2018 BASS Team Championship Harris Chain of Lakes Day 1: Matthew Robertson Leads Final 6!

Final 6 Fish Off Today

By Andrew Canulette

BASSMASTER PRESS RELEASE

Robertson has been "on em" all week.
(Photo: BASS)

Matthew Robertson has been wearing a hat the past few days that pretty much sums up his experience this week on the Harris Chain of Lakes.

“ON ‘EM,” the hat reads in block white letters against a black field.

Robertson was “on” the Florida-strain bass yet again today, the first round of the Bassmaster Classic Fish-Off — a tandem event that followed the Bassmaster Team Championship held here earlier this week.

Robertson caught a five-bass limit today that weighed 25 pounds, 10 ounces. That put him more than 4 pounds ahead of Jayme Copenhaver III of the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Team Trail; Copenhaver caught a 21-6 limit Friday.

Members of the top three duos from the Team Championship qualified for the fish-off, which offers a single berth in the 2019 Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods to the top finisher. After fishing alongside each other all week — all year, in fact — the teammates had their weights zeroed today as they began competing individually on the Harris Chain.

Though there’s still a full day of competition remaining, Robertson certainly looks like he could become the angler to fill the 52nd and final spot in the world championship of bass fishing. The 32-year-old Kuttawa, Ky., resident teamed with Kentucky B.A.S.S. Nation partner Wendell Anderson to finish second in the team tournament earlier this week. They bagged a 29-1 limit on Thursday (the heaviest of the two-day event) to leapfrog dozens of teams and reach the fish-off.

Robertson’s 25-10 today was the second heaviest bag weighed this week — trailing only the 29-1 he and Anderson posted a day earlier. After launching from Ski Beach Park at 6:45 a.m. ET, Robertson headed to Lake Harris, where he needed only an hour to catch a limit.

He upgraded his catch a few times later in the morning, but with more than 25 pounds in the livewell, the hardest work of the day was done.

His heaviest bass weighed 5 3/4 pounds, and the lightest was a 4 1/2-pounder, which proved the consistency of the bite he’s located here in the central Florida fishery.

“I’m just going out there and fishing my style,” Robertson said. “The fish are there. I’ll just see if I can get five bites.”

Robertson wants to fish professionally, and he said he’s spent the past 20 years preparing for the chance to compete in the Bassmaster Classic. With only one day of solid fishing between him and his lifelong goal, his confidence is high.

“I’m fishing calm and collected,” he said. “I’m making the right decisions and not letting my emotions get the best of me. I’m ready for this.”

Samples and Purcell Win 2018 BASS Team Championship

Final 6 Fish Off Today

By Andrew Canulette

BASSMASTER PRESS RELEASE

William Samples and Charles Purcell weren’t supposed to compete in the Bassmaster Team Championship held today on the Harris Chain of Lakes in central Florida.

Duo win team portion under terrible cold fronts.
(Photo: BASS)

But officials with the Anglers Choice Team Trail asked them a week ago if they could step in as alternates after another duo that did qualify couldn’t attend. Samples and Purcell made the most of the opportunity and won the Team Championship with a two-day total of 10 bass that weighed 42 pounds, 10 ounces.

Samples and Purcell outlasted a field of 197 teams from 35 states and three foreign countries to earn the win. That number included 14 fishing teams that finished ahead of Samples and Purcell in the Anglers Choice yearly standings.

Samples lives in South Boston, Va., and Purcell hails from just across the border in Townsville, N.C. They won a Nitro Z20 and Mercury 225 Pro XS boat/motor combo valued at $42,000 with their improbable victory.

“Everything just went wrong for us at the beginning of the year, until we pulled it together,” Samples said about their season on the Anglers Choice circuit. “I fell in the water in the first tournament of the year at Smith Mountain Lake. It was 46 degree water. It cost us $5,000. We had a monkey on our back until late spawn, and then we buttoned it up. We won a tournament a couple of weeks ago, and now here we are — winning the Bassmaster Team Championship.”

Samples and Purcell were in second place after Day 1 of the tournament with a five-bass limit that weighed 21-9. They were almost as good today, with a 21-1 limit of five bass.

“We found a spot in practice that I told (Purcell) was going to be a 30-pound hole,” Samples said. “Every fish we weighed came from (within 75 yards) of that hole. The bite started about 10 o’clock and ended about 11:30 a.m. In that hour and a half, there was a flurry.”

“We worked hard for this all year,” Purcell said. “Everything that could go wrong did, until we pulled it together. This is an incredible feeling.”

Bassmaster Elite Sunshine Showdown Day 4: Shaw Grigsby Wins!



Shaw Grigsby Wins on the Harris Chain of Lakes with 75-05 pounds!
(Photo: James Overstreet BASS)



Bassmaster Elite Sunshine Showdown Day 3: Seeing is Believing or Is It?

Sunshine Showdown
Harris Chain, Tavares, FL, March 10-13, 2011

By Luigi De Rose

Shaw hopes Sunday has no more dinks.
(Photo: James Overstreet BASS)

Spring time in Florida can anglers envisioning dreams of sighfishing for behemoth bedding bass. This dream is a reality this week on the Bassmaster Tour stop in Florida's Harris Chain of Lakes. Sight fishing, meaning fisherman are casting to bedding or cruising bass in shallow water, is a  fragile styles of fishing especially in crowds. If  you want to latch onto a lunker, then this pattern can be the way to go - sometimes. The last two tournaments in Florida, FLW's event at Lake Ockeecheobee and here at Harris has been a sight fishing battle. Again, the top anglers are crammed into a few honey holes and hoping to out duel each other along with the finchy fish.

