Jordan Lee Runs away with it by 20lbs over Thrift
It was a runaway victory Friday to conclude the Toyota Heavy Hitters Presented by Venmo on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes. Jordan Lee took control early in the day, and ran laps around the field as he continued to target offshore brushpiles on Lake Toho.
By Tyler Brinks
MLF Press Release |
| $200 000 richer with another win on Kissimmee! (Photo: MLF) |
Late in Period 3, Lee landed a 5-pound fish that pushed his lead to 26 pounds on SCORETRACKER®. At the time, that was double the weight of second-place angler Bryan Thrift’s, who was sitting with 26 pounds, 2 ounces.
After that catch, Lee spoke to the MLF NOW! live stream studio crew, and in his own words stated what many watching were thinking.
“I don’t even know what to say anymore,” Lee told MLF commentators Chad McKee, JT Kenney and Marty Stone. “It’s just been one of those days.”
Lee tends to have these kinds of days more often than other anglers.
In the end, the Berkley pro won the event by nearly 20 pounds to collect $100,000. Lee also pocketed $100,000 for the day’s biggest bass. That 7-4 fish (which was the lightest big-bass winner of the week but proved to be enough to gather the big check).
Lee claimed the trophy the last time the Bass Pro Tour visited the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, winning the inaugural event during the 2019 season. Going into this week, he had a good feeling about returning here.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling. Kissimmee has been good to me,” said Lee. “I felt comfortable out there all week.”
During practice, Lee set out to look for something different than everyone else was fishing and that turned out to be brushpiles in 5 to 7 feet of water.
“I noticed everyone was congregating on the big sections of grass and I don’t like fishing in crowds,” Lee said. “That told me I needed to find something off the wall. I found a brushpile on my Lowrance StructureScan (side-scanning sonar) and made a cast with a lipless crankbait and caught one immediately and it had a bigger one following it in.”
