A look at Harris Chain

It’s back-to-back for the Elites, and fortunately the second stop is just down the road less than two hours from the first. The SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain of Lakes out of Leesburg, Fla., could produce even bigger bass and heavier bags than those caught last week at the St. Johns River event won by John Crews.

This will be the third Elite tournament on the Harris Chain, the last of which was in 2011. The fishery, which has hosted a number of Opens, College and youth events in recent years, will be holding its 17th pro level tournament.

The Harris Chain of Lakes, just northwest of Orlando, is comprised of eight lakes of varying size that total around 75,000 square acres. At 30,000 acres, Lake Apopka is the largest and ranks fourth in Florida by size.

Venetian Gardens in Leesburg is tournament central. The park, built during The Depression, will host the Elite launches at 7:30 a.m. ET and weigh-ins at 3:30 p.m. ET. Davy Hite said fans can expect to see monster bass and bags as he believes there’s a great chance it will take more than 100 pounds to win the four-day event. All B.A.S.S. venues are free to attend.

Connected by canals, the lakes feature plenty of shoreline vegetation, shellbeds and shallow grass that hold big bass, and conditions this week should be conducive to catching. “Those fish are going to be on the move; it’s probably going to be a really good week,” said Elite pro John Cox, coming off a victory at St. Johns. “I think the timing of this tournament is really good.”

Recent tournaments on the Harris Chain have produced big results. In 2019, Whitney Stephens set the record for the heaviest bag in Opens competition with 32 pounds, 12 ounces. Ten years earlier at Harris Chain, Bryan Hudgins had 30-15, and his 68-8 winning total stands among the top five heaviest in Opens.

In the 2020 Championship of the Strike King Bassmaster College Series, Cole Sands and Conner Dimauro of Bryan College totaled 84-12 to win. Their weight is the heaviest three-day winning weight in Bassmaster history, surpassing Byron Velvick’s 83-5 at the California Invitational on Clear Lake in 2000.

Just three weeks ago in the season opening College event, brothers Lafe and Matt Messer of Kentucky Christian won with a two-day record of 61-13. They wowed the crowd at Venetian Gardens with a final-day limit of 36-7. Fishing a massive school on a shellbed, they had three 8-pounders and edged Emmanuel College’s Seth Jenkins and T.J. McKenzie, who brought in 32-6 on Day 1.

Despite the monster bags, neither team had any fish close to double digits. However, that feat was accomplished by the Bethel team of Joseph Woods and Anthony Cicero, who took big bass honors with this 10-14. They also earned $100 as the lunker was tagged by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Last year, Keith Tuma of Brainerd, Minn., weighed 58-13 to win the Harris Chain Open in March and punch his ticket to next month’s Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk. Tuma started slow but brought in two bags topping 20 pounds, including the event’s biggest of 26-2 on Championship Saturday. He won after starting the day in 10th place.

Experience on the fishery helped Tuma, who with Andy Walls placed second in the 2020 Bassmaster Team Championship there. Tuma had a key stretch of grass where he landed an 8-pounder in his limit, then he upgraded after moving to a flat.

Both of Tuma’s areas were close to Venetian Gardens and entertained a crowd of anglers. Tuma thought his Castaic Jerky J trailer made the difference. “Everybody else in the area were throwing ChatterBaits with paddletail trailers, but I think that the little subtle difference in my trailer made the fish want to eat,” he said. “I was getting bit when other guys weren’t.”

Tuma even thought traffic helped him. “Every time a boat went by, they started biting because it pushed the bait around,” he said. “So that taught me that boat traffic didn’t bother them.”

Alex Wetherell, idling deep into cypress trees, placed second, just 2 pounds back of Tuma. They were the only two anglers to top 20 pounds two times in the event.

Besides vegetation and shellbeds, there are canals and docks lining some shoreline. John Cox said he expects a mix of prespawn and spawning, leading to three main plans of attack. “I still think someone’s going to find some good grass and crank it or fish it with a bladed jig. I’m sure a worm in the lily pads will (produce) and you’ll see a lot of guys sight fishing,” he said.

There is an old Florida feel in areas of the lake, which is mostly ringed with cattail and bulrush. Periods of cold paused spawning activity recently, which Cox thinks could make this week special. “Instead of them trickling, you could get these massive waves,” Cox said. “So, someone could sit in one place and just crush them.”

Cox said fishing in Harris and Little Harris would optimize time, but any of the lakes could have a flurry of spawning activity. “All of the lakes are pretty good,” he said. “What I think is going to happen is two or three of the lakes will turn on and the other ones will be farther behind. But it might be a perfect storm where they’re moving in all the lakes and everybody jacks them. Florida is so unpredictable.”

The weather is warming before competition days, and there’s a full moon on Feb. 16. Temps will climb into the 80s for the first two days of competition, but a front will cool things off a bit for the weekend.

Bassmaster LIVE hits the air on Thursday at 8 a.m., with weekend coverage on FOX Sports 1. It should be a slugfest show, Cox said. “I’m thinking the winning total will be close to 90 or 100 pounds,” he said. “To make the Top 10, it could easily be close to 20 pounds a day. There are so many big fish in those lakes, and we’re hitting it at such a good time.”