Harris Chain of Lakes at Leesburg, Florida
The Wabash Valley College Bass Warriors recently competed in their first Strike King Bassmaster College Series event for the 2022 season in Leesburg, Florida at the Harris Chain of Lakes. The Harris Chain is comprised of eight primary lakes, Apopka, Beauclair, Carlton, Dora, Eustis, Griffin, Harris, and Little Harris, totaling 75,000 acres of fishable water. Many of the lakes are connected by narrow channels and some even require a small lock to transition from one body of water to another. With none of the WVC Bass Warriors having any prior experience on the Harris Chain, and Monday, January 17th being a school holiday, the anglers exited the cold, snowy weather of Illinois and headed to sunny Florida for several days of practice leading up to the two-day event.
The weather on Friday was ideal for the start of the event with air temps around 55 degrees, mostly sunny, some scattered clouds, and a mild breeze out of the south. Temperatures rose to around 75 degrees mid-day prior to the onset of a shift in the weather; as is common prior to a cold front, the fish were biting. Seth Jenkins and TJ McKenzie of Emmanuel College dropped a 31 lb. bag on the field and took a 5 lb. lead over Matthew Cummings and Levi Mullins of Bethel University. Hayden Gaddis and Ben Cully of Carson-Newman University had the big bass for day one weighing in at 8 lbs. 7 oz. Sophomore, Drew Gill and Freshman, Jonah Potts paired up for the top finishing boat of the day for Wabash Valley College. After a slow start, Gill and Potts made an adjustment and managed to catch two 6 lb. bass on back-to-back casts with less than 2 hours to spare on the day. Those two fish helped anchor a five fish limit for Gill and Potts whose total weight was 17 lbs. 7 oz., good for 23rd place after day one. When asked about the catch, Gill said, "We were ecstatic when we boated that 6 lber. Jonah fired his drop shot in there and for a second, we thought he might be hung up and then the thing just started pulling drag on him. Jonah worked the fish on his spinning rod for a good two to three minutes before getting the fish near the boat. Once at the boat, we chased it a complete trip around the boat and were very fortunate to land it as it got caught in the lower unit at one point. It takes a little luck on your side and things going the right way to have a chance in these things." With the field being full at 250 boats, Bassmaster qualifies the top 25 boats for the Bassmaster College National Championship. Just inside that cutoff, Gill and Potts were in a good spot to make that happen in the first event of the year. Isaac Irvin and Mason Gross ended up with two keepers that were the right size weighing in at 6 lbs. 15 oz. Lane Bradley and Holden Kauble caught a limit of five bass that weighed 6 lbs. 3 oz. Drew Fromm and Hunter Capehart had two keepers on the day for 2 lbs. 5 oz.
A common saying about Illinois weather is, if you don't like it, stick around a day as it is likely to change. Florida played the Illinois weather card on anglers for day two, with daybreak temperatures in the low 50s and north winds constant at 15 mph gusting to 25 mph…and daybreak would bring the warmest temperatures of the day. A significant drop in temperature often results in a significant drop in weights for day two of an event, especially on waters that have seen significant pressure over the past two to three weeks. On this day, however, the optimism of youth would kick historical trends in the teeth. Jenkins and McKenzie of Emmanuel College left the boat ramp with a 5 lb. lead over second place, but drama unfolded at the weigh-in when Lafe Messer and Matt Messer of Kentucky Christian University dropped a 36 lb. 7 oz. bag on the field to jump into first place. Messer and Messer had three keepers surpassing 8 lbs. each to reach that mark. Jenkins and McKenzie followed their first day 31 lb. bag with 29 lbs., coming up 1 lb. short of the win. While disappointing, Jenkins and McKenzie commented, "You really cannot be disappointed when it took the Bassmaster College Series single-day record for the other team to win. Congrats to them." Joseph Woods and Anthony Cicero of Bethel University had the big bass for the week weighing in a 10 lb. 14 oz. largemouth on day two. Wabash Valley College would have some fireworks of their own on the day. Drew Gill and Jonah Potts were the first team to launch day two for Wabash Valley College and were sitting in 23rd place, just inside the cutline for a national championship qualification. With an earlier launch, Gill and Potts would return to their area where they boated 12+ lbs. on back-to-back casts the previous day. Gill felt as though the weather change would actually help their area to re-load day two, and re-load it did. By 10 a.m., Gill and Potts had a limit of 18 lbs. which they felt would likely be good enough to qualify for a national championship. A 6 lber later in the morning provided a 4 lb. cull bumping their total weight for the day to 22 lbs. 10 oz. and a two-day total of 40 lbs. 1 oz. good for a 6th place finish. Gill commented, "After our practice, I would have been happy with 8 lbs. a day. We had two good areas and didn't lean on them much in practice, so we really didn't know what we had there for sure. One area produced in a way that I never could have imagined. I guess that is why it's best to not hook too many and win practice." Jonah Potts, fishing in his first Strike King Bassmaster event stated, "It was really unexpected after our practice days. The adjustment we made day one paid off and things just went our way from there. I am ecstatic to have qualified for the national championship in our first event of the year. Now we are able to relax a little more and just go for it in the final three Bassmaster events of the season."
