The Japanese have some controversy regarding bass, it is almost as though a bass is an unwanted species.  Tackle companies are changing their focus to other species, like trout in fresh water and sea bass in the ocean.  The baits are the same, but the colors are a little different.

My practice for Lake Toho started out kind of slow, I did the flipping thing around reeds and grass and I did catch a couple like that, but it just didn't seem promising.  I threw the Lucky Craft LVR (lipless crankbait,) and a Sammy, but couldn't get the bites I wanted mainly because there was too much grass in the areas that looked good to me.

I practiced in Lake Kissimmee so as to be away from crowds.  Towards the end of my practice day on Monday, I came into an area in Kissimmee where some cows were grazing and actually standing in the water.  There was some good looking grass, so I fished a Zoom Horny Toad, which is kind of a plastic buzz bait kind of bait.  It has reversed cut tails, and when you crank it back, it kind of buzz's the surface, you couldn't throw a hard bait with treble hooks in this water.  I immediately started getting blow ups, and some that were pretty good.  You could actually see fish "torpedo" the baits, (come from a long way off to strike it.)

The last day of pre fish, I fished shallow the whole day and was able to expand the shallow water bite.  I felt that I would do well if I could get the hook ups.  I would say that I would need 10-15 blow ups in order to get five fish hooked and into the boat, but they seemed to be there.

I had a terrible lock experience heading down to Kissimmee.  I blasted off at 7:15, but got stuck in a lock for one hour and fifteen minutes.  I made my first cast at 9:00 AM.  I lost two big fish on the Horny Toad, right off the bat. I caught my first keeper about 11:00.  I had five keepers for the day that weighed under seven pounds.  I finished the day on a little pocket in Toho that was close to the weigh in sight.  I had a big fish grab the horny toad and hold on, (I didn't set the hook,) and I wanted to see if he was still home.  I had about five minutes to fish.  In that time, I had a giant boil on my bait, and my co angler also missed a big one.  We had to go to weigh in and left that spot.  I should have done better, I had some good bites, but hooking them was the issue.  Still, I felt like I could catch them pretty good if the bites would hold.

Day Two

Today I broke at a Sumo Frog and alternated that with the Horny Toad.  Right at the start of the day, I had a 3 pounder jump all over the frog, missed it.  Continued on and had four by 9:00.  I had about 11 pounds down in Kissimmee and wanted to save some time for that big one in Toho.

When I arrived at the spot in Toho, I had about 30 minutes before weigh in.  I immediately caught a small keeper.  Moving down the bank I cast the Sumo Frog up onto a patch of moss, pulled the bait into the water and it looked like a giant toilet flushed.  I waited for a second and then set the hook.  A five pounder!  That fish allowed me to weigh in a 14 pound limit.  I came up 3 ounces short of a ten thousand dollar check and finished  53rd.  I certainly could have done better, but all in all, I caught two limits and did fairly well. 

I am on my way to Louisiana where I will leave my boat with a friend, and then I will fly home until the next tour stop on the Ouachita River.