What can I say, fishing is a tough game to figure out. I fished the Bassmaster Weekend Series on the Harris Chain and squeaked out a check with 12 pounds.
In 2 days of practice, I caught one fish and had no clue what to do going into the tournament. The water temperature was in the high 50′s on the main lake but in the 60′s in a canal I checked out. I found a 3 pounder on bed the last few hours of practice and figured I’ll go there and pick that joker off so I don’t get a big fat zero.
I go to that fish first thing in the morning and it wasn’t there. I look around the corner and there’s a 6 pounder on bed with a buck. I told my co angler Dana Foster that it won’t take long to pick these fish off and after 5-10 minutes they were in the livewell.
Dana was a great fishing partner and we had a good time just being out on the water. He caught a fish on a trick worm with a 1/16 ounce Spiderhead worm hook made by a company called Slider so I asked him if I could get one. I tied one on and caught a nice 4 pounder a few casts later.
The tournament director forgot to get exemptions so I already had a fish over 22″ and the other fish were gonna take quite a bit of time to coax so we did some running and gunning. We hit 2 spots and told my co angler that either you or I are going to catch a fish in one of these spots as we idled out of the canal we were fishing. Well, my co angler pulls in a nice 3 pounder with a rattletrap and I got nothing.
I think I could’ve gotten one of those other ones I was looking at to bite but it could’ve taken a few hours. I may not have gotten them at all. There’s always some second guessing about these things but all in all it was a fun day on the lake.
One of the cool things about fishing these tournaments is that you meet so many cool people that’s as crazy about bass as you are and it was like being out on the water with a friend just enjoying a day on the lake.
I just don’t get it. I have a good practice and do bad in a tournament. I have a bad practice and do good in a tournament. It shouldn’t be this way and I gotta figure out how to make the two correlate.
If you read my last post, you’d know I was pretty excited about the Xtreme Tournament on the Harris Chain yesterday. I had numerous 8 pounders locked on bed and an area where I caught 20+ pounds on Friday shaking most of the fish off. I mean the ones I hooked were huge with the smallest being 3 pounds.
I was so excited, I had to get a few drinks in me so I could fall asleep with delusions of grandeur.
Saturday rolled around and everything changed.
I went to my bedding area first and the bedding fish were in a different mood. What was once a lock turned into a struggle of wills. They would pick up my worm and take it out of the bed on Friday, but on Saturday they’d spook off as soon as I clicked my reel.
After about an hour of this, my partner and I went to Griffin where we caught all those fish the day before and there were 3 foot rollers on top of a spot that only had 2 feet of water. The fish were still biting although you could barely stand in the boat and we had about 9 pounds before we decided to head back and if it wasn’t for my Kistler rods, I would’ve never known I had a fish.
We decide to go to the bedding fish again but they were still spooky and never caught any of the big ones we were looking at. It’s one of those cases where the fish won, but they better watch out. I only wonder what could’ve been if there wasn’t 40 mph winds and a drop in water temperature by 2 degrees. I guess that’s why they call it fishing.
Once again, a perfect practice turned into a meager day of fishing come tournament time. I can’t think of any adjustments that I could’ve made to salvage the day so I’m dumbfounded at the moment.
Everyone that did well in the tournament focused on bedding fish and it took over 25 pounds to win. I guess I should’ve gone to some other bedding areas to see if those fish would bite. The only problem was there were 6 foot rollers I’d have to battle to get there and that didn’t seem like a good idea at the time.
Oh yeah, did I mention a boat capsized during the tournament? I don’t know if I would’ve capsized but it would’ve been a bumpy ride.
My buddy Jessie and I decided to fish the Xtreme tournament out of Buzzard Beach on the Harris Chain this past weekend and it was one of those grind out days with temperatures near freezing in the morning. It never warmed up neither cause the sun never came out.
We started out cranking a shell bar and I caught a nice 3 pounder within the first few minutes of fishing. At this point I’m thinking we’re gonna do good today, but we never got another bite after that on a crankbait.
You’re ahead of the game when you can catch a fish in the morning on the Harris Chain cause most of the fish on Harris are caught flippin and that bite’s never on early in the day.
We go to my fish on Little Lake Harris and go for about an hour without getting a bite and then I feel a little heaviness in my line. I tried to let the fish have it but it never moved. When I finally tried to set the hook, it was already too late.
From that point, I decided to set the hook immediately. The fish weren’t committing and not moving when they bit. I get bit another 50 yards down and set the hook right away to catch another 2+ pounder. I was worried about catching air when I decided to set the hook but there actually was a fish there.
