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Have you ever attended a bass tournament where six- and seven-pound bass didn’t garner "oohs" and "aahs?" That happened at Bassmaster’s Bass Pro Shops Southern Open on the Harris Chain of Lakes near Tavares, Fla. January 19-21.
At the Day One weigh-in, only the first two or three bass in the five- and six-pound class were individually weighed for Big Bass as it soon became apparent that only much larger fish would qualify for the Big Bass of the tournament payout. In fact, after the first 20 pros weighed in, it took a fish over eight pounds to register an ‘ooh’ from the crowd.
With 197 pros and 197 co-anglers competing during the bass pre-spawn period, there were numerous opportunities to score heavy bags and big fish. The talk during the week was how a cold front could slow the fishing and 15 to 16 pounds bags each day might seal a win.
Tim Frederick paid no attention. The Leesburg, Fla. angler’s Day One limit weighed 28 pounds, 3 ounces to take a significant lead in the professional ranks. His nearest contender was Bassmaster Elite Series pro Chris Lane, nearly eight pounds back.
A tight-lipped Frederick gave little information but he did say that he was expecting the tournament to be a sight-fishing event. “I decided to play a hunch and go to a staging area I know about,” Frederick said, referring to a spot where bass hold prior to moving to the spawning grounds and laying their eggs. “Within half an hour, I had about 20 pounds.”
The big bass of Day One belonged to pro angler Steve Wisdom, weighing 8 pounds, 15 ounces. That fish made up more than half of his total 15 pounds, 1 ounce catch. He caught the fish on a 1/2-ounce Strike King Redeye Shad (gold with a black back). Heath Smith's 8 pound, 11 ounce fish made a run at Wisdom's daily lunker and helped to put Smith in fifth place with 18 pounds, 11 ounces.
On Day Two, Lane dominated with a five-bass limit weighing 23 pounds, 14 ounces.
“I really had to slow down and change some things,” he said. “The fish changed overnight because it was a little colder. The water temperature was 58 degrees this morning, when it had been in the low 60s on previous mornings.”
Tim Frederick, the Day One leader, could not match his first round magic, but his second round total of 38 pounds, 11 ounces kept him in the hunt with third place. Clifford Pirch of Payson, Ariz., was second with his total of 39 pounds, 6 ounces.
Have you ever attended a bass tournament where six- and seven-pound bass didn’t garner "oohs" and "aahs?" That happened at Bassmaster’s Bass Pro Shops Southern Open on the Harris Chain of Lakes near Tavares, Fla. January 19-21.
At the Day One weigh-in, only the first two or three bass in the five- and six-pound class were individually weighed for Big Bass as it soon became apparent that only much larger fish would qualify for the Big Bass of the tournament payout. In fact, after the first 20 pros weighed in, it took a fish over eight pounds to register an ‘ooh’ from the crowd.
With 197 pros and 197 co-anglers competing during the bass pre-spawn period, there were numerous opportunities to score heavy bags and big fish. The talk during the week was how a cold front could slow the fishing and 15 to 16 pounds bags each day might seal a win.
Tim Frederick paid no attention. The Leesburg, Fla. angler’s Day One limit weighed 28 pounds, 3 ounces to take a significant lead in the professional ranks. His nearest contender was Bassmaster Elite Series pro Chris Lane, nearly eight pounds back.
A tight-lipped Frederick gave little information but he did say that he was expecting the tournament to be a sight-fishing event. “I decided to play a hunch and go to a staging area I know about,” Frederick said, referring to a spot where bass hold prior to moving to the spawning grounds and laying their eggs. “Within half an hour, I had about 20 pounds.”
The big bass of Day One belonged to pro angler Steve Wisdom, weighing 8 pounds, 15 ounces. That fish made up more than half of his total 15 pounds, 1 ounce catch. He caught the fish on a 1/2-ounce Strike King Redeye Shad (gold with a black back). Heath Smith's 8 pound, 11 ounce fish made a run at Wisdom's daily lunker and helped to put Smith in fifth place with 18 pounds, 11 ounces.
On Day Two, Lane dominated with a five-bass limit weighing 23 pounds, 14 ounces.
“I really had to slow down and change some things,” he said. “The fish changed overnight because it was a little colder. The water temperature was 58 degrees this morning, when it had been in the low 60s on previous mornings.”
Tim Frederick, the Day One leader, could not match his first round magic, but his second round total of 38 pounds, 11 ounces kept him in the hunt with third place. Clifford Pirch of Payson, Ariz., was second with his total of 39 pounds, 6 ounces.
The Day Two heaviest catch belonged to Elite Series pro Keith Poche with 25 pounds, 3 ounces. He was optimistic about his chances on the final day. “I had a terrible first day because I had to share the water with so many other boats,” he said. “With just 12 boats on the water tomorrow, I like my chances to have another good day.”
Pro Jared Miller left his mark on the tournament by catching an 11 pound, 10 ounce fish to take the tournament’s Big Bass honors. His bass was the largest ever weighed in BASS’ history on the Harris Chain. The previous best Big Bass weighed 11 pounds, 1 ounce.
Lane made it look easy on Day Three with 28 pounds, 5 ounces and good enough to barely edge out Frederick for the Lucky Strike heavyweight of the tournament. His three-day winning weight was 72 pounds, 11 ounces. Winnings included $58,800 cash and merchandise plus a provisional berth in the 2013 Bassmaster Classic on Oklahoma’s Grand Lake o’ the Cherokees, February 22-24.
Cliff Pirch, Payson, Ariz., finished second with 58 pounds, 1 ounce; Keith Carson, Debary, Fla., third with 55 pounds, 13 ounces; Kevin Hawk, Guntersville, Ala., fourth with 53 pounds, 10 ounces; and Tim Frederick, Leesburg, Fla., fifth with 48 pounds, 10 ounces.
Missouri pros Greg Ryan, Nixa, finished 22nd; Randy Blauket, Joplin, 25th; Bob McMullin, Pevely, 112th; James Watson, Waynesville, 113th; and Sammy Burks, Joplin, finished 131st.
The Day Three Big Bass weighed 9 pounds, 13 ounces and was caught by Keith Carson from Debary, Fla.
Avery McCormick, Mobile, Ala., led on the Co-Angler side through Day Two but was overtaken by Michael Bradford, Scottsboro, Ala., who won with a three-day total of 27 pounds, 9 ounces, earning him $35,000 in cash and merchandise, including a Triton-Mercury boat and motor package.
The Co-Angler second place went to Avery McCormick with 27 pounds, 5 ounces; third place, Bill Capps with 27 pounds, 4 ounces; fourth place to Eamon Bolten with 26 pounds, 8 ounces; and fifth place went to Robert Walker with 26 pounds, 3 ounces.
This was the season opener for B.A.S.S.; upcoming tournaments include the Central Open on Lewisville Lake at Lewisville, Texas on February 9-11, and the Bassmaster Classic on the Red River at Shreveport, La. on February 24-26.
