Day: February 9, 2019, The National Angler

February 9, 2019 by FLW Communications – Photo courtesy of FLW

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – After an exciting day of movement atop the leaderboard, FLW Tour pro Buddy Gross of Chickamauga, Georgia, took the lead Saturday after the final bass had been weighed at the FLW Tour at Lake Toho presented by Ranger Boats with a five-bass limit weighing 19 pounds, 12 ounces. Gross’ three-day cumulative catch of 15 bass weighing 62 pounds even paces the final 10 pros as they head into Championship Sunday at the competition that features the world’s finest bass anglers casting for a top award of up to $125,000.

Right behind Gross (15 bass, 62-0) is hard-charging local angler Darrell Davis of Dover, Florida. Davis started the day in 13th place but moved into second after weighing a huge 25-pound, 12-ounce limit this afternoon – the largest of the day – bringing his three-day total to 15 bass weighing 60-15. Josh Douglas of Isle, Minnesota, (15 bass, 60-3) rounds out the top three, and was the only other pro to top the 60-pound mark after three days.

“I’ve got a good little spot – I think I’ve weighed in 14 of my 15 fish from it – but I’m really pushing it to its limits,” said Gross, who is seeking his second career FLW Tour win. “I keep looking for another spot, and I might have found one this afternoon. I caught one that culled – almost a 4-pounder – at the very last place I stopped on the way to weigh-in.”

Gross’ main area is an offshore stretch of hydrilla on Lake Toho. He said he’s been able to put a limit in the boat by 10 a.m. each day on the first two days of competition, but today it took until noon.

“The spot has both pre and postspawn bass. When the prespawners show up, they’re feeding, and when they feed I can see it and I can catch them – that’s my little flurry,” said Gross. “Tomorrow I’m going to catch what I can catch there and then start looking. I had some giant fish, but I still haven’t gotten a kicker. I haven’t had anything over 5½ [pounds] in three days and there’s a lot of stretches where I’ve caught some 7s, 8s and 9s in practice, so I’m going to have to move around a little more.”

Gross said he’s mostly relied on a swimbait and a pair of swimjigs, citing a natural light-colored Scottsboro Tackle swimbait, black and blue-colored swimjig with a green-pumpkin Zoom Z-Craw trailer and a white swimjig with the Scottsboro swimbait as a trailer. He’s also utilized a Nichols spinnerbait this week.

“The swimjig probably caught more weight than the swimbait today, but every other day it’s been the swimbait. I’m using a little underspin-type blade on the hook – an Owner Flashy Swimmer. It’s got a little extra flash and I think that’s what’s triggering the fish.”

The top 10 pros advancing to the final day of competition on Lake Toho are:

1st: Buddy Gross, Chickamauga, Ga., 15 bass, 62-0

2nd: Darrell Davis, Dover, Fla., 15 bass, 60-15

3rd: Josh Douglas, Isle, Minn., 15 bass, 60-3

4th: John Cox, DeBary, Fla., 15 bass, 57-8

5th: Aaron Britt, Yuba City, Calif., 15 bass, 57-7

6th: Wade Strelic, Alpine, Calif., 15 bass, 57-3

7th: Scott Martin, Clewiston, Fla., 15 bass, 54-12

8th: Tommy Dickerson, Orange, Texas, 15 bass, 54-3

9th: Nitro pro Tyler Woolcott, Port Orange, Fla., 15 bass, 53-1

10th: Joseph Webster, Winfield, Ala., 15 bass, 51-6

Finishing 11th through 30th are:

11th: Lowrance pro Austin Felix, Eden Prairie, Minn., 15 bass, 50-5, $12,000

12th: Nitro pro Casey Scanlon, Lake Ozark, Mo., 15 bass, 49-12, $12,000

13th: Bryan Schmitt, Deale, Md., 15 bass, 48-14, $12,000

14th: J. Todd Tucker, Moultrie, Ga., 15 bass, 47-11, $12,000

15th: John Voyles, Petersburg, Ind., 15 bass, 47-10, $12,000

16th: Mike Surman, Boca Raton, Fla., 15 bass, 47-10, $11,500

17th: Braxton Setzer, Montgomery, Ala., 14 bass, 46-15, $11,500

18th: Nitro pro David Williams, Maiden, N.C., 15 bass, 46-15, $11,500

19th: Rapala pro Terry Bolton, Benton, Ky., 15 bass, 45-9, $11,500

20th: Brian Latimer, Belton, S.C., 15 bass, 45-9, $11,500

21st: Polaris pro David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., 15 bass, 44-5, $10,500

