Nowhere else on the 2022 Bassmaster Elite Series schedule will managing time be more important than the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain.
That is due to two factors: Deciding which of the many lakes to fish, and the idle time through canals that it takes to get to (and from) those waters.
Most of the lakes are connected by canals, beginning with Lake Harris, where the takeoff and weigh-in take place in Leesburg, at Venetian Gardens.
Here is a breakdown of the routes between the lakes.
- Dead River connects Lake Harris to Lake Eustis
- Dora Canal Connects Lake Dora to Lake Eustis
- Haines Creek with a lock (with a 6-foot drop)connects Lake Eustis to Lake Griffin
- Lake Apopka is connected via a lock thru the Apopka Canal
Above all else, the canals are no-wake zones that are strictly enforced. On Monday, Ron Moore (yes, that Ron Moore), took me out on the lakes so I could shoot a drone gallery. It took us about 20 minutes to travel between Lake Eustis to Lake Dora, meaning 40 minutes round trip.
That’s the easy part of calculating the time management equation. We all do that on a daily basis when determining how much driving time it takes to go from Point A to Point B, and back home.
The challenging part of time management, this week, will be deciding which lakes to fish in. Do you commit to one lake? Two lakes? The latter option subtracts a lot of valuable fishing time.
And speaking of fishing time, this derby isn’t a put the trolling motor down, run it on high, and power fish down a bank with reaction baits. It’s a put the shallow water anchors down, keep the trolling motor out of the water and spend more time coaxing that big female off the bed. One fish at a time.
So, all the above are factors we normally don’t consider in tournamsnts. Here, it will be everything.
This morning at breakfast I was talking to colleague Kyle Jessie, who was lamenting about pulling the short straw when camera boat assignments were determined last night. Jessie was going to Lake Apopka, practically in the suburbs of Orlando. Best he could tell, the travel time from Leesburg is about an hour and a half.
Yep, watching the clock and making the right decisions is more important than what baits to use and patterns to rely on.