Welcome to Florida, where yesterday never matters. As expected, Day 3 of the Toho FLW scripted out like an all-too-predictable novel: The looming cold front descended into the Orlando area, dropped the water temperature 12 degrees and shocked the Florida largemouths back into the stone age. How tough was the fishing today? Two of the Top 10 caught a limit and only 30 of a possible 50 fish were
brought to the scales. Bobby Lane's meager 10-14 limit was more than enough to secure 1st place.
Veteran Tom Mann, Jr. weighed the other limit today and is in 2nd with 8-02. After him comes a lineup of cookie cutters. In a three-way tie for 3rd, each with three fish for 6-05, is J.T. Kenney, Greg Pugh and Art Berry.
Dion Hibdon is 10th with one fish for 1-06, but within easy striking distance. None on the pro side caught a big fish today, but co-angler Kenneth Chapman weighed 19-03. One of his fish was a little over a pound, so he proved the big fish will still bite.
Add one big bite to anyone's sack tomorrow and that could be enough to win the whole thing.
Long Day For Lane
Lane, a Florida pro, said it took a while to catch his limit. "It was a good day, but it was a long day. At about 12:00 I only had two fish, then I caught seven fish in an hour. Then, on my last flip of the day, I caught a 4-pounder in Toho."
He mainly fished Kissimmee today, but stopped to fish a spot on Toho as he returned to the ramp. That's where he caught the final fish. "It was a spot I'd never even seen before and you'd never think a 4-pounder would be there."
He knew the cold front would affect the bite, but he didn't expect today's weights to be so low. "I didn't expect them to drop this much. I had no idea almost 11 pounds would be leading. It's amazing."
Tomorrow's a short day – the field has to be back at the ramp by 1:45 for a 3:00 weigh-in. "Conditions are only getting worse, and with the short day tomorrow, if I can catch some fish, I have a chance at winning," he said.
"I'm not going to do anything crazy tomorrow. I've led EverStarts and regional events in previous years, but always got off what I was doing to go for the hero or zero thing. I was always a zero. Tomorrow I'm going to stick with my plan."
That plan includes a run to Kissimmee. However, the locks could be more crowded tomorrow – it's Saturday and Toho sees heavy recreational traffic.
"I'm going to Kissimmee and not leaving," he said. "I'm not coming back until I have to weigh in."
His spot turned colder today and the wind hurt him. "The water temperature dropped 12 degrees, and the wind blew 30 mph all night and all day. That muddied up a ton of my areas. I had nine spots – now I'm down to one.
"That one spot is somewhat protected from the wind. It hasn't totally muddied up so the fish are still eating a little.
"I'd like to have a big bite and a limit tomorrow, but I definitely need to catch my limit. There's nothing I can do in the area I'm fishing to go for a bigger bite.
"I'm fishing scattered arrowheads. They love to spawn on arrowheads down here. They moved up to spawn when it got hot. Now that it's gotten cold, they're still there, but they're a little bit harder to catch."
Mann's Am Whacked 'Em
"Today was awful," Mann said. He's in 2nd with 8-02. "The wind blew so hard – all night and again today – it muddied most guys' water up. Plus we had the cold front – the water in my area dropped about 12 degrees.
"There's two things Florida bass can't stand: dingy water and cold water. They won't put up with it."
He said his co-angler, Chapman, nailed them. "My amateur won the thing today. He had 19 pounds – two 6s and a 7. He caught them a different way than I've been fishing. Tomorrow's a real short day with hardly any time to fish. I'll go for broke and fish the way he fished."
Mann said he didn't fish past the fish that Chapman caught. "Chapman was casting shallow, way up into the weeds. I've been catching my big fish on the outside edge. I think the muddy water pushed the fish back further."
He said he likes his chances tomorrow. "I think my chances to win this thing are really good. I'm only 2 pounds out of the lead. Obviously, I'm around a lot of big fish, but I only caught five little ones today.
"The key tomorrow is the big bite. I think I still have to have a big one to win. With the short day, I might only have to catch 12 pounds to win. It might not take that much."
Berry Wants To Win
Berry, who's tied for 3rd with 6-05, fished the lower part of Kissimmee today. "I've been catching all my fish on a Zoom Horny Toad frog and a Reaction Innovations Swamp Donkey."
He ran to his best spot on Kissimmee this morning, but it was blown out. "When I got there, there were 5-foot waves crashing on the bank. It was chocolate mud and the water was 12 degrees colder. It was bad – real bad."
So he left and "just went fishing."
"I caught my first flipping, and it was a 3 1/2," he said. "Then I locked back up to Toho, and had two fish at about 1:00. In practice, I'd shook a few off in a canal. I then went to that canal and lost four fish in the last 45 minutes of flipping.
"One cart-wheeled over the grass and came off. Another went screaming by the boat and came off. Another got tangled in the weeds. I'm trying to stay positive – I just had a tiny bit of bad luck. But everybody did – everybody lost fish.
"It's so close anybody could win and I'm exited just to have a chance."