22nd: Jamie Horton, Centerville, Ala., 15 bass, 43-14, $11,000

23rd: Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., 15 bass, 43-3, $10,500

24th: Austin Wilson, Citrus Heights, Calif., 15 bass, 43-1, $10,500

25th: Billy McCaghren, Mayflower, Ark., 15 bass, 42-9, $10,500

26th: Bryan Thrift, Shelby, N.C., 15 bass, 42-1, $10,500

27th: Brandon McMillan, Clewiston, Fla., 14 bass, 41-9, $10,500

28th: Chad Warren, Sand Springs, Okla., 15 bass, 41-0, $10,500

29th: Strike King pro Andrew Upshaw, Tulsa, Okla., 15 bass, 40-6, $10,500

30th: Bass Pro Shops pro Jeremy Lawyer, Sarcoxie, Mo., 13 bass, 39-12, $10,500

Full results for the entire field can be found at FLWFishing.com.

Overall there were 146 bass weighing 401 pounds, 8 ounces caught by the 30 pros Saturday. The catch included 27 five-bass limits.

In FLW Tour competition, the full field of 170 pro anglers competed in the two-day opening round on Thursday and Friday. The top 30 pros based on their two-day accumulated weight advanced to Saturday. Now, only the top 10 pros continue competition Sunday, with the winner determined by the heaviest accumulated weight from the four days of competition.

The total purse for the FLW Tour at Lake Toho presented by Ranger Boats is more than $860,000, including $9,000 through 65th place in the Pro Division. The tournament is hosted by Experience Kissimmee and the Kissimmee Sports Commission.

Throughout the season, anglers are also vying for valuable points in hopes of qualifying for the 2019 FLW Cup, the world championship of professional bass fishing. The 2019 FLW Cup will be on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas, Aug. 9-11 and is hosted by the Arkansas Department of Parks and Tourism and Visit Hot Springs.

Anglers will take off for the final day of competition at 7 a.m. EST Sunday from Big Toho Marina, located at 69 Lakeview Drive, in Kissimmee. Sunday’s championship weigh-in will also be held at the marina, beginning at 4 p.m.

Prior to the weigh-in Sunday FLW will host a free Family Fishing Expo at Big Toho Marina from 2 to 6 p.m. The Expo is a chance for fishing fans to meet their favorite anglers, enjoy interactive games, activities and giveaways provided by FLW sponsors, and learn more about the sport of fishing and other outdoor activities.

Television coverage of the FLW Tour at Lake Toho presented by Ranger Boats will premiere in 2019. The exact air-date will be announced soon. The Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show airs each Saturday night at 7 p.m. EST and is broadcast to more than 63 million cable, satellite and telecommunications households in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean on the World Fishing Network (WFN), the leading entertainment destination and digital resource for anglers throughout North America. FLW television is also distributed internationally to FLW partner countries, including Canada, China, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and South Africa.

The popular FLW Live on-the-water program will air Sunday, featuring live action from the boats of the tournament’s top pros each day. Host Travis Moran will be joined by veteran FLW Tour pro Peter Thliveros to break down the extended action each day from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. On-the-water broadcasts will be live streamed on FLWFishing.com, the FLW YouTube channel and the FLW Facebook page.

February 9, 2019 Palatka, Fla. — Photos courtesy of BASS

During the weeks leading up to the Power-Pole Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River, brothers Chris and Cory Johnston insisted the Florida fishery reminded them a lot of the waters they grew up fishing back home in Canada.

Those who may have doubted them know better now.