Lane Bradley and Holden Kauble followed up their first day with another five fish limit. They weighed in 8 lbs. even to bring their two-day total to 14 lbs. 3 oz. good for 167th out of 250 boats. Lane commented, "We had a half decent practice, finding plenty of fish with somewhat of the right quality. Day one it took us all day to catch five and they were not the right five. We culled two times and still didn't have the weight we wanted. Day two we caught a limit early and was able to cull two times again but didn't have the 20 lb. sack we were working hard to fulfill. Overall, the tournament was an awesome experience in a part of the country that neither of us had fished. Can't wait to go back."
Isaac Irvin and Mason Gross had a tough day on the water bringing in two keepers for 2 lbs. 15 oz. and a two-day total of 9 lbs. 14 oz. good for 206th place. Isaac Irvin provided some comments on the event, "Harris Chain fished a lot different than I expected it to. I figured we would be flipping grass and lily pads, but we ended up spending more time behind a graph looking for offshore fish and structure. I learned a lot about graphing this event and cannot wait to use those skills at future events. It was overall a great learning experience and a great time. I cannot wait to give it another shot one day."
Drew Fromm and Hunter Capehart managed to catch four keepers for 6 lbs. even on day two, bringing their two-day total to 8 lbs. 5 oz. good for 220th place. Capehart stated, "It was definitely a good learning experience for us…a lot more downs than ups. Fish were biting for us, we just didn't get them in the boat. We will let the video captured on our Tactacam Fish-I speak for itself from the first day."
The Wabash Valley College Bass Warriors headed home from the Harris Chain with a 6th place finish, a national championship qualification, and a boatload of points to put towards their push for the top ten in the school of the year race. It is back to the classroom for the Warriors for the month of February with the next event for some on Lake Guntersville the first weekend in March. The rest of the team will be back in action on Kentucky Lake, March 12th and 13th in the Bass Pro Shops Big Bass Bash sponsored by Berkley.
Jonah Potts and Drew Gill with the new director of Bassmaster College, Glenn Cale. Potts and Gill had 17 lbs. 7 oz. after day one at the Harris Chain.
Gill all smiles knowing a national championship qualification is in the bag. Potts and Gill both rocking the fish slides on their feet at the weigh-in.
Potts and Gill had 22 lbs. 10 oz. day two for a two-day total of 40 lbs. 1 oz. good for 6th place.
Close-up photo of the "Bass Flops." Unknowingly, Potts and Gill both received a set of these for Christmas. They packed them and agreed they would wear them for weigh-in if they had a 20 lb. bag to bring to the scales. Fortunatley the flops made their first appearance of the year on day two of this event, weighing in 22 lbs. 10 oz.
Always good to cash a check to offset some of the expenses of traveling to compete in this sport.
Holden Kauble, Lane Bradley, Isaac Irvin, and Mason Gross at the tanks waiting to weigh-in on the first day of the Strike King Bassmster College event in Leesburg, Florida
These are the kind Lane Bradley and Holden Kauble were hoping for on derby days. They caught a limit of keepers both days for a two-day total of 14 lbs. 3 oz.
Isaac Irvin and Mason Gross had two of the right kind on day one that brought their weight to 6 lbs. 15 oz. They added two more on Saturday for a two-day total of 9 lbs. 14 oz.
Hunter Capehart and Drew Fromm at the tanks day one. They had two keepers for day one for 2 lbs. 5 oz. They caught four more day two for a two-day total of 8 lbs. 5 oz.
Always good when family can attend an event. Holden's parents, Kelly and Lance Kauble were able to come down for the tournament.
Jonah Potts had family in as well. Shayla, Tonya, and Billy all brought some Disney Magic back with them for Jonah and Drew Gill as they witnessed Jonah qualifying for the Strike Bassmaster College National Championship in his first event of the season.
Adopted "Team Mom" from the University of Tennessee...Joy Gee. No matter how bad your days goes on the water, Joy can always get you to crack a smile on stage.
The WVC Bass Warriors signed Brock Blazier of Dunlap, Illinois for their 2022-23 roster while at the Harris Chain.
Future WVC Bass Warriors Gannon Stork and Laindree Richardson participated in the Abu Garcia Bassmaster High School event on Sunday. They had two keepers for 5 lbs. good for 68th place.
Something to keep in mind when retrieving a lure while at the Harris Chain...