It's pretty simple, when you're fishing a Florida tournament, you fish vegetation. Each angler in the Top 5 at the Harris Chain Bassmaster pitched, flipped and otherwise worked soft plastics around some type

of aquatic greenery. Those who did well worked their lures very slowly, and they worked pretty much the same area every day.

While that style was torture for guys like Kevin VanDam (98th), it was perfect for the "old timers" who remember when worms were king – names like Jim Bitter, Tommy Martin and Larry Nixon.

When practice began, it seemed the fish had just started to move shallow. Then the weather changed. By the time the tournament started, the water temperature was around 60 degrees. "About 65 degrees is when they start spawning in Florida," Bitter said.

The combat the change, the top finishers needed soft plastics, light weights, light line (or at least thin-diameter line) and patience to entice the fussy, cold-front-shocked Florida largemouths into biting. Here's how the 2nd- through 5th-place finishers targeted and caught those fish.

2nd: Jim Bitter

Day 1: 5, 26-12
Day 2: 5, 13-09
Day 3: 3, 8-12
Day 4: 5, 18-09
= Total 18, 67-10

Bitter isn't very fond of sight-fishing, and he felt the fog delay on Day 1 helped him. He said it limited the amount of time anglers could target visible fish. Bitter bucked the sight-fishing bite and instead worked heavy cover. He cast and pitched to the cover that concealed bedding fish underneath.

On the first day, he could see the grass move when a fish became disturbed. Once he saw that, he knew where to cast his Zoom Baby Brush Hog. He had three big bites and lost one of them, but still took the Day 1 lead.

"Sometimes you could just stomp the deck of the boat or turn on the trolling motor and they'd spook," he said. "If they circled back around, you knew it was a bass and you could pitch in there and catch it."

The wind and other competitors that moved into the area made Day 2 difficult. It was harder to cast accurately and feel the bites, and there were fewer bites overall. He couldn't see the grass move like before, and had to just cast to any open holes in the cover. He caught enough to stay in 1st place and make the Top 12 cut.

On Day 3 he was struggling, and another competitor started to fish what he considered to be his water. He got fed-up and made a midday move up the river to find new fish. He pitched to matted cover in the river and caught three keepers. He was shy of a limit, and the stumble tumbled him to 3rd, although he still made the Top 6 cut.

He started Day 4 at his upriver spot, and came back to his primary area late in the day with a 12-pound limit. He upgraded to 18-09 when he caught the day's big bass just 5 minutes later. He caught that big fish near where he caught a 9-03 the first day.

He fished in the Yale Canal – a non-residential canal which connects lakes Griffin and Yale.

> Gear notes: 7'6" heavy American Rodsmiths flipping stick, Shimano Calcutta reel, 20-pound Silver Thread line, 3/0 Daiichi wide-gap worm hook, 3/8-ounce tungsten weight, Zoom Baby Brush Hog (green pumpkin/blue flake). He also caught one fish on a Zoom Trick Worm (junebug).

> Main factor in his success – "I was on as good a wad of fish as I've ever been on. I just put my bait in a lot of places, and if there was a bed under there, you'd get bit."

3rd: Todd Faircloth

Day 1: 5, 18-02
Day 2: 5, 18-05
Day 3: 5, 15-12
Day 4: 4, 12-03
= Total 19, 64-06

Faircloth was one member of the younger crowd who found the patience to commit to an area and fish it slowly. After he caught two sight-fish on the fog-shortened day 1 (with a watermelon Yamamoto lizard), he spent the rest of the day, and the tournament, in the Ninth Street Canal off Lake Harris. His primary pattern was flipping and pitching a Yamamoto Cut-Tail worm with a light weight.

He caught three fish late on Day 1 and they were nice 3-pounders that looked to be fresh from the main lake. That sign encouraged him to start Day 2 in the same area, where he cast the worm to Kissimmee grass, lily pads and other vegetation. He caught another good limit and made the Top 12 cut in 3rd.

"The fish were moving around, and this was the first place that they'd stop on their way to their spawning areas," he said. He didn't see any beds in the canal, though.

Day 3 gave him a scare when he didn't have a fish by noon. But the late bite turned on for him and he caught another limit to make the Top 6 cut in the 1st-plce spot. By that time, he'd learned to key on the stems of the pads and soak the worm at the base of the plant.

"You had to get it right on the stems," he said. "They wouldn't move 6 inches to get it." The water around the pads was about 5 feet deep and dingy enough that he couldn't see the bottom.

He caught six keepers on Day 3, but managed only four on the last day and finished the tournament in 3rd place. "I just ran out of time and fish," he said. "I had to use light line and a rod with a limber tip around the pads to get the bites. You really had to play them then."

> Flipping gear notes: 7' medium Castaway rod, Abu Garcia Torno reel, 12- and 14-pound Berkley Sensation line, 2/0 Gamakatsu hook, 1/8-ounce weight, 5" Yamamoto Cut-Tail worm (junebug).

