Bass Tournament News

B.A.S.S. News

Reeds Spring Missouri Elite angler Brian Snowden led the first three days of the 2008 Elite Series tournament on the Harris Chain of Lakes with 54 pounds.   Photo Credit: B.A.S.S.

Brian Snowden’s fall at the finish line of the 2008 Sunshine Showdown still stands as one of the most dramatic moments of the Bassmaster Elite Series.

Leading by almost 10 pounds after the third day of competition on Florida’s Harris Chain of Lakes, Snowden zeroed the next day in the final round. He could only watch as Mike McClelland slapped 15 pounds on the scale and claimed victory.

Mike McLelland of Bella Vista Arkansas won the 2008 Harris Chain Elite Series tournament with 59 pounds 2 ounces after Snowden slipped up on the final day.   Photo Credit: B.A.S.S.

“That was something — I thought Brian had it,” McClelland said as the Bassmaster Elite Series heads back to the Harris Chain for the 2011 version of the Sunshine Showdown, March 10-13 out of Tavares, Fla.

Naturally disappointed at the time, Snowden is over it now. Today he regards the fishery in a purely positive way — no bad karma, no baggage.

“The Harris Chain has always been very good to me,” said the pro from Reeds Spring, Mo., who can claim three Top 15 finishes on the central Florida group of lakes. “I am looking forward to going back. If I could win, that would be a little bit of redemption, and I’ll definitely strive for that.”

Unlike Snowden and McClelland, Mark Menendez recently scouted the Harris Chain. An Elite Series pro from Paducah, Ky., Menendez finished 11th at the 2008 Elite Series tournament on the Harris Chain, but he wanted to peel the onion further, so he headed there in November.

“I was able to find a few key areas, the kind I’ve been looking for, so I’m hopeful,” he said. “The lake should really be alive when we get there.”

Marking the start of the 2011 Elite Series season, the event out of Tavares also will show off the changes to bass fishing’s top-level circuit under new B.A.S.S. ownership. One difference is an enticing addition to the $100,000 winner’s package: bypassing the points system for an instant qualification for the 2012 Bassmaster Classic.

But the points system still will have a strong influence on all 99 Elite Series anglers’ game plans. Points determine four rewards: 1) after eight regular-season events, the pro with the most points will win the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year title and $100,000; 2) the top 73 will qualify for the 2012 Elite Series season; 3) the top 28 will earn 2012 Classic entries; and 4) only the Top 8 will qualify for the postseason, which has been reconfigured in a $100,000 winner-take-all format.

It all begins with the Harris Chain event. While Snowden and McClelland haven’t been back since 2008, Elite Series pro Bobby Lane has. He competed there in a 2009 Bassmaster Open, where he took a third place — exactly how he finished in the Sunshine Showdown of 2008. Since 2009, he’s taken a quick look, he said.

“The lakes look exactly the same,” said the Lakeland, Fla., pro who grew up on Florida bass fishing. “Nothing has changed.”

In March, bass are likely to be biting in any of the 10 lakes designated as tournament waters, so Lane doesn’t plan to stick to just one of them.

“I like to move around,” Lane said. “With that many lakes, and the time of the year, you just never know where the fish are going to be or what they’re doing. You don’t usually find a concentration of fish; it’s two or three in one area, two or three in the next. There’s not just one spot where you can catch a limit.”

Snowden also plans to lake-hop to find productive areas. “Every time I’ve been there, those have been different,” he said.

The most productive spots are likely to be in shoreline grass or batches of lily pads, or around docks and boathouses, Lane said.

“All the lakes have key spots,” he said. “If you find them, you might have them all to yourself. It’s the canals where the pressure is going to be.”

The lake-connecting canals can be as narrow as two boats laid end to end, he said.

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