Carrot Stix PAA Tournament Series – Lake Toho, FL Jan. 15th – 17th

To say that practice was tough is an understatement and the chatter among the anglers was fairly consistent, where is the big bite?   This time of year Toho should be a flipping or sight fishing slug fest.  Not this year.  With warm weather and a full moon the giants should be on the beds or staging up for the spawn, but they were nowhere in sight.     To make conditions even tougher a cold front settled over Florida bringing in 40-year lows.   Florida bass are very sensitive to cold weather and tend to shutdown and not bite.

Just like the majority of anglers I did not have a stellar practice and could not lock down a big bite pattern.   The fish were roaming in deeper water and were extreamly hard to locate and depend upon.   I had one small area that I knew would produce 8 to 11-pounds a day, but that was not going to win the tournament.  To win, I needed several kicker fish to add to my total weight.  

On Day 1 my luck held out and I was able produce a good sack along with an 8.3-pound Toho giant.   This one took a plunge into my livewell with just minutes to spare. Believe me; I was ecstatic to have her.    I caught most of my bass fishing my comfort zone, flipping mats and heavy vegetation using a Reaction Innovations Beaver, or Berkley’s Chigger Craw.  The piece of information that I held really tight during the tournament was the bait I used to catch the majority of my fish – Lunker Lure ½-ounce black and blue Grass Monster Jig.   At the end of the day with an 18.98-pound stringer I was in 4^th place going into Day 2.

I had an early launch on Day 2 and was able to make it to my sweet spot first thing.  I secured the majority of my weight in about 3 hours then headed back to Toho to try and catch another giant.  I had a major disappointment when the only big bite I had on that day made it about 6-inches from my hand before disappearing.  That one still stings.   Overall for the day the bite was tough and the majority of anglers struggled, and the weights definitely reflected it.    With the addition of 10.93-pounds to my surprise I only dropped one place and qualified for the Day 3 cut.

Going into Day 3 I knew my “sweet spot” would not produced the size of fish I needed.   I chose to go for the win, stay on Lake Toho and grind on the areas that I felt confident were the only places I could secure a large stringer.  In typical high drama fashion, by early morning I had caught 2 fish for about 7-pounds and then hit a very long dry spell.  Fortunately for me, in the last 45 minutes I found the “Mother Load” and capitalized on it.   My 15.5-pound stringer was not good enough to take over the lead, but it did retain my 5^th place finish and was very proud to have it.   

As Vice President of the PAA the Tournament Series was my pet project, and one that I have devoted an enormous amount of time to in the last 8 months.  I am very proud of what we have accomplished in such a short period of time, the support from our members, and the new partnerships that we have forged.  We have some fine tuning and tweaking to do, but overall the Toho event was a huge success and an overwhelming milestone for the PAA.   Right now, members are fired up and looking forward to future events.

All of the Carrot Stix PAA Tournament Series events presented by Phoenix boats will be televised on WFN and Verses.    The Toho show should air in February.  Stay tuned to my website for additional information.