Florida’s Harris Chain of Lakes is no stranger to the top ranks of competitive bass fishing. Over the past two decades, the productive chain in Central Florida has played host to nine top-level BASS events.
And next week, BASS returns to Leesburg, Fla., for the 2006 BASS Federation Championship, when the sport’s top amateur anglers from across America and around the world will compete Jan. 11-13 for six highly coveted berths in next month’s CITGO Bassmaster Classic.
Based on the Harris Chain’s long history as a BASS venue, you’d think anglers would have a pretty good idea of what to expect when the tournament gets under way.
But actually, the piscatorial personality of the Harris Chain has been somewhat schizophrenic over the years.
With the Harris Chain, anglers never really are sure what to expect. When it comes to eye-popping catches, some years boom while others bust.
The sprawling, interconnected lakes that make up the Harris Chain made a name for itself in bass fishing circles beginning in the late 1980s, when the lucrative Bassmaster Megabucks series visited the chain for five consecutive years from 1986-1990.
Daily limits in those days ranged from highly respectable to downright impressive, including Larry Nixon’s whopping Megabucks total weight of nearly 90 pounds in the 1988 Megabucks event on the chain.
After the 1990 Megabucks at the Harris Chain, BASS skipped a year before returning to the lakes for the 1992 BASS Florida Invitational. And what a difference a year made. California angler Mike Folkestad won the Invitational with a paltry 14 pounds, 10 ounces.
BASS then took a 10-year hiatus from the Harris Chain until 2003, when the CITGO Bassmaster Tour returned to Leesburg, Fla., in early January for the first Tour event of that season. Again, low weights ruled the competition, and affable California pro Skeet Reese’s total of 36 pounds, 12 ounces, topped the field.
The Bassmaster Tour was back on the chain in 2004 and 2005, and results from those events bode well for the Federation Championship contenders. North Carolina pro Marty Stone won the 2004 event with 61 pounds, 12 ounces, and Florida pro Peter Thliveros followed that with a four-day total of nearly 70 pounds to win last year’s event. Additionally, competitors weighed in a couple of 11-pound largemouths during the 2005 tournament.
Which face of the Harris Chain will show next week? Local anglers say conditions look promising. With a full moon on the way and warm temperatures in the forecast, bass could move up into spawning areas for the tournament. Of course, pesky cold fronts have been known to wreak havoc on Florida bass fishing in the past. And with the Harris Chain’s split personality, who knows – anything is bound to happen.
Two times the Toho
Excitement is building rapidly for the 2006 CITGO Bassmaster Classic on Florida’s Lake Tohopekaliga in Kissimmee on Feb. 24-26. After all, it’s the place where Dean Rojas set the all-time BASS record with a single-day catch of 45 pounds, 2 ounces. Rojas’ tournament total of 108-12 set another BASS record for four-day total weight.
But before a Classic champ is named, the field has to be filled. And the last spot in this year’s Bassmaster Classic, which will award a $500,000 cash prize to the winner, will be determined at the ESPN Outdoors Bassmaster Series Championship.
The three-day event will be held Jan. 19-21 on East Lake Tohopekaliga. And while it’s not as well known as its big brother to the west, the action promises to be every bit as exciting as the nation’s top weekend anglers battle for the final berth in the Classic.
Looking ahead to Amistad
Preliminary reports point to the possibility of an astounding 2006 CITGO Bassmaster Elite Series opener on Lake Amistad in Del Rio, Texas.
The new series kicks off March 9-12 with the “Battle on the Border,” the first event of the season and also the first stop of “The Southern Sprint,” the first leg of the 11-event series that visits some of bass fishing’s best real estate.
Elite Series anglers and fans alike should be in for a real treat down on the Texas-Mexico border.
“It’s going to be amazing,” said Texas Parks and Wildlife Department fisheries biologist Phil Durocher.
It’s not common for scientific types to give in to hyperbole, so it’s exciting when one hears a biologist speak in such glowing terms.
Locals also are underwriting Durocher’s assessment. Lake Amistad, a known producer of giant bass, offered up a 16-pound bass last week.
“If the weather is good, it could be incredible,” Durocher said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes 25 pounds a day to win it. It usually takes 20 pounds a day to win a local event, and when the best anglers in the world get on the lake, it could really be something.”
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, call 1-800-BASS-USA or visit www.bassmaster.com.
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