First Bass Tournament in Florida
I just competed in my first bass tournament down here in Florida. I didn't bring a boat down this year as I am planning to go as a co-angler to learn how they fish down here and to get to know the water,spots and landings.
Yesterday I entered an ABA event on lake Toho. I was excited to get back on the water and on this well know fishery. The weather was great...we had high 70's, sunny and low winds. I drew a local guy that knew the lake and navigated in the morning fog (without gps) like he could see through it. We work a hydrilla weedline right away and he caught 1 fish. This hydilla stuff is ugly....it's so think I saw a Blue Heron walking on it but the Bass love it. We then went to some stuff they call Kissimmee grass which looked to me as late season Wild Rice on Leech....I was home! The stuff fished like rice too...nice open pockets with good edges to flip. No fish. We hit other grass spots throughout the day without success...if was a very tough bite. Around 1:00 we stumbled into a hydrilla flat that looked really good to me but what does this ol yankee boy know?? It had nice pockets and open patches....reminded me of fishing isolated coontail clumps back home. My partner caught 3 more ok fish to my zero....I was throwing the same thing(Purple Worm Texas Rigged which be borrowed because I don't own a worm) but decided my 50lb braid must look like cable down there on so I switch to a rod that had some Vanish line and started catching small fish.
As time ran out I could only get small fish...the min. size in Florida is 14" and 5 fish to keep. My partner weighed in around 8 pounds and got into the money(4th place) just to show how tough a day it was for everyone.
I really enjoyed getting back out there....my goal was to learn the water, get some spots and learn some new techniques. You'll be surprised to learn..no fishes tubes and few fish a jig down here...go figure.
I joined a local bass club and will fish a tournament on the Winter Haven Chain(17 lakes) after the holidays.
More from sunny Florida later...
Joel
Yesterday I entered an ABA event on lake Toho. I was excited to get back on the water and on this well know fishery. The weather was great...we had high 70's, sunny and low winds. I drew a local guy that knew the lake and navigated in the morning fog (without gps) like he could see through it. We work a hydrilla weedline right away and he caught 1 fish. This hydilla stuff is ugly....it's so think I saw a Blue Heron walking on it but the Bass love it. We then went to some stuff they call Kissimmee grass which looked to me as late season Wild Rice on Leech....I was home! The stuff fished like rice too...nice open pockets with good edges to flip. No fish. We hit other grass spots throughout the day without success...if was a very tough bite. Around 1:00 we stumbled into a hydrilla flat that looked really good to me but what does this ol yankee boy know?? It had nice pockets and open patches....reminded me of fishing isolated coontail clumps back home. My partner caught 3 more ok fish to my zero....I was throwing the same thing(Purple Worm Texas Rigged which be borrowed because I don't own a worm) but decided my 50lb braid must look like cable down there on so I switch to a rod that had some Vanish line and started catching small fish.
As time ran out I could only get small fish...the min. size in Florida is 14" and 5 fish to keep. My partner weighed in around 8 pounds and got into the money(4th place) just to show how tough a day it was for everyone.
I really enjoyed getting back out there....my goal was to learn the water, get some spots and learn some new techniques. You'll be surprised to learn..no fishes tubes and few fish a jig down here...go figure.
I joined a local bass club and will fish a tournament on the Winter Haven Chain(17 lakes) after the holidays.
More from sunny Florida later...
Joel
posted by Joel at 3:04 AM
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