I get bit again an hour later and set the hook on a 5 pounder that wrapped me up in the kissimmee grass and got off when I tried to yank it out. I should’ve just pinned the fish there and used the trolling motor to get to it.
At this point, I’m thinking we may on to some fish and make 3 more passes in the same area never got another bite for the rest of the day.
We run to my spot in Helena Run and get another fish right away but it was just short.
Our 2 fish weighed 5.84 pounds which was good enough for 4th place. The fishing was brutal with the winner only having 12.07 pounds. That fish I lost cost us a check and next time there’s a cold front, I gotta remember to set the hook right away instead of waiting for the fish to start moving with the bait.
You’re always learning in this game, but at least I picked a spot that had a chance to win. Just gotta put’em in the boat next time.
I’ll be taking off to camp out on Okeechobee the next couple of days to prepare for the BASS Open… wish me luck.
Lake Griffin is an area that gets less pressure on the Harris Chain because many of the tournaments go out of Lake Eustis or Harris meaning you’ll lose a lot of fishing time going through the idle zone on Haines Creek and going through the locks. That being said, it is worth it to lock through especially at times during the spawn. The marsh areas and canals can be the best in the chain during the spawn. There’s also clearer water in parts here.
Click on line or bubble to get more info on the fishing hole.
I fished the same spot where I could only catch 5 small keepers the week before with a junebug blue silver Gitem Sugar. Once I started pitching deeper in the grass where the water was shallower, I caught a couple of 5 pounders which helped me secure my second place finish.
I guess the bigger fish are deeper in the kissimmee grass and are easier to catch in the mornings. When the water temperature rose about 2 degrees, it was a lot tougher going.
I sure wish I had it figured out the week before when I was fishing for $6,000 but at least I learned something,
I checked out the Harris Chain this morning in preparation for my BWS tournament this weekend and focused mainly on finding a morning bite. I threw that rattletrap and spinnerbait like it was going out of style with no takers, then I stumbled onto to an area with bluegill beds.
I got one on a fluke and got a bunch of bluegill bites on a Gitem KO and baby crankbait. There’s lots of eel grass in the area and thinkin I’m gonna get’em when I get there early in the morning tomorrow.
I’m so excited about this spot, I’ve already got a small Pop R, a small Rapala, and a Snag Proof frog tied on ready to go. I’d like to try a small prop bait in a bluegill pattern, clear, or black, but couldn’t find one at Wal Mart.
If I can figure out a way to get a couple in the box before 9:30 here, it sure would take the pressure off my flippin bite. I’ve got 4 areas for flippin fish and have caught 5 pounders in 2 of the spots. I’ve been shaking them off lately so I’m not sure how big the fish are, but I’m pretty sure the big ones are in there. I just hope I find a few on Saturday.
As long as I can catch a couple tomorrow, my plan is to fish the bluegill pattern in the morning and then get to flippin. At least I have some semblance of a plan now, I just need to make sure I execute and prepare all my tackle meticulously.
I’m off to Santee Cooper next week, so I’ve been running around the Harris Chain trying to find fish for my Bassmaster Weekend Series event when I get back. It seems like the best baits so far has some black and some blue in it, namely Shadow Sapphire and Junebug Silver.
The only thing I’ve been getting bit on is flippin a Gitem Sugar, KO, and Warlock in kissimmee grass and pads with the Warlock doing most of the damage so far. I’ve been rigging it on a Gamagatsu 4 EWG with a 1/4 tungsten sinker.
I’ve also caught quite a few on the Gitem Sugar rigged on a #4 Reaction Innovations BMF hook with the BMF barb and a 1/2 ounce Denny Brauer Flippin Weight on 65 lb braid. I’ve experimented with a lot of set ups and finally found the perfect rig. The BMF hooks have welded eyes so the braid doesn’t get caught up on the corner of the eye like on most hooks and the heavy gauge straight shank increases hook ups. The BMF barb keeps the bait from sliding down and the Denny Brauer Flippin Weight’s egg shape holds the Sugar at a slightly raised angle giving it a more life like appeal as well as allowing it to fall through the cover more easily.
Another bait that I’ve been experimenting with is flippin a Gitem KO rigged with an 1/8 ounce weight. It’s really becoming one of my favorite flippin techniques when the kissimmee grass is a little more sparse. I can’t tell if there’s more bass in the kissimmee grass that’s more sparse or the Gitem KO is doing the trick. Either way, I assure you I’ll have one of these puppies rigged up when it comes tournament time on the Harris Chain.
