Harris Chain Elite Series

Brent Chapman – Days 2 & 3
Saturday, March 12, 2011

> Day 1: 5, 12-14
> Day 2: 5, 10-08
> Day 3: 5, 9-15
> Total = 15, 33-05 (30th)

Day 2 was cold and windy, which I figured would make for a tough day. With the wind, I knew that the place where I caught most of my fish the first day wouldn't even be a viable option. Luckily on day 1 I went and found a little stretch of protected pads. I went there on day 2 and literally spent the entire day there, except for the last 15 minutes on the way in. I was just trying to be as thorough and methodical as I could possibly be.

I only managed to get seven bites. One was a 3-pounder and one a 4-pounder, giving me 10 1/2. Again, every fish came on the Tightlines UV Beaver. The first day I caught them on watermelon-red, but on day 2 I used black/blue.

The heartbreaking thing for me was there was a seniors tournament there that day. I pulled up to my area and here's these two guys sitting there on the best spot and they were culling fish by the time we got there. I watched them catch a 3, 4 and 6, plus several more decent ones. I was struggling to get a bite. It was just really a lot tougher day than I expected. I was really hoping to make it into the Top 12 that day.

Today (day 3) I felt if I could catch 18 pounds I'd have a shot at the cut. I knew I was in the right area after watching those guys catch them. So I went there again and caught one after about an hour of fishing. I fished for another hour and a half and caught none.

I had a little backup cranking spot so I went over there, throwing a little 1.5, and caught two on the first pass. I turned around and caught my best fish of the day, a 3 3/4, but it was hooked down in the gills and bleeding and it ended up dying by the end of the day.

Then I went back to my flipping fish from day 1 and I wished I'd been there sooner because I immediately caught two, but I was out of time. I only had seven keeper bites all day and with the dead-fish penalty ended up with 9-15.

In hindsight, considering my practice, I'll absolutely take a 30th. And from a career and money perspective, you'll take a 30th in every one because you'll probably make the Classic and have a decent year. It's definitely a good start to the year. Last year I stubbed my toe at the Delta and that was not the way to start. Hopefully I'll continue this momentum next week at the St. Johns.

Brent Chapman – Day 1
Thursday, March 10, 2011

> Day 1: 5, 12-14 (26th)

I'll take that. Considering my practice, I'll definitely take it.

Today went really well. I went out and did what I'd hoped to do. I knew I could catch fish, but I really needed a couple of big bites, or decent bites, and that's what I got. That's really what separated me and the guys at the top – that one 6- or 7-pounder they got. Doing what I'm doing, I know I could be one of those guys with a big bag tomorrow. That's what we're going to strive for.

I didn't do any sight-fishing. All my bites came from flipping a Tightlines UV Beaver again. That UV stuff – the technology – it's got me hooked. Last year it didn't really play into our hands as far as the conditions – they weren't conducive to plastics. But this year's really setting up to be a good year for plastics. I hope I can capitalize.

Peter T and I started on the same spot this morning. Other than that, the other areas I fished had two or three boats. Nothing bad.

Tomorrow I plan to go out and hunker down and really fish slow. I'll just try to be real thorough and maximize what I've got and hopefully hook every bite I get, and put each one in the boat, and one or two will be big ones.

I caught probably a dozen keepers today. And I think the cold front might help what I'm doing with the sun being out. I just hope we don't have a horrible wind. That'll be the toughest part, but the Power-Poles really help on a lake like this.

Brent Chapman – End Of Practice Report
Wednesday, March 9, 2011

There are a few areas with lots of bed-fish, and there's probably going to be a lot of fishermen fishing for them too. It's no secret. On some of the spots, I literally saw 10 boats in a matter of 30 minutes go through. So we all saw the same fish. And I talked to several other anglers who were there at different times and they saw 10 boats come through. So it's all about who gets that early boat draw.

But even then, with a good draw, you still have to catch them when you get there. I plan to start on that, just because I have yet to catch a 3-pound fish all week. And if you can get one of those 5-pound-plus fish you'll be way ahead of the game. Especially if you can quickly go catch two or three more. But this tournament's never been won bed-fishing, and this one won't be solely won on bed-fishing. It'll be an integral part of things tomorrow though.

It's tough to know how many boats could fit in a canal, because every little area's unique. You just have to get in there and feel it out. There'll be areas where there'll be a boat on every single fish. And a few areas where a couple of guys can put down their Power-Poles and be around two or three fish. It's definitely not my type of scenario – I was really hoping we'd have to catch them some other way – but I haven't been able to find any quality doing something else. I hope I was just saving them for the tournament.

Brent Chapman – Practice Day 1
Tuesday, March 8, 2011

I'm getting ready to pull up some archives of weights from here because from what I saw today, I wasn't overly impressed. I definitely don't think it's going to be a heavyweight tournament. I think we're on the tail end of things and it'll be one of those tournaments where everybody's bunched-up weight-wise, but those who can get a couple of decent bites are really going to set themselves apart.

I think we're going to see a lot of 1 1/2- to 2 1/2-pound fish caught. Heck, from what I saw today, a 2 1/2-pounder's a good one. Every fish I caught looked like it was spawned out – skinny, scrawny. And I know there are some fish still spawning in certain areas – I saw the beds. That's no secret, so there's going to be some fish caught on beds. When we fished here in the past, there were fish coming up onto beds, but it only played out for a day. I'll be shocked if bed-fishing plays out for more than a day here. It can make a big difference though, because a guy can maybe go out and catch a few 4- or 5-pounders the first day and be way ahead.

It's going to be an interesting tournament to say the least. About the only encouraging thing I found today was my Tightlines UV stuff works really well in Florida, just like New Orleans. Hopefully I can find the right fish to put it in front of. That's the good thing – that I feel I can come down here and do the same thing I did in the Classic.

To be honest, I just had so many curveballs in the last week getting ready for this event that it took me a little while to get going this morning. And I was really frustrated with the weather. I woke up and it was cold – in the upper-40s – and the wind was blowing and it was cloudy. It all really kind of caused me to lose my focus for a while. I just sort of fished around and finally had to make the most of my day and do the best thing I could, which was to eliminate water. I tried to check some areas I wasn't sure about and found a few areas that had some fish. Hopefully I figured out an idea of what to do on the second practice day.

The tough part of this fishery, especially right now, is the whole Harris Chain has potential. I'd love to have several more practice days to narrow it down, because if there's one thing I've learned through the year, it's that you can't spread yourself too thin and try to fish it all.

What's also challenging is that this year we're launching out of Lake Dora. The Dora canal's a 20-minute idle, and there's another 20-minute idle if you want to fish Harris. So depending on where you decide to fish, there could be a lot of idle time. Then, if you want to get into the canals for spawning fish, there's a lot of idle time there as well. It'll be interesting to see how it plays out.