Chris Johnston, who had fished a grand total of four B.A.S.S. events prior to this week, caught five bass during Friday’s round that weighed 25 pounds, 11 ounces and took the lead in the season-opening Elite event with a two-day total of 47-0.

Lee Livesay of Texas is second with 46-2, followed by Mark Menendez of Kentucky (45-14), Brandon Cobb of South Carolina (42-14) and Rick Clunn of Missouri (41-0).

Cory Johnston, who has teamed with his brother to dissect the fishery for months, caught 21-1 himself Friday and moved into sixth place at 41-0.

“I just hope I’m a couple of ounces ahead of him after tomorrow and then hopefully again on Sunday,” Chris said of his brother. “We always have a rivalry between us. We’re always trying to beat each other for bragging rights.

“I’ve got a little lead on him now, and hopefully I can carry it through the rest of the week.”

Chris said he’s been fishing for mixture of bedding bass that he can’t see and prespawn fish that are still working their way onto the beds. Like most of the field, he expects the weather to be a factor on Saturday, when the forecast calls for a shift from the sunny, clear conditions of the past two days to somewhat cooler temperatures and 10- to 20-mph winds.

“It’ll probably affect me, but I think everyone’s in the same boat,” Johnston said. “I went around looking today for three or four hours, marked a few fish and saw a couple of areas I like. If Plan A fails, I’ll go to Plan B.”

Livesay, who caught 19-12 on Day 1, got off to a fast start Friday, putting 12 pounds in his livewell in less than 15 minutes. Once that area started receiving pressure, he began checking out new fishing areas and put together a five-bass limit that weighed 26-6.

“I got on a little pattern and caught a big one in a spot,” he said. “Then I thought the same thing should work in another spot — and sure enough, I caught another big one.”

Then, as strange as it sounds, he basically started fishing where he didn’t expect to catch a bass.

“It’s gonna be so weird tomorrow with this weather coming in, and I didn’t want to burn any 2- or 3-pounders that might help me a lot,” he said. “So I just went to some water I’d never even looked at and caught a 5-pounder.”

Menendez, who caught 24-8 Thursday, added 21-6 Friday and held on to third place with 45-14. He scored early in the day with a 6-pounder that he wasn’t really expecting to catch.

“That’s a spot where I’ve always caught 2- to 4-pounders,” Menendez said. “So when you pull up there and catch a 6-pounder, you’re thinking, ‘Well, giddy-up, it’s gonna be a good day.’”

A slight shift in technique helped Menendez to his quick start, but then he went back to the same tactics he used on Day 1 — tactics he’s not quite ready to discuss.

“I had to change baits today, and the change gave me the bites early so I could slow down and fish really thorough,” Menendez said. “Then during the afternoon, I went back to what I caught them on Thursday and got into another one of those big ones, a 5-plus, and another one that was about 4 pounds.

“Those really help you.”

Fourth and fifth place represent the age diversity on this year’s Elite Series, with the 29-year-old Cobb leading the 72-year-old legend, Clunn, by less than 2 pounds. Cobb caught 23-1 Friday to push his mark to 42-14, while the seemingly ageless Clunn caught 23-11 to lift his two-day total to 41-0. Clunn won his 15th Bassmaster title on these same waters when the Elite Series last stopped here in 2016.

Cory Johnston is tied statistically with Clunn for fifth place, but is credited for sixth place because Clunn has had the bigger single-day bag of the two and won the tie-breaker.

Cory said he’s not conceding anything to his brother — or anyone else.

“No one wants to be behind his brother,” he said. “The competition that we have amongst ourselves and our friends, that’s bigger than anything. So I just want to beat him.

“I’ll be out there trying to win.”

The tournament will resume Saturday with the Top 35 remaining anglers taking off from Riverfront Park at 7:30 a.m. ET. The weigh-in will be back at the park at 4:10 p.m., with only the Top 10 anglers advancing to Championship Sunday with a chance to win the $100,000 first-place prize.

Arizona pro Clifford Pirch wowed the weigh-in crowd with a 10-4 trophy largemouth, but Virginia angler John Crews still leads the race for Phoenix Boats Big Bass with the 11-2 largemouth he caught Thursday.