he was fishing were large winter and prespawn fish in about 15 feet deep.
In any case, he was about as dialed in as he’s ever been on Big Sam.
Despite the nice weather on Monday, I was unable to practice because I had other obligations and things to do. The only day I had was Monday; it was calm and I got to look around and found three or four groups of large prespawn females where I thought I might be able to catch some large fish.
After practice, I never go in knowing exactly where to fish. Rather, I focus on finding out what pattern they’re following. That’s how I had success this time; I identified where the biggies were and what to look for when I got there. A lot of them ended up coming off a couple of spots, but it was my first time really figuring out the lake and seeing that it would have been possible to score decent catches elsewhere too.
Ebare’s first day went sideways, but he salvaged the situation with 16-6 and a kicker to stay in the running.
Yesterday, the wind really made it hard to set up. But, I was really disappointed, because I could have caught them big. I had a big one wrap me around a tree and get off, and I lost another really big one on an A-rig. I really had the chance to catch a huge one, but I was disappointed that I didn’t.”
Despite the fact that he was culling big fish early on Day 2, Ebare is still thinking about Day 1.
It might have got real stupid if I had picked up that football jig yesterday, but I caught a couple on a football jig today. I really wished I’d picked up a football jig yesterday because of the wind and the way they were set up – I threw a Carolina rig some, but they weren’t really having it. I’m still thinking about how I could have done better.”
Top 10
1. Dakota Ebare – 48 – 10 (10) – $80,500 (includes $35,000 Phoenix Bonus)
2. Wyatt Frankens – 47 – 05 (10) – $17,000
3. Tater Reynolds – 42 – 09 (10) – $12,750
4. Jason Bonds – 35 – 14 (7) – $10,750
5. Marshall Hughes – 34 – 10 (10) – $10,250
6. River Lee – 32 – 02 (10) – $8,875
7. Tyler Stewart – 31 – 07 (10) – $7,300
8. Cole Moore – 30 – 14 (10) – $6,300
9. Harold Moore – 29 – 07 (9) – $5,300
10. Garrett Hilton – 29 – 02 (10) – $4,200
Sources: MLF
