2/06/05
For Peter T-The Victory. The
wind blew hard today at the Harris Chain, sinking those who were
counting on calm waters to spot the large spawning females. In
the end, the leader board took quite a beating as Jacksonville,
Florida Pro, Peter Thliveros came from two pounds back to win the
Bassmaster Harris Chain Tour Stop. Thliveros had the two
biggest days of the final round, today adding 19-15 today to give
him 69-05 for the week, as he surged past Todd Faircloth (four fish,
12-03 / 64-06 for the week,) and held off a furious comeback attempt
by first round leader Jim Bitter, (18-09 / 67-10 for the week.)
Thliveros fished for bedding bass as well, however his technique didn't involve seeing the fish he was catching, which gave him the advantage in today's windy conditions. Throwing a spinner bait early and flipping later in the day, allowed Peter a nearly five pound average as he managed only 4 fish today.
The Final Standings:
- 1. Peter E Thliveros Jacksonville, Fla. 19 69-05
- 2. Jim Bitter Fruitland Park, Fla. 18 67-10
- 3. Todd Faircloth Jasper, Texas 19 64-06
- 4. Guy Eaker Cherryville, N.C. 19 60-14
- 5. Larry Nixon Bee Branch, Ark. 13 46-09
- 6. Aaron Martens Castaic, Calif. 11-42-05
BASS Tour
FLW Tour
2/06/05
Faircloth Takes The Lead.
Jasper, Texas Pro, Todd Faircloth had the biggest day of his young
pro, career yesterday. In terms of his weight, it was the
smallest day for him so far, this week, (15-12 after catching 18-02
and 18-05 on days one and two,) however yesterday's catch on a day
when many of the pros in the final 12 faltered, proved to be enough
to allow Faircloth to take the lead setting up a dramatic final day
today at the Bassmaster Tour Stop on the Harris Chain of
Lakes. Peter Thliveros of Jacksonville, Florida caught the
biggest weight of the day, 16-13 and now is in 2nd place, while
first round leader, Jim Bitter struggled today, (8-12) and falls
into third place.
The Final Six Are:
- 1. Todd Faircloth Jasper, Texas 15 52-03
- 2. Peter E Thliveros Jacksonville, Fla. 15 49-06
- 3. Jim Bitter Fruitland Park, Fla. 13 49-01
- 4. Larry Nixon Bee Branch, Ark. 13 46-09
- 5. Guy Eaker Cherryville, N.C. 14 45-02
- 6. Aaron Martens Castaic, Calif. 11-42-05
2/05/05
Bitter Is Still Better! Local
Pro Hangs On To Lead Under Difficult Conditions. Although he
did not repeat his near twenty seven pound limit from day one, Jim
Bitter brought a very respectable 13-09 to lead the field after the
first round of the Bassmaster Harris Chain of Lakes Event.
Bitter reported being nearly crowded out of his day one area, as it
seemed that even more anglers crammed the spawning canals.
Never the less, Bitter has 40-05 and leads going into the final
round. The final twelve anglers would seem to be able to
breath easier as 180 boats have been eliminated, look for weights to
increase during the next two days as anglers have their water all to
their selves.
The following is the top 12 cut:
- 1. Jim Bitter Fruitland Park, Fla. 10 40-05
- 2. George Cochran Hot Springs, Ark. 10 36-13
- 3. Todd Faircloth Jasper, Texas 10 36-07
- 4. Guy Eaker Cherryville, N.C. 10 33-04
- 5. Larry Nixon Bee Branch, Ark. 8 33-00
- 6. Peter E Thliveros Jacksonville, Fla. 10 32-09
- 7. Skeet Reese Auburn, Calif. 9 31-00
- 8. Tommy Martin Hemphill, Texas 10 30-12
- 9. Andre Moore Scottsdale, Ariz. 10 30-01
- 10. Aaron Martens Castaic, Calif. 6 28-07
- 11. Mark Rogers Naples, Fla. 9 27-15
- 12. John Crews Jetersville, Va. 10 27-14
2/05/05
Now That's A Bass! After suffering the heartbreak of foul
hooking a near ten pounder yesterday, Michigan Pro, Art Ferguson was
rewarded with this 11-01 monster. This fish, along with a
seven and a half and a couple of others allowed Ferguson to collect
big bass money and jump from 135th (he weighed only 1-00 yesterday,)
to 25th place today. Be sure to read Art's ProTourJournal.
2/05/05
Bitter-Better Than The Rest. Local Pro, Jim Bitter gave the home town crowd
a thrill today when he weighed in a five fish limit that went 26-12
as he jumped out to the lead on day one of the Bassmaster Harris
Chain of Lakes tour stop. Aaron Martins also had a big bag today as
he brought 26-03 to the weigh in scales. While many sight fish
were caught, it just didn't materialize as many thought it
would. A three hour fog delay, and overcast conditions may
have hampered sight fishing efforts. The following key numbers may
play a large role tomorrow:
- Cut weight-16-00 (Peter Thliveros) Tomorrow 30 lbs should make top 12.
