Kevin VanDam

Low Water Makes Harris Chain Tougher Than Expected

March 5, 2008 – bassfan.com

The Bassmaster Elite Series season got under way at Texas’ Lake Amistad each of the past 2 years, and it took more than 100 pounds of fish over 4 days to win those events. This year’s opener is at Florida’s Harris Chain of Lakes, and it’s highly unlikely that anything close to triple digits will be needed to claim the trophy.

The Bassmaster Tour has an extensive history at Harris dating back nearly a quarter of a century, and three anglers in this year’s field – Peter Thliveros, Marty Stone and Skeet Reese – have won here. Also, Ben Matsubu topped the Wildcard Qualifier at Harris in the fall of 2006 and Shaw Grigsby has a pair of runner-up finishes on his ledger from Megabucks events back in the late 1980s.

The three previous Tour events held here this decade all took place in January or early February, when the spawn was in full-swing. This time, the catchable bed-fish will probably be gone after day 1.

Then there’s the water issue – there’s not much of it. Due to the drought that’s plagued the Southeastern U.S. over the past year or so, the entire system is 2 to 3 feet lower than normal pool for this time of year.

Chain, chain changed

March 5, 2008 – bassmaster.com

LEESBURG, Fla. — In one breath, Charlie Youngers predicts some 30-pound bags from the Bassmaster Elite Series Sunshine Showdown, which begins Thursday on the Harris Chain of Lakes. In the next breath, Youngers explains how a cold front, added fishing pressure and dredging have changed this system of nine Florida lakes and connecting canals.

Youngers, the 56-year-old resident of Geneva, Fla., has changed too, for the better, after feeling like he was on his death bed just a few months ago.

“I’m very fortunate to even be walking around,” said Youngers, who underwent back surgery after competing in the Euro Bass Cup in Spain last October, then was stricken with a bacterial infection in his spine. “They brought me into the emergency room by ambulance. I had a 104-degree temperature. I was so sick I was hoping to die.”

Two months of anti-bacterial infusions, the first spent bed-ridden, cured the infection and has Youngers thinking about bass fishing again. He won’t be back on the Bassmaster Elite Series this year, but hopes to be back in 2009 after competing in both the Central Open and Southern Open series this year.

“I’m pretty excited to be up and going,” Youngers said. “But I’d hate to know I had to jump on the road right now for basically the next two months, non-stop (on the Elite Series tour).”

Youngers lives about an hour south of the of Harris Chain, near the St. John’s River. He’s got years of experience on all the central Florida waters and fished the Harris Chain as recently as three weeks ago.

The last time the Bassmaster tour came here was in November 2006 when Ben Matsubu won a three-day Bassmaster Elite Series Wild-Card Qualifier with 40 pounds, 15 ounces. In February 2005, Peter Thliveros won the Florida CITGO Bassmaster Tour event with a four-day total of 69 pounds, 5 ounces.