This body of water gets a lot of pressure and the subtleties of these baits seems to be doing the trick.
I’ve been covering a lot of water and I did find some crankbait fish on timber. I hit this 100 yard stretch where it seemed like every time I banged into the timber, I’d get bit. I mean the bites are just ferocious and I found myself grinning from ear to ear after those strikes. The small Orion crankbait in chartreuse and black has been the ticket for whatever reason. They’re the only Rick Clunn crankbaits that don’t cost a fortune and the only ones with what Rick calls hydrodynamic imaging that appeals to the lateral line system on a bass. They’re ugly little things, but they work.
Heavy Kissimmee Grass Line. Pitch/flip soft plastics in junebug, watermelon red, or redshad into thick kissimmee grass clumps near major point. Use 1/4- 3/8 oz weight. Best in springtime.
Kissimmee grass line-Heavy and scattered grass on NW corner of Little Lake Harris on point just past bridge. Use various soft plastics 1/4-3/8 oz to pitch into grass. Spawners here in spring. Just off this line is deep water and shadraps work well in the summer.
Canal in Little Lake Harris-Canal on east side, directly across from #2 location. Mouth has good Kissimmee grass for pitching/casting 1/4 oz worm or craw in junebug or watermelon/pepper worm. Canal is major spawn area in spring.
Kissimmee grass Patches-This is a great area for post spawn fish. It is NW of the Dead River and has a distinct end to the grass line just before some docks/houses. Deeper 13′ water just 50 feet out from line. Pitch worms and work outside with #7 or #9 shadrap.
Large Pad Field-Large pad field on south Little Lake Harris. Good any time of the year. Junebug trick worms, watermelon red are both good in these pads.
Ninth Street Canal-One of the best spawning areas in the spring. Some heavy bass come out of here. Use gitzits, craws, worms around pads.
All the big bags during the Southern Open this past week on the Harris Chain came from sight fishing. Anyone who’s checked out these waters will tell ya that the water’s not clear enough to do it. For the most part they’re right, but there are some areas with clear water.
I believe the biggest sack on day 1 from Sanford’s John Kremer and day 2′s big bag from Brian Hudgins came out of the so called Clear Canal. It’s located on the north side of the Apopka Beauclaire canal. I say this because I went and sight fished in the same area during the full moon 2 weeks prior to the tournament.
This area produces bags over 20 pounds quite regularly during the spawn. Just watch out for the shallow water getting there. The water levels are extremely low and you’ll have to be running on plane to get through some of the areas that are only a foot deep.
I fished mostly Lake Eustis yesterday with the water temps starting at about 65 degrees and ending up about 70 and the only thing I figured out was that they’re not here. Thanks to Phil from Lake County Bass who showed me a few spots on Lake Eustis a couple of weeks ago. I started out the morning throwing a wacky rigged watermelon red fluke along the bridge pilings in the dead river with no takers so I proceeded to go into a residential canal there that’s usually pretty consistent.
I tried shaky heads, wacky rigged senko, and a weightless senko to no avail, so I headed over to the mouth of the Dead River and pulled in a nice 3 pounder off the pads on a chartreuse LongShank spinnerbait with double colorado blades. It’s the area where Mike Mclelland won the Elite series event last year, but there were 3 boats fishing it already so I didn’t spend too much time there. I checked out the L canal where Peter Thilveros won the Elite series event a couple of years ago and not even a bite.
The cool thing about the Harris Chain is the people. Everyone’s super friendly and you can’t avoid talking with somebody. In both the canal in the Dead River and the L canal, the only thing I’d hear is that the fishing hasn’t been good this year… Yikes! It got me thinking that maybe I should spend more time on Lake Griffin. I did get some quality fish in the Yale Canal and the Ocklawaha a week ago, but just not numbers. You go a long time in between fish.
Not seeing any signs of life in the canals, I determined the fish aren’t spawning yet and headed to Haines Creek where I caught a few at the base of the Cypress trees on a senko. I then looked for prespawn fish on the north end of Lake Harris. I flipped a junbug weightless senko and a black Chigger Craw with red flakes for 2 hours in the Kissimmee Grass without a hit before sunset.
Not a real productive day, but at least I know where they’re not at.
I plan on fishing sun up until sun down this weekend and I’ll be focusing on some shell beds in Lake Harris along with prespawn shallow kissimmee grass and also the marsh areas in Griffin. I sure hope I find them this weekend.
