Practice with Canterbury at Harris Chain

We caught up with Elite Series pro Scott Canterbury on Day 2 of official practice for the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite on the Harris Chain of Lakes.

Canterbury starts the day off by adding a little fuel treatment to the boat.

Now time for the big guns.

And $100 later, Canterbury shuts the pump off without even filling his rig all the way up, one of the less attractive aspects of fishing these days.

As Canterbury makes his way to the ramp, he’s flagged down by a couple local fishermen.

The duo congratulate Canterbury on his 12th-place finish at last week’s Elite event on the St. Johns River, letting him know, “I had you on my Fantasy team.”

Canterbury’s roommate, Matt Arey, dumps his boat in while Canterbury readies the deck.

A cold morning on Harris means hoodies are still necessary as Canterbury idles out deciphering where to make his first cast.

Time to dig out a little something for this cold weather.

Canterbury fishes out a pack of finesse worms, noting that he’s caught them well here before using the T-Mac on a light Texas rig around pads.

All smiles as the day gets under way. Anglers are happy just to see the sunshine in practice after a cloudy start last week on the St Johns.

Canterbury starts off slow, letting the bait soak, something that’s necessary at times in Florida when the water temps are still hovering in the 50s.

Lots of cover to choose from here on the Harris Chain of Lakes.

Canterbury decides to swap things up a bit, having stood the slow stuff as long as he could for now.

A Bagley Bang O lure is next up, a staple here in Florida around the spawn. A cross between a jerkbait and a prop bait, spawning bass in Florida can’t stand this thing being around their beds and will annihilate it.

Unfortunately though, Canterbury believes it’s still a little too cold for it this morning and retires it to the deck for now, opting for its next door neighbor, the swim jig.

Canterbury noted that this Dirty Jigs swim jig was responsible for several of the fish that got him to a 12th-place finish last week on the St Johns.

And he’s feeling pretty good about his chances of getting bit on it here this week.

But for now, it’s time to slow down again, as Canterbury pulls out a sapphire blue NetBait Big Bopper worm. It’s no secret in Florida that swimming a worm is deadly around the spawn. And black swim worms with blue tails are one of the local favorites.

But Canterbury does like to do something a little different. He actually likes more blue on the tail end of his worm than anyone offers.

So he’ll take a blue worm and die the majority of it black.

Leaving about a third of the worm blue on the back end.

Time to do a little more soaking.

Lily pads are great visual indicators if you’re looking for spawning and staging bass in Florida.

But the isolated pads are the real deal when looking to catch fish spawning without seeing them.

And it’s less about the pads really …

… and more about the stems. So when you’re fishing lily pads like this around the spawn, you want to make sure your bait comes by the stems. That’s where the bass will make their beds.

It’s beautiful here on Lake Harris. The good thing about Florida, it looks like you could catch a fish anywhere. The bad thing about Florida, it looks like you could catch a fish everywhere.

Knowing what to look for is really important. Isolated cover is typically something you want to focus on, like this clump of reeds that’s off the main line.

Or this little point in the Kissimmee grass is a good place to try your luck as well.

Canterbury catches up with roommate Matt Arey — quite the impressive multitasking move.

Time to make a move, wondering if the forward facing sonar will play a big role here again this week on Harris like it did last week on the St Johns.

A look at the eight lakes that comprise the Harris Chain: Apopka, Harris, Griffin, Eustis, Dora, Beauclair, Carlton and Yale.

On the move again. A lot of idling required on the Harris Chain as anglers make their way through canals.

A few tight spots here and there.

Canterbury opts to look around for a few spawners in one of the canals. The canals always play a part in the storyline on the Harris Chain, but they may be more important this year than usual due to all the forecasted wind.

Canterbury scours the shallows as he trolls through the canal, peering intently through the dark water in search of beds.

Fish number one for the day enters the boat.

Canterbury is happy to get a bite, but says there will need to be several more bigger than this lying around for him to idle way back in this canal again.

Another tight squeeze.

Some of these canals are so narrow, Canterbury can barely turn his 20-foot Skeeter around.

A common sight on the deck of Elite anglers this week, a push pole will help them ease in and out of areas in search of spawners without disturbing the mucky bottom with their trolling motors. Being stealthy to not spook the fish, and being sure they don’t muddy the water around a bed, will be critical at times this week.

Mats of vegetation line the seawalls in some of these canals. The bass need sun on their beds, so they won’t spawn under these mats. But they’ll often bury up in them in the prespawn and postspawn. Then it’s time to punch in there with the big stick and dig them out.

The water is dead calm in this canal …

… which is evident in the reflection of this sign.

This is one of the reasons anglers will spend a lot of time in the canals this week, perhaps more than usual. There are heavy winds out on the lakes right now which are making sight fishing near impossible. Even stronger winds are predicted during for tournament. The canals will offer at least some protected water where anglers will be able to see fish on beds.

But there are a few problems with that game plan. One, there are a lot of these canals.

Two, you have to keep your head on a swivel and scan a lot of water to find a fish on bed.

And even then, the dark tannic water is hard to see through.

Canterbury spends quite a bit of time looking for beds.

He finds a few …

… but almost all in this canal are vacant.

Canterbury comes across another good indicator of bedding grounds, this tall pointed vegetation called arrowheads. But these are a little too thick for his liking.

Time to try the Bang O Lure out again.

Canterbury gives this lure a twitch which results in the prop throwing water into the air.

Then he allows the bait to pause for a few seconds, hoping that a bass is giving it a second look below.

Then it’s time for another twitch. But no takers.

Here are some of the arrowheads again, and these are more like what Canterbury is looking for. He likes the sparser ones.

But a cast with the Bang O Lure doesn’t reveal any takers.

Time to test out the holes in the pads …

… and then these few strands of Kissimmee grass. It doesn’t look like much, but Canterbury says these isolated ones are the best at times.

Another small keeper for Canterbury. But so far, he’s just ruling out a lot of water this morning. He and the rest of the Elite field have one last day to figure something out before the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite begins on Thursday.