Buckle up: College Fishing National Championship returns to Toho

January 4, 2024 • Jody White • Abu Garcia College Fishing

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Returning to the Kissimmee Chain after Dalton Head and Peyton Harris took home the title last year, the 2024 Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI National Championship will take place Jan. 9-11. Running out of Big Toho Marina, the field is comprised of the best-performing college teams from the 2023 season, which means nearly 200 teams will descend on Central Florida to shoot it out.

The National Championship is the best-paying event in collegiate fishing, with a Phoenix 518 Pro with 115 HP outboard and $10,000 going to the winning team, and a Phoenix 518 Pro with 115 HP outboard going to second place. Plus, both anglers from the top two teams get to fish the Toyota Series Championship as pros, where the first-place team will fish off against each other to see who will represent College Fishing at REDCREST 2025. Last year, Dalton Head was tops at the Toyota Series Championship and will go on to rep Montevallo University and the college fishing universe at Lay Lake this spring.

Additionally, live is back for the college ranks. This year, you can watch the final day of the event unfold live on MLFNOW! Log on to MajorLeagueFishing.com on Thursday, Jan. 11 to watch the crowning of a new National Champion!

About the fishery

Though this historic Florida tournament venue is often referred to as Lake Toho, it’s actually the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes that runs down through Central Florida and includes – from north to south – Lake Tohopekaliga (Toho), Cypress, Hatchineha and Kissimmee. All the lakes are typical Florida fisheries – round or oblong and filled with vegetation. However, these lakes have something that sets them apart from hundreds of other “salad bowls” in Florida; the Kissimmee River connects them all, providing a healthy flow through the system.

Even though it’s called a river, it’s more like a canal that connects all four lakes. Toho is the first in the chain at about 20,000 acres, then Lake Cypress at 5,000 acres, followed by Hatchineha at 6,500 acres and ending at Lake Kissimmee at 30,000 acres. From the top end of Toho to the bottom end of Kissimmee is about a 37-mile journey, encompassing roughly 63,000 acres of bass-rich waters.

Leaving Toho to access Cypress, Hatchineha and Kissimmee requires going through a small lock that eats up the clock. The lock can only handle about 12 to 14 boats at a time with a turnaround time of about 15 minutes. In years past, just about every lake on the chain has been hot at certain times, and even the river itself has produced top finishes.

Though there have been years where Kissimmee or Cypress have been the place to be, Toho can pack quite a punch. Photo by Rob Matsuura.

Panzironi thinks Toho is the place to be this time

When it comes to consistent excellence in Florida, Eric Panzironi is tough to top, with nine Top 10s in MLF competition on Florida waters since 2021. According to him, the fishery is in good shape, but won’t be firing quite as well as it was for the college anglers in 2023.

“I would say Toho will probably be the best bet that time of year,” said the Florida expert. “With all the hydrilla and shell, I think it will be the best bet for prespawn. Kissimmee has been hit or miss; there’s not a lot of good mats for them to get under anymore. We fished the Toys for Tots tournament down there a couple weeks ago, and we were flipping mats and had about 16 pounds, but there aren’t many mats.”

While Panzironi noted that Cypress is loaded with healthy hydrilla as well, he likes Toho to be the major player.

“If I had the choice, I’d fish Toho,” he said. “There’s a lot of hydrilla and shell, and some areas where they start stacking up pretty good before the spawn. We just had the full moon, so they should be getting ready to pop here soon. With the cooler weather coming, I think they’ll be in the prespawn mode.

“I would have a couple different little areas and stick with it,” he said. “They really stack up pretty good this time of year. If you’re just going down a bank and fishing, you’ll catch them here and there, but I don’t think you’ll win it that way. You’ll need a couple good areas where they’re stacked.”

As for techniques, Panzironi reckons that typical early-season Florida baits will do the damage. According to him, a big worm on a Carolina rig, a jerkbait, lipless crankbait and vibrating jig will do the heavy lifting.

“My favorite lipless to throw is the gold XCalibur one — the one they don’t make anymore, of course,” he said. “I think I have about four left, I have them hung up on my wall. Those were the hot ticket out there for a long time. But the SPRO Aruku Shad works good out there, and the regular BOOYAH Hard Knocker, too, of course.”

Vincent Maffei and Andrew Ready finished second in 2023 and boated over 27 pounds on the final day. Photo by Rob Newell.

Big things are possible

Early season events in Florida tend to have plenty of anglers struggling, but there are usually a few that really strike gold. In the 2021 Toyota Series event on Toho, three pros caught more than 25 pounds on Day 1. In the Bass Pro Tour event there in 2023, Mark Davis blasted 34-10 in the Knockout Round, and then Chris Lane charged to the win with 26-1 on the final day.

This year, though the event is pretty early, and Panzironi reckons that the top teams could bring some fireworks.

“I think it’s going to be tough for a lot of people. It’s going to fish small, I think,” he said. “They get in certain areas where they stack up; if you’re not on those areas it can be tough to figure out. But, I would say the winners could easily have over 20 pounds a day. There are areas where you can crush a 25- or 30-pound bag in the first hour.”