KISSIMMEE’S LAKE TOHOPEKALIGA: TRULY CLASSIC WATERS

Florida Lake Was Scenic Backdrop When Anglers Smashed Record Books in 2001

CELEBRATION, Fla. — If you have to bet where many of the 2006 CITGO Bassmaster Classic competitors will search for big bass during the upcoming February tournament, you might consider putting your money on Shingle Creek.

The area, just a few miles away from the launch site of the Bassmaster Classic, Feb. 24-26 on Lake Tohopekaliga in Kissimmee, Fla., was the backdrop for professional bass fishing’s most memorable and record-breaking day: On Jan. 17, 2001, CITGO Bassmaster Elite Series angler Dean Rojas caught the heaviest one-day BASS tournament record of 45 pounds, 2 ounces, blowing away the existing record of 34-7.

Anglers and fans call it the most phenomenal big-bass bonanza in the history of tournament fishing.

The day before the tournament began, an eight-day warming trend peaked on the final afternoon of practice, sending an enormous wave of big, spawning females into the shallows of Lake Toho. The pros who were still on the water that afternoon witnessed the most incredible invasion of giant bass that stormed the beaches in search of a place to bed. They said it was like nothing they had ever seen.

One of those was Rojas, who had dropped off a sponsor at the ramp and returned to Shingle Creek where he encountered an amazing sight. “I could not believe what I saw,” Rojas said recently. “I saw 10-pounders, 9-pounders, 8-pounders everywhere. And another 10 over here and 11 over there. I figured I had found the honey hole. I was just hoping nobody else had found the spot, too.”

Rojas returned to the creek at daybreak the next morning and on his fourth flip, boated a 10-pound, 13-ounce largemouth. With that, his assault on the record books began. Rojas also established the BASS four-day tournament heaviest weight record with 108-12.

“What a tournament!” Rojas told the weigh-in audience. “I can’t believe it. I could never have dreamed that I would catch 108 pounds in a tournament. You can talk about California having all the big fish, but they don’t have squat compared to this.

“I just hope everybody enjoyed seeing the big fish we brought in this week. And to be able to say that you were here, because I truly believe that you guys witnessed something that will probably never be duplicated, ever.”

Local and visiting fishing fans certainly stand a good chance of witnessing such record-breaking action again when the 36th annual CITGO Bassmaster Classic comes to Kissimmee and Lake Toho in the heart of spawning season.

“It’s shaping up to be another big-bass slugfest that time of year,” said Rojas, one of 51 anglers fishing the Bassmaster Classic. “We could set the Classic record for biggest weight.”

The northernmost body of water on the Kissimmee Chain, Lake Toho is one of Florida’s largest natural lakes. The Osceola County lake is 13 miles long and has a maximum width of more than 4 miles. Plus, Bassmaster Classic competitors will enjoy the benefit of a year-long, $9 million restoration project that improved the lake’s nursery and spawning areas.

Those improvements should further enhance the reputation of the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, which always has provided BASS pros with quality fishing. Some examples:

• January 2005: Takahiro Omori won a BASS event with 50-11.

• December 2001: Tim Horton won with a whopping 61-4.

• January 2000: Shaw Grigsby’s winning weight was 53-11.

The big-league fishery certainly has come a long way since Rick Clunn won his second Bassmaster Classic championship in the fall of 1977 with a three-day total of 27-7.

“The chances of this being an all-time record-setting Classic are very good,” defending Classic champion Kevin VanDam emphasized. “It’s one of the best lakes in the country. Obviously, Dean Rojas proved that.”

BASS is the worldwide authority on bass fishing, sanctioning more than 20,000 events through the BASS Federation annually. Guided by its mission to serve all fishing fans, BASS sets the standard for credibility, professionalism, sportsmanship and conservation, as it has for nearly 40 years.

BASS stages bass fishing tournaments for every skill level and culminates with the CITGO Bassmaster Classic. Through its clubs, youth programs, aquatic resource advocacy, magazine publishing and multimedia platforms, BASS offers the industry's widest array of services and support to its nearly 550,000 members. The organization is headquartered in Celebration, Fla.

For more information, contact BASS Communications at (407) 566-2208. To join BASS, visit www.bassmaster.com or call 1-800-BASS-USA.