Snowden Traps His Way to Victory on Toho

Brian Snowden hurled one of my favorite baits on the Kissimmee Chain, the xr75 Xcalibur Rattlebait in the Foxy Shad color to earn the victory at the inaugural PAA tournament. He was fishing open water hydrilla on Toho and had one of the most consistent bags of the tournament with 15.47 on day one, 19.22 on day two, and 17.75 on the final day. 

I was really pulling for Shaw Grigsby who hasn’t won anything in a while. I’m a big fan from watching One More Cast. He seems like such a nice guy and he’s even gotten rid of his weird mustache. I know he likes to fish for bedding fish and it held up for 2 days. He was leading the tournament after day two with bags of 22.10 and 15.92, but faltered on the final day with just 1.5 pounds which dropped him to 10th place. C’mon Shaw, anyone can go out on Kissimmee and catch more than one fish.

Notable locals in the tournament were Bobby Lane who finished 30th and Micah Silverman who finished 31rst.

Here’s a recount of the final day by Brian Snowden according to BassOnline: 

“It was slow but steady today. I didn’t get a bite until about nine this morning and then I ended up catching two real quick and then caught a 6 ½ pounder to fill my limit out by about two in the afternoon. 

“I caught every fish on an XCalibur Xr75 rattle bait in 6 to 8 feet of water fishing the hydrilla and eel grass in Toho. I found the bite a little bit in practice and then when it got colder during the tournament, I decide to just stay out there and throw the rattle bait. Each day I’d get about seven bites and have five to six keepers.

“Even though they were spraying grass on Toho, they hadn’t sprayed the area that I was fishing in recently so it actually probably helped the way that I was fishing. The key was to find the grass that was still kind of green. Some of the bass were post-spawn and some were pre-spawn, so I caught a little mixture of both.

“It’s really just a great honor to win the first PAA Series event. I think this is something that is going to be really great for the future of our sport so it’s an honor to be part of the PAA. To get the win in the first one is a great feeling. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the year and the growth of the PAA. It’s pretty exciting times for the anglers I think.”

Here’s Steve Kennedy’s recount:

“This morning started out perfect. I went running down to my trap fish and I fired out there on my first cast and caught a bass outside of where I was expecting to catch one. When I got over to the little edges of the grass, I called my shots three casts in a row. My cameraman said that I was ‘Babe Ruth’en them.’ I had another little sweet spot off shore and it took me three casts to catch my fifth one. Within 15 minutes I had a limit. “I fished my trap for about an hour after than without a bite and went to my flipping stuff and the little ones were biting good. I probably had eight bites in the first hour and I had one big bite and she shook her head and came off so I don’t know how big it was. As cold as it was, they were just really finicky.

After that, I went all day without a big bite and was only able to cull up a few ounces. The morning was as good as it gets. Yesterday morning I did the same thing – it just so happened that they were four pounders then.

There were several other boats that had worked through the general area and I think we just beat them up. I was throwing the KVD special, the Strike King Red Eye Sexy Shad – I watched him do it on TV down here. When I came down here I thought, ‘If Kevin can catch them on it, I can do it.’ It almost worked out. I was flipping a Kinami Palm Tree and a Beaver both in black and blue color.

I didn’t win it but it worked out pretty well for the amount that I practiced. I put in Monday at one in the afternoon and found those fish around three. I also went out Tuesday around ten in the morning just looking for a flipping bite and I didn’t practice Wednesday.

“Overall, it was pretty awesome and I really hope this turns out to be something big.”

And here’s what Todd Faircloth said: 

“I started out today with a flipping rod and that’s what I did all day. I had a limit by around eight this morning and caught a ton of fish today. I just only caught one big one right at the end of the day and I think the bigger one started biting later. I probably caught 25 fish today. I caught more today than any other day. 

“I had two patterns that I was working. One was fishing a Sebile Flat Shad in the hydrilla and the other one was flipping a Yamamoto creature in the gnarliest stuff I could find. It seemed like the hydrilla bite faded on me and the flipping bite got better as the tournament went on. With the exception of the first day, all my fish came from flipping.
I fished Toho the whole tournament but the fact that they were spraying the grass really didn’t affect me at all.

