Lake Conroe provided an electric start to the 2025 Bass Pro Tour season. Thankfully, fans don’t have to wait long for an encore.
Suzuki Marine Stage 2 Presented by YETI will start next Thursday, Feb. 13, on Florida’s Harris Chain of Lakes. The Harris Chain has become a regular tournament destination, but an unusual winter in Florida – a rare cold snap, which included snow for much of the state, has given way to unseasonably warm temperatures – should provide a unique twist for this visit, with bass likely in all different stages of the spawn. Combined with the BPT’s new forward-facing sonar restrictions, that should make for a wide-open derby.
Here’s everything you need to know to sort through all the contenders and assemble a winning Phoenix Fantasy Fishing lineup.
Past performers
More so than most places, success (or lack thereof) in the Sunshine State tends to be sticky. Some anglers simply jive with Florida bass, while others really do not. So, looking at past performances is a good place to start when assembling your fantasy squad.
The Bass Pro Tour has only been to the Harris Chain once before, in May of 2021. Ott DeFoe won that event. While his winning pattern – targeting postspawners in Lake Harris – likely won’t be replicable, expect DeFoe to be a popular pick.
Two other anglers in this field have won national events on the Harris Chain: Chris Lane and Jesse Wiggins. Wiggins topped a Bassmaster Open on the fishery 2017. Lane, who grew up in Florida, won a Bassmaster Open on the Harris Chain in 2012. He also won the last time the BPT held a February event in Florida, on the Kissimmee Chain in 2023. However, it’s worth noting that both of those victories came in a best-five-fish scoring format, whereas this event will be contested under the Bass Pro Tour’s every-fish-counts format.
Finally, a couple anglers have recorded multiple national-level Top 10s on the Harris Chain, and they might surprise you. Michael Neal finished sixth when the BPT last visited and also finished 10th in a 2022 Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit event on the fishery. John Hunter finished third in a 2018 Pro Circuit stop and seventh in a 2019 Bassmaster Open on the chain.
Fire up the Floridians
Sticking with the theme of picking anglers who have positive histories with Florida bass, there are three anglers in the field who currently reside in the Sunshine State.
Bobby Lane will likely be the most popular pick of the bunch. He not only lives in nearby Lakeland, he finished second to DeFoe in the 2021 BPT event. Keith Carson also lives within about an hour of the chain, and he’s always dangerous when bass are shallow. Terry Scroggins finished dead last at the Harris Chain in 2021, so he carries some risk. But “Big Show” is always a factor in his home state, especially when bass get in and around thick vegetation, as will likely be the case for plenty of the fish this week.
Don’t shy away from the standbys
You don’t really need me to tell you to pick Jacob Wheeler, right? The same goes for Alton Jones Jr. Those two anglers have both been more likely to finish in the Top 10 than not over the past three years.
For this event, I’m adding one more name to the “usual suspects” category: Justin Lucas. Coming off a Top 10 at Stage 1 (no shock), Lucas finished fourth in the 2017 Open that Wiggins won, and he finished 13th in the 2022 Pro Circuit event on the Harris Chain. As he showed at Conroe, the BPT’s new hybrid format fits his versatile skillset perfectly.
Sneakier selections
Here’s a few more names to consider who might not be as widely rostered as the anglers listed above.
Flight 1:
Takahiro Omori – Pre-tournament talk suggests that covering a lot of water with a moving bait like a bladed jig will be key in this event. If that’s the case, Omori will be right at home. He’s more than happy to pick up a ChatterBait and never set it down – in fact, he might be my vote as the best angler on tour today with the popular bait in his hands.
Mark Rose – Typically a staple in the top half of the standings, Rose had an uncharacteristic down year in 2024. He took a step in the right direction to rectify that at Conroe, where he finished 21st. And with less of a minnow bite expected at the Harris Chain, the fishery should suit his style even better. Rose has some solid history there, too, having finished fifth in the 2022 Pro Circuit event.
Flight 2:
Brent Ehrler – Ehrler was a popular pick for Stage 1 thanks to his history on Conroe. While he didn’t necessarily kill those who picked him, his 22nd-place finish probably wasn’t what you hoped for. As a result, a lot of people might shy away from going back to the well this week. But Ehrler’s skill set is perfect for this kind of event. He loves to wind baits like a bladed jig and swimming worm, then he’s as good as anyone at slowing down and milking a spot with finesse techniques once he finds them.
Ron Nelson – Anytime bass are shallow, Nelson is a threat. He’s one of the best sight-fishermen in the world, and he can catch them out of submerged grass, too – as he showed with a Top-20 finish on Conroe. To top it off, he has a couple strong finishes at the Harris Chain on his résumé: 11th at a 2020 Pro Circuit event and fourth at a 2023 Toyota Series stop.