Sunday, March 1, 2015
Practice Recap
“I got a fair number of bites, but probably didn’t catch more than four fish in practice just because I shook off a lot of fish. I like the area, but I don’t know how many boats are going to be in there or how the wind will affect it, but I’m more optimistic now going into it. There are some areas I’d like to expand on and just get in there, catch a few and get out. I had a few bites in places like that that felt pretty good.
“There’s a lot of poor mouthing going on right now and I think that’s going to prove to be untrue tomorrow. This is good weather and they’re biting pretty good. A lot of guys are saying they’re not catching them and maybe they’re not, but with the weather changing like it is, those same guys can pull into an area and catch all big ones. That’s typical Florida.
“They’ve had so much rain here that it’s some of the darkest tanic water I’ve ever seen. It’s not muddy, but just dark. I’ve seen quite a few on beds, but nothing I’m going to fish for. I really think that bite is going to be hampered by the wind and weather we’re going to have, but as important as one or two bites are here, a couple bed fish would give you a big jump start.”
Day 1 – Practice
“It seems like bites are a bit easier to come by than they were during the (Southern) Open, but I didn’t catch a lot of quality today. It’s a typical Florida deal – there’s just not a lot consistent quality. It seems like you just have to get lucky and catch one of those giants.
“That’s the hard thing right now – I got a fair number of bites, just no quality. I probably caught nine or 10 pounds today and that’s not very good. I didn’t see a progression throughout the day to anything better.
“A lot of guys are anticipating a big change with the full moon we’re supposed to have and the warm up. With this warm front, it should be good and something should set up, but that’s up to the fish. Most of the water I saw today was in the upper 60s. I saw one spot where it was 70. I think over the next couple of days, we should see a fair amount of water in the 70s.
“I think everybody is trying to feel how the warm front will impact things. If it happens, it could be a big deal. Who knows, it may very well happen on our off day, but I know some guys will go back to a place where they might’ve had a few bites or shook some fish off and catch 25 pounds in the tournament because those fish were still there or moved shallow. I hope that’s me. I just think everybody is anticipating some sort of change, but sometimes it happens how you expect it to and then other times, you’re like, ‘Why the heck didn’t that happen?’”
Practice Recap
“It’s been a fairly tough bite. I had kind of a weird practice. I fished with the same co-angler each day and we had about nine bites on Sunday with some big ones. On Monday, we couldn’t get bit on what we got bit on Sunday. We still had 25 bites, but nothing over four pounds. That was my best day. Tuesday was a bit of a stinker. We had eight bites and nothing over three pounds. I even spent some time where we’d fished Sunday to check that and never had a bite there.
“The fish seem to be in a state of flux with the weather warming up. Some fish are going to beds, but I don’t think it will be won bed fishing. The lake is too high and too dirty to see the bottom. I can’t tell if the water is going up or down because you can’t really see the shore here, but I think that has something to do with why they’re not flooding to beds. These fish don’t spawn when the water conditions aren’t stable. There’s been a ton of current cranking through there.
“I did see some fish on beds, but I didn’t see any giants. I heard about some 6s and 8s being caught, but I haven’t seen anything near that big. I’ve been here (in 2001) when it was a sight-fishing bonanza, but it’s not 5 percent of that right now. I found an area I’m impressed with so I’m going to camp out there Thursday and see how that goes and if I can figure out how to trigger the bigger fish to bite. I also found fish in Toho, but not much quality.”
Day 1 – Practice
"The last time I fished here was the 2008 FLW Tour event and today I spent a lot of time running around the lake looking for hydrilla and breaking in my new Mercury OptiMax. It was the first day I had my new boat in the water so it was more about learning about the playing field today. I made a lap around Toho, Kissimmee and didn't fish the other two smaller lakes in the middle, but I went looking for grass mostly.
"The co-angler I had with me and I had about nine bites and he had a couple big fish on a worm, which didn't thrill me because those worm bites are pretty flaky here. I found some areas with some good fish, but I didn't fish a tremendous amount just because I was looking around so much. The lake has changed a lot. Places where there used to be hydrilla there's none. I'd say Toho has like one-tenth the hydrilla it had the last time I was here. Kissimmee seems to be about the same, grass-wise.
"We had about three inches of rain on Saturday so there's a lot of current flowing through the Toho dam down river, but other than that we have some nice weather coming up. The fish should be spawn with the full moon, but the lake is high and you really can't see beds in the traditional bedding areas where I've always caught them here. The water's high and colored up enough to where you can't see bottom. I think there will be some sight-fishing, but I think a guy is going to have go hunt for some new areas where he can actually see some on beds."