“Overall, I think it was a good start for the PAA organization. We had 147 guys there, guys from BASS, FLW, and some guys who don’t fish either. I think that overall it was ran really well and a good start.

see full field results: Carrot Stix PAA Event on the Kissimmee Chain

Results from the Bassmaster Weekend Series Event on the Harris Chain

I just fished the BWS tourney on the Harris Chain this weekend and it was dang cold with freezing temps at launch and wind blowing about 10 knots. I knew it was going to be a slow day, but I hammered my area on Harris and got 5 bites throughout the day pitchin a fluke with a 3/8 Denny Brauer Flippin Weight in kissimmee grass. I got my 5th bite at about 1:30… I set the hook on this 3-5 pounder and played it to the boat when all of a sudden it came unbuttoned for whatever reason. I think I was in a good area, I just didn’t execute. My meager 7.66 bag was good enough for 13th place and my co angler made a check as well.

I can’t believe I’ve got the one that got away story. I’m gonna go buy some Reaction Innovations Bad Mother Flippin hooks this week so I don’t have to tell this story again. That fish would’ve gotten me way up there in the standings. Thanks to my co angler Davie who clued me in on pitchin a fluke. The bites during practice came on a junebug Sweet Beaver, but they liked the fluke that day. Anyone else ever flip and pitch flukes?

Russ Osbourne won the event with 18.31 pounds pitchin a black and blue jig in matted down kissimmee grass on Harris and second went to Rick West who had 15.44 pounds. They were both fishing the same area for bedding fish and had to share that spot. I wonder where they were at.  After those two, the bags were much less.

The next BWS is on the Kissimmee Chain and I can’t wait to see how all the spraying is affecting the hydrilla in my favorite areas.

see full field results: Bassmaster Weekend Series Tournament at the Harris Chain on January 17, 2009

Day One Results from the PAA Event on the Kissimmee Chain

The PAA event at Toho began yesterday in freezing temps and I can’t believe some of the bags being weighed in. Ben Matsubu is leading the pack with 23.15 with a big fish of 11.64. I know Ben won the Elite series event a few years back in open water hydrilla on Toho. I’m wondering if he’s fishing that spot again. Shaw Grigsby is running a close second with 22.10 and a monster big fish of 13.36. I know Shaw likes Cypress and I do know where they bed out there. My buddy went to the weigh in and said Shaw was on some beddin fish. 

Eleven guys weighed in over 15 pounds in not the ripest of conditions. I gotta say, I like the Kissimmee Chain much more than the Harris Chain. I just might have to make a little scouting mission out there today. 

Other notable finishers on day one include FLW pro Chad Morgenthaler who won the Toho Pro Am a few months back weighing in 18.68, Todd Faircloth weighing in 17.82, Mike McClelland with 17.32, Steve Kennedy with 16.02, Brian Snowden with 15.07, David Walker with 13.54, Takahiro Omori with 12.87, and Boyd Duckett with 12.25.

Locals who are doing well include Terry Seagraves with 12.68, Micah Silverman with 12.07, and Bobby Lane with 11.84. You’d think Scroggins would be in there, but he’s way down in the pack. 

Full Field Results: Day One from the PAA Kissimmee Chain

Skunk City at the Xtreme Tournament on Johns Lake

Well, I skunked it up pretty good at the Xtreme Tournament yesterday. I went into it thinking 15 pounds and ended up weighing in 3 little fish. It started out just as planned as I pulled in 2 keepers within the first 3 casts, but the rest were all dinks. 

I had delusions of grandeur when I pulled in a 4 and a 6 pounder in practice. I even left them alone for 2 days after that. The fishing was tough for everyone and the winner only weighed in 11 pounds with 3 fish but one of those was an 8 pounder. There’s always next time I guess. I suck.

I always start second guessing myself after a day like today, but I really got to get better at having a plan and sticking to it. 

From here on out, I’m fishing the Harris Chain to find some spots for the Weekend Series tournament.

Toys For Kids Fishing Tournament at Johns Lake Results

I just finished the Toys for Kids fishing tournament at Johns Lake today and finished fourth with 9.2 pounds. Third place was 9.4 pounds and the winner had a little over 14 pounds. It seems like everyone’s in agreement that the fish are real shallow in the flooded grass…  at least with the people who placed in the event. You can’t complain when you have to frog it all day…  how boring.

I did learn one valuable lesson today. You gotta stick with the game plan. I probably wasted a few hours trying catch fish on a trick worm which didn’t produce. I wasn’t catching them on the trick worm during practice and I should’ve thrown the frog a lot more than I did since that’s the only thing the fish wanted that day.

The weather was gorgeous and the light rain definitely helped the frog bite that I was on. The bite’s been pretty tough out there. I had to put in two long days to find these fish. Anyways, it was a great day and thanks to Jason Casteel for putting the event together.