- Top 50 weight-Finish in the top 50 at every event and make the Classic-8-14 (Roland Martin) 16 pounds should make top 50
- Top 75-Check cashing weight 6-01 (Gerald Swindle) 12 pounds should make the top 75
2/03/05
More Fog!
What is it about fog and the tour stops
so far this season? As the third major tour event of the
season gets set to blast off, anglers were met with heavy fog again
this morning at the Harris Chain. That makes three straight
tour events in three straight weeks where fog has delayed the start
of one of the days. At the FLW Okeechobee event, pictured
above, one of the final round days was greeted with heavy fog and
each of the last two BASS Tour Stops have had their first day
delayed by fog. At the time of this writing, 8:15 AM est, the
tournament at the Harris Chain has been in delay for one hour and
fifteen minutes. The event could be in jeporday if the fog
does not lift by 10:30 AM. It should also be noted that rain
is in the forecast for the Harris Chain today, so on top of the fog,
there is a heavy blanket of clouds which could make it difficult for
the sun to burn off the fog.
2/03/05
Here We Go Again-The Bassmaster Tour
stop at Northern Florida's Harris Chain of Lakes gets started today.
Under rainy conditions 200 or so pros are set to be on the water and bed
fishing would seem to be the focus. The story this year is the
canals where water temperature is 6-8 degrees warmer than main lake
areas. What makes this story even more intriguing is that the
bass are in the canals and a major spawn is in progress.
Fishing on it's own, is difficult, with those fish that are in pre
spawn mode, being very selective on when they will bite, so it is a
sure bet that most if not all of the entire field will spend some
time in search of bed fish.
It figures to be a heavy weight affair unless, heavy rain and overcast sky make finding the beds difficult. It would seem that about 15-16 pounds per day would be needed to make the top 12 cut.
Controversy has raised it's ugly head as the buzz around the pre tournament meeting is that an angler in one of the late flights, knowing that he would have the last of the pickings, intentionally went through one of the better spawning areas and caught as many as forty fish. This issue was addressed at the meeting, with BASS officials only saying that they would take this into consideration for upcoming events. The angler's name was not mentioned, (at least to our sources,) but it does bare mentioning that this "defensive strategy," has some feathers ruffled.
2/02/05
Harris Chain Shaping Up To Be A Real Slug
Fest-There will be no secrets it appears, this week at the
Bassmaster Harris Chain Tour Stop. The fish are in canals and
they are spawning. Anglers are reporting dozens of fish locked
on beds, and unless a major front comes through, (they are expecting
rain,) the Harris Chain figures to be a Spawn-a-thon. Figuring
out a back up plan this week could be the key factor to winning as
many of the fish that are up are the "cookie cutter" male
bass. Prodding the offshore grass for a pre spawn female could
be the difference. Be sure to check out our ProTourJournals
to see how our correspondents are doing during pre fish.
First year pro, Bradley Stringer is saying that it isn't hard to figure out what these bass are trying to do. "The key is to have about 15 canals that you can go throughout the week. There are going to be lots of boats in those canals, it just depends on whether you can handle the traffic."
2/01/05-Baksay
Previews The Harris Chain -ProBassAnglers.com
asked Connecticut pro, Terry Baksay to preview this week's BASS Tour
Stop at the Harris Chain in Northern Florida. "The Harris
Chain makes up about 7 or 8 lakes, of which we have access to about
45,000 acres. The chain is connected by canals and features
just about every kind of bass fishing cover that you can
imagine. There are residential docks, concrete retaining
walls, well defined inside grass lines, where a lot of fish spawn,
lilly pads, reeds, Kissimmee Grass and big Cypress trees with their
long root systems. Just about anything you could imagine.
The Harris Chain used to be one of the best stops on tour, but then in the early 1990's went through a real bad period where the fish in the chain suffered and so did the fishing. ProBassAnglers might recall that California pro, Mike Folkestad won at the Harris Chain in 1992 with a four day weight of 14-10, the lowest winning weight ever in a BASS Tour event. I believe Folkestad used a split shot on six pound line to catch those fish.
The lakes are in much better shape today, there was a local team event here on Sunday and at least 12 limits were weighed that went 20 or more pounds. That tells me that the spawn is on here. I am looking for this event to be a heavy weight tournament. The Harris Chain is big water. With access to about six different lakes, the chain fishes very big when the fish are doing their normal, Summer, Fall or Winter thing, however the chain fishes very small when the fish are spawning because they get up into these canals, and anglers jam in there, which really means fishing in a lot of crowds.