> Main factor in his success – "It was really a finesse deal. Other guys went through too fast. I had to be patient and make accurate casts."

4th: Guy Eaker

Day 1: 5, 15-06
Day 2: 5, 17-14
Day 3: 4, 11-14
Day 4: 5, 15-12
= Total 19, 60-14

Eaker was another of the "old timers" who took his time and fished a soft plastic the old-fashioned way – casting and pitching to cover to catch fish he couldn't see. He fished within talking distance of Bitter and George Cochran on the first 2 days in the Yale-Griffin canal. He and Cochran both caught fish from under the "heavy, nasty cover" with tubes.

"I had a limit in the first hour on Day 1," he said. "George and I roomed together, and we found these fish the first place we stopped in practice. I got about 30 bites on one pass and George got around 15. We quit sticking them and started just leading them around, and they didn't want to let go. We were having a great time." He was in 15th place on Day 1.

The second day "the wind was blowing and it was cold," he said. "The wind blew from the worst possible direction, pushing me into the cover. Bitter had it easier, since he was on the calm side of the canal." Eaker had used a spinning outfit with a 1/4-ounce weight the first day, but had to change to a baitcaster and a 5/8-ounce weight in the wind.

He felt like he got less bites because of it, but he couldn't cast the light lure to the holes and other targets in the cover. He couldn't feel the bites well, either – just a tug when he picked up on the lure. He caught his biggest bag of the tournament, however, and made the Top 12 cut in 4th.

He was able to fish the same stretch again the last 2 days, and although it got warmer, the wind was still a problem. And he lost a 5- and a 4-pounder and two more fish on Day 3. One broke off on a log, even though he used 50-pound braided line.

He adjusted the last day and moved away from the mats and into the lily pads. There, he fished very slowly and thoroughly. Then, he'd move the boat a short distance and cast all around again. In the end, he had brought in a total of 19 fish – the same as winner Peter Thliveros – but finished 4th.

> Flipping gear: 7'6" Fenwick TechnaAV flipping stick, Abu Garcia Ambassadeur Mörrum reel, 12/50 Stren Super Braid line, 4/0 Eagle Claw hook, 5/8-ounce tungsten weight, Berkley Power Tube (black/red flake).

> Finesse gear: 7' medium-heavy Fenwick TechnaAV spinning rod, Abu Garcia spinning reel, 8/30 Stren Super Braid line, 3/0 Eagle Claw hook, 1/4-ounce tungsten weight, same tube.

> Main factor in his success – "Slowing down, and I really didn't fish slow enough except for the last day."

5th: Larry Nixon

Day 1: 3, 16-14
Day 2: 5, 16-02
Day 3: 5, 13-09
Day 4: 0, 0-00
= Total 13, 46-09

Nixon fished the north bank of Lake Harris, in a large area known as the "Airport Bank." He described it as "a sheltered bay that had Kissimmee grass mixed with cattails and boat docks." It was a popular spot that he shared with Tommy Martin, Aaron Martens and Skeet Reese – all of whom made the Top 12 cut.

On the first two days he had a lot of company and most everyone was doing the same thing: pitching and casting to the outside edge of the shoreline Kissimmee grass and the eelgrass scattered out in front of it.

"I was surprised the first day to be able to get on my spot," Nixon said. He caught three nice fish before he had to leave on the short day. The fish put him in 5th place, which is also where he finished Day 2. Both days he caught two 6-pounders from his stretch of bank – where he pitched a 6-inch watermelonseed Berkley Power Worm.

"They'd hit it on the fall, or the first time I moved it," he said. He fished any irregularity in the grassline, and had "two or three key areas" that he worked thoroughly before moving on. Some of the bigger fish hit a junebug Power Hawg. Since the bites were light, he used fluorocarbon line for greater sensitivity. Most of his fish were in 3 to 4 feet of water.

As the bite slowed on Day 3 he added a Berkley Power Noodle to the mix. "Up in the day they'd hit a smaller bait better," he noted. "Not many people were using the Noodle (a French-fry style lure). I thought it might catch more fish."

The last day he just ran out of fish, as did Martens, who was the only other Top 6 angler to fish the area. "I fished slow and patient," Nixon said. "They were just gone. I left and went to one other place where I'd gotten bites in practice, but they weren't there either."

> Flipping gear: 7-foot medium-heavy Fenwick rod, Abu Garcia Torno reel, 17-pound Berkley Vanish fluorocarbon line ("sometimes 20-pound early in the day"), 3/0 straight-shank worm hook (unnamed brand), 1/4-ounce weight, Berkley Power Hawg (junebug), 6-inch Power Worm (watermelonseed) and Berkley Power Noodle (junebug early, then watermelon and green pumpkin the rest of the day).

> Main factor in his success – "Fishing slow in an area with a lot of good fish."