He said he'll fish that canal again tomorrow. "It's only as wide as the boat. It's unbelievable how small it is. It's out of the wind and it stayed a little warmer. The lake water went from 70 degrees to 58, but the canal was at 62."
He said he wants to win. "I've had so many chances, and been in the position to win in a lot of tournaments in the last 7 or 8 years. But it seems as though I always rely on what's happened the previous 3 days.
"It's the hardest thing to do, but I want to forget what I know here and just go fishing. My ultimate goal is to win."
Morehead Blames Silt
Dan Morehead caught two fish today. He's in 6th with 5-15. "I'm thoroughly convinced the cold temperatures didn't help anything," he said. "But I felt my pattern was steady for that. I feel it was solid because I found it when the water temperature was 58 degrees.
"My problem was water clarity. The 25 to 30 mph winds stirred the water and colored it up. I don't want to say it was muddy, but there was a lot of silt in the water. Yesterday the visibility was 1 1/2 feet. Today it was down to 10 inches. That's the kiss of death down here, usually."
He said he saved a spot for tomorrow. "I've got another area I didn't go to today. The wind just laid down considerably, so I'm hoping a lot of the silt will settle and clear up for tomorrow."
He said the locks tomorrow are a concern. "I'm afraid I put all my eggs in one basket. I had a dismal practice on Toho. The locks were great today, but tomorrow with the local traffic, I just don't know.
"I feel good about tomorrow though. I'm positive. It's Toho, and there's tons of big fish in here. At any one given time you can catch a monster bag."
Shumpert Will Swing
Ricky Shumpert caught three fish today. He's in 8th with 5-05. "Welcome to Florida and a cold front," he said. "It was just super, super cold and the fish didn't bite. I only had three bites all day long."
He said he'll make a big change tomorrow. "I've made a decision to swing for the fences. I'm going to pick up a big spinnerbait tomorrow and throw it all day long. If I get five bites, I can win."
He said he thinks he might have a pattern. "I believe the fish have gone to the outside edge of the mats. I'm going to hit those and see what I can come up with.
"I've been throwing a weightless Senko all week. It's a slow bite and I didn't catch many big fish.
"I feel good. I just need five bites."
Wyman Fought Wind
"Today was not so good," Warren Wyman said. He's in 9th with two fish for 2-02. "I caught a couple of fish, and broke one off.
"I'm fishing Kissimmee, and basically what happened was three of my best areas are on the east side. The wind was out of the west, and it was so bad, I couldn't fish my topwater baits.
"I'd been fishing a swimming worm on the surface, but I couldn't fish it in the wind. And the water temperature dropped so much the fish didn't want to come up to eat."
He said he's not sure what adjustments he'll make tomorrow. "I think I'll just abandon my areas and go pre-fishing and hope to do well. It's anybody's tournament, and I had some pretty good days in practice. We'll see what happens."
Instead of locking to Kissimmee, he said he'll stay on Toho tomorrow. "I want to maximize my time with the short day. If I go to Kissimmee, I'll only have about 5 hours of fishing."
Notable
> Day 1 stats – 10 anglers, 2 limits, no zeroes.
> Berry, who's from California, said the conditions today reminded him of those he's faced out West. "The fishing's tough, but that's when I excel. To me, this is just like it is back home."
Weather Forecast
Here's the Weather Channel's forecast for the final tournament day.
> Sat, Feb 12 – Sunny – 69°/42°
- Wind: From the NW at 5 to 10 mph
Day 3 Standings
1. Bobby Lane -- Lakeland, Fl -- 5, 21-14 -- 5, 7-03 -- 10, 29-01 -- 5, 10-14
2. Tom Mann Jr -- Buford, Ga -- 5, 18-02 -- 5, 19-03 -- 10, 37-05 -- 5, 8-02
3. J T Kenney -- Frostburg, Md -- 5, 23-10 -- 5, 17-05 -- 10, 40-15 -- 3, 6-05
4. Greg Pugh -- Cullman, Al -- 5, 15-08 -- 5, 14-09 -- 10, 30-01 -- 3, 6-05
5. Art Berry -- Hemet, Ca -- 5, 11-08 -- 5, 15-13 -- 10, 27-05 -- 3, 6-05
6. Dan Morehead -- Paducah, Ky -- 5, 12-07 -- 5, 14-10 -- 10, 27-01 -- 2, 5-15
7. Toby Hartsell -- Livingston, Tx -- 5, 19-09 -- 5, 14-04 -- 10, 33-13 -- 3, 5-13
8. Ricky Shumpert -- Lexington, Sc -- 5, 13-01 -- 5, 14-05 -- 10, 27-06 -- 3, 5-05
9. Warren Wyman -- Calera, Al -- 5, 23-09 -- 3, 4-07 -- 8, 28-00 -- 2, 2-05
10. Dion Hibdon -- Stover, Mo -- 5, 20-01 -- 5, 14-11 -- 10, 34-12 -- 1, 1-06
