LEESBURG, Fla. – Late-March at the Harris Chain usually embodies what most people think of when it comes to Florida fishing – lots of quality bass in a ton of different locations being caught a whole bunch of ways. The second event of the Toyota Series Presented by Phoenix Boats Southern Division schedule should be exactly that.
The Southern Division will hit the Harris Chain on March 27-29 at perhaps the most predictable it’s been since the fall. With the spawn now firmly in the rearview and weather patterns fairly stable for the next several weeks, this tournament should be an all-out postspawn affair with bass caught offshore with forward-facing sonar, up shallow with a flipping stick and literally everywhere in between.
A matter of timing
The Bass Pro Tour hit the Harris Chain in mid-February for Suzuki Marine Stage 2 during the middle of the spawn. That tournament was a terrific event that saw Bobby Lane stack up 56 pounds, 5 ounces during the Championship Round for the win, but he did all of his damage with the big stick in likely spawning areas. A month-and-a-half removed from that event, the Harris Chain has now settled into a more predictable playing field that shouldn’t change a whole lot until the heart of the summer months.
Christian Greico, who won a then-Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit event at Harris in 2022, expects the sprawling chain of very diverse lakes to offer a lot of opportunities for anglers to fish how they like.
“A ChatterBait and a swimming worm in hydrilla [should play well],” he said. “If someone can find a nice patch of hydrilla offshore that postspawners are moving to, I think that can be a potentially winning pattern.
“There’s a potential for a flipping bite, too; but over the course of three days, I feel like you’re probably going to have a casting bite figured out and then maybe have a flipping bite for a kicker fish or two.”
Greico used to call Florida home before recently moving to North Carolina, and two of his three MLF Top 10s at Harris came in March. He expects stability to be the hallmark of this event – making consistency the key to doing well, especially for anglers exploiting postspawn patterns.
“I feel like since most of the fish have already spawned, it’ll probably end up being pretty stable,” he said. “If you find something in practice, I would say it should last through the tournament. If anything, it would get better, not worse. If it’s some type of postspawn pattern, you might have a few more fish coming out to you.”
Of course, forward-facing sonar will play its part in this event, especially on lakes like Harris, Dora and Beauclair that hold plenty of offshore hydrilla, shell beds and brush. Catching keepers will be a dealer’s choice situation – it’s just a matter of figuring out how to catch the right ones to challenge for a win.
What it might take
Last year, the Southern Division visited the Harris Chain slightly earlier in March when waves of bass were still spawning. Paired with windy conditions, weights weren’t quite what you’d have expected going into the tournament (Mikey Keyso won with 51-4 over three days). Don’t expect someone to win with a tick over 50 pounds this time around.
“I bet over three days, [it’ll take] somewhere around 65 pounds to win,” Greico said.
The Harris Chain has the potential to produce some big weights on a day-to-day basis. In 2021, Jordan Thompkins won the Southern Division event with 65 pounds even, bolstered by a 31-pound, 6-ounce mega bag on Day 1. He managed just 15-7 and 18-3, respectively, the following two days, but it was still enough to blow away the rest of the field.
Given the time of year and the fact that both the weather and bass are stabilizing by the day, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a 60-plus-pound winner with three bags in the 20-pound range.