Charity Bass Tournament at John’s Lake on December 6, 2008

There’s gonna be a team fishing tournament at John’s Lake this Saturday, 12-06-2008 to benefit the Toys for Kids charity. The entry fee is only $50 per boat with $10 optional for big bass and an unwrapped toy from each contestant. The payback will be 100%. I spoke with Jason Casteel the tournament director and he expects 70-100 boats. He also said you can pay at the ramp after 4 am. Call Jason with any questions at 407-709-9182.

I plan on fishing this event, but I’ve got to take my boat to the repair shop because of a bad battery charger. Hopefully it’s something they can fix right away without ordering any parts.

New Photo from the Triton Tournament

 

I got an email today from Frank Hays of Fishers of Men with a new photo of my team’s winning catch. The new photo replaces the one where I’m cropped out. Thanks Frank.

Holy Crap, My Partner and I Won the Triton Owner’s Tournament

Well, the sun shines on a dog’s ass every once in a while… my partner Walt (he’s a flippin fool and thinks he’s Denny Brauer) and I won the Triton Owner’s Tournament out of South Port on Toho this Saturday which was dang cold. I mean it was about 40 degrees and blowing 20 knots with water temps dropping to 60 from about 75 a few days before. Running 70 mph doesn’t help things either. All I gotta say is I’m gonna buy some more long johns and gloves with the money we won. I gotta stay out of Bass Pro Shops cause of my crack addictiion to fishing gizmos.

I just wish I didn’t get cropped out of the photo on the Fishers of Men site. I’m the guy you can half see on the right. The only reason I know that is because I was there. They did get a good photo of the tournament director although he’s in all the winning photographs.

We prefished Monday, Thursday, and Friday without too much success. We found some nice fish on Monday at the south end of Toho and caught about 15 pounds of fish in about 5 minutes with a chrome and black Xcalibur xr50 and left them alone after that. Thursday was the biggest waste of time. It was right when the cold front came in and the fish had lockjaw. I didn’t even get a nibble the entire day. I talked to a few other boats at the lakefront ramp and they didn’t catch anything either. It was like there was no fish on Toho (I know better but that’s what it seemed like). Friday was a bit warmer and the winds laid down a bit so my partner and I did some runnin. We fished Cypress, Hatchineha, and Kissimmee. I caught some fish in a bunch of areas but really didn’t catch anything over 2 pounds. The winds picked up and finished out the day cranking rip rap with a Threadfin colored Bandit Flat Maxx with a coffin lip. I caught about 8 fish in about an hour, but again they were are dinks.

I was pretty confident we could get a limit real quick, but wasn’t sure we could produce any big ones. The extreme weather made me feel a little at ease because the winning weight was probably going to be 13 to 15 pounds instead of 20. 

We got to our first spot after a bone chilling run and caught the first fish weighing about 1.5 pounds within a half hour throwing the Gitem Warlock in junebug. We caught our second fish weighing about the same at that spot right afterwards on a Gitem Sugar in Green Pumpkin and a junebug Zoom Centipede. I was starting to feel pretty good about weighing in at least 10 pounds and at least having a good showing. We moved to another spot and pulled in the biggest fish of the day weighing about 6 pounds. A couple casts later we caught another one about 3.5 pounds. We went another hour without catching anything so we moved to our third spot where we pulled in a 4, a 3, and some cull fish. By 11 am, we had our limit of 19 pounds. We ran around like crazy trying to cull some of the 1.5 and 2 pound fish but couldn’t buy a bite after that. 

After all, it is the famous Kissimme Chain where you normally need at least 20 pounds to have a chance and many of the heavy hitters from the chain were fishing the tournament. It turned out we didn’t need the extra weight and after the weigh in handled by the Fishers of Men, we won the event by a comfortable 5 pounds. 

All I can say is winning feels dam good. Everyone always asks you how you caught them afterwards and I just told everyone we were flippin mat. That’s my standard answer for everything. The guys in this tournament are good and I don’t want to give them any kind of advantage.

The day would have been complete if we won the Power Pole they were giving away in the raffle, but I’ll take the win any day of the week.

I was feelin like Ike in this video after the win.

My Next Tournament Will Be the Triton Owner’s Tournament

 

The next tournament I’ll be fishing in will be the Triton Owner’s Tournament on Toho hosted by Advanced Marine and Fishers of Men out of the Southport Ramp on November 22nd. I’ve already paid the entry fee and have some fish located so it should be a fun event. I’ll be fishing it with my buddy Walt on the Advanced Marine Team out of his 2009 Triton 20 X3. All I can say is that this boat is fast, real fast.

If you’d like to fish this team tournament, find a buddy and call Joe Clements at 866-604-2628. You can pay the $100 and optional $20 for big fish at the ramp.

Final Results from the 2008 Toho Challenge