Bassmaster Elite Series pro John Cox believes winter’s arrival might be setting up an absolute smash fest for the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Kissimmee Chain presented by Battery Tender, which runs Thursday through Saturday right here on the local chain’s lakes.
Daily takeoffs will go out of Big Toho Marina at 7 a.m. ET, with weigh-ins each day at the same location at 3 p.m.
Prolonged warmth reaching well into December and significant cold fronts mostly waiting until after New Year’s make the anglers happy, Bassmaster competitors like Cox said. The Elite pro from DeBary knows that, while Florida bass love their warm, stable water, the ecosystem actually needs a solid cold spell to crack the whip on spawning instincts.
“I think this tournament will be more pre-spawn and spawners,” Cox said. “We’ve had a few little (spawning) waves but they didn’t really go, because it hadn’t gotten cold enough. But this recent cold is gonna put them in the mood. With the cold fronts of mid-January, if it warms up, we could see some really big bags.”
With a note of measured optimism, Cox said he’s not counting out potential recordbreaking catches. With no shortage of quality fish in the 5- to 7-pound range, the Kissimmee Chain (lakes Toho, Cypress, Hatchineha and Kissimmee) also holds many of those double-digit day-makers with game-changing potential.
Cox said the entire Kissimmee Chain holds healthy habitat with lots of options from hydrilla and Kissimmee grass to lily pads and hyacinth. As he explained, the middle two lakes often see the first hints of spawning action because their shallower depths tend to warm up the fastest.
“Really, anything can happen in any of the lakes,” Cox said of the chain’s widespread potential. “Your flippers typically are going to Lake Kissimmee, the openwater grass fishermen are often in Toho and the middle two lakes could be a mix of both.”
Notably, the canals linking the four main lakes also hold fishable habitat, while their levees offer protective wind breaks during blustery conditions. On January 18, the Strike King Bassmaster High School event at the Kissimmee Chain saw winners Eli Scroggins and Drew Berling of the Park Hills Athletic Club catch a near seven-pounder in the canal between Toho and Cypress while midday winds blasted main-lake waters.
Taking an educated guess at the leaderboard, Cox said: “To make the Top 10, I would think it will take close to 20 pounds a day. I think we’re gonna see some really big bags, so the winning three-day weight will be about 65, but it might take 70.
“Somebody might catch 30 one day, then back it up with two more good days. This will be an exciting event.”
Thanks to B.A.S.S., “the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport,” for providing much of the information in this report.