How Big is Big?
Grant Goldbeck was hovering over the largest bass he is ever seen in his life on Day 3 of the Bassmaster Elite Sunshine Showdown. "I've never seen a fish that big in my life. Its on a bed there. (beside his boat) I feel that it is 13 or 14 pounds and there is a 6 pounder with it." explains Grant to Bassmaster.com while on the water.
Shaw Grigsby, who caught the tournament's largest 5 fish sack of bass on Day 2 weighting 29-08, is also under the lunker spell. Catching a super sized 10 pounder yesterday, he has been seeing even larger monsters in the little pond he and other top 5 anglers are sharing. "I left two giants and when I say giants, they were bigger than my 10 pounder (weighted in on Day 2) and they're worth a whole stringer." illuminates Grigsby on how large the fish are his magic fishing area.  He says, 

Shaw hunting for another lunker.
(Photo: James Overstreet BASS)


"It is all timing sometimes you are zigging when you need to zag." 

Harris Chain vs. Okeechobee
Harris Chain is a maze of canals, residential ponds, bays, and protected pockets along with the six main lakes: Lake Harris, Little Lake Harris, Lake Griffen, Lake Dora, Lake Eustis and Lake Yale. Each has their own uniqueness. Each have great fishing. The key factor here is that the fish really cannot leave like they can on Okeecheobee. On Day 2, a harsh, windy cold front blew in. Anglers were anticipating the worse yet many bass move into position to spawn. These bass live in within these micro areas and they have to contend with their own habitat. It is easy to consider the entire chain of lakes as a whole but each canal, pond and weedy cut has it's own micro environment that will dictate how the fish react to the weather and lures.
The main problem is that these area are small. A threshold of fish can live within each area and when they are fished out or spooked the game is over. Shaw, declared that he is trying to hold onto the lead. Surprised about the amount of fish that have been brought to scales from his area, he nervously laughs at the possible dilemma that his hot spot is burned out. 
Only time can tell.

STAY TUNED

Bassmaster Elite Sunshine Showdown Day 3: Shaw Keeps Shining at Harris

Sunshine Showdown
Harris Chain, Tavares, FL, March 10-13, 2011
By Deb Johnson
Bassmaster.com (Press Release)

TAVARES, Fla. -- -- Shaw Grigsby sacked 18 pounds, 12 ounces Saturday for an even tighter hold on the lead in the Sunshine Showdown. But even his 11-10 cushion might not be enough on Florida's Harris Chain of Lakes, given its current crop of heavyweight spawners.
Three days of enticing fussy bedding bass to bite resulted in a hard-won 62-11 total over three days for Grigsby in the Bassmaster Elite Series season opener.
Most in the Elite field agree that big spawners are still out there, and any of the top 12 finalists competing Sunday could overtake Grigsby by landing a lunker and amassing a big bag. Or Grigsby's magic could evaporate. That happened the last time the Elite field competed on Harris. In that 2008 contest, Brian Snowden's 10-pound lead was not enough to fend off Mike McClelland, who won then with 59-2.
Already surpassing that after three days, Grigsby, a veteran pro from Gainesville, Fla., is the first to nod to the reality of what the Harris Chain can do to even a long lead.
"I'm very blessed right now in catching the right fish, and just holding on," he said. "I really am. I feel like I'm holding on by my toenails, my fingernails, and I'll have to grow them out by tomorrow. I'm not catching all that's in there, I'm just catching enough to hang on. It will be a tight one."

Shaw scores another on Day 3.
(Photo: James Overstreet BASS)

Shaw E. Grigsby (First, 62-11)Grigsby's success has been in a canal he's been sharing with at least two others, Grant Goldbeck and Pat Golden. The leader has found heartache there, too. Saturday he lost a bass that he estimated at 5 pounds.
"At the end of my day, she set up (on the bed), I threw in, and she ate it on the first cast. I got her to the boat, she went straight up in the air, and sent my bait flying, I don't know why. I lost her, and that's all there is to it," he said.
A win on Sunday would be the first in a Bassmaster event for Grigsby since 2000, when he won two to add to six previous Bassmaster wins. The Elite's first prize is $100,000. an instant qualification for the 2012 Bassmaster Classic, and the lead in the points race for the 2012 Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year title.
Going into Sunday's final round of the top 12, no pro near the leaderboard's top was ready to concede to Grigsby. That included Goldbeck, who moved up from 16th place into the runner-up spot with 51-1; Stephen Browning, with 50-6; Golden with 49-2; and the hottest angler on the Elite circuit, 2010 and 2011 Bassmaster Classic champ Kevin VanDam, who had 48-10 for fifth place.
Grant Goldbeck (Second, 51-1)Goldbeck brought in Saturday's biggest bag, 22-15, as well as the largest bass, a 7-4. It was another success on top of Friday's, when he sacked 27-1, but still he had regrets.
"I had a couple of 2-pounders in my bag today, and I left a few fish behind that are haunting me," he said.
One was a bedding bass he estimated at between 12 and 14.


Goldbeck is literally behind Shaw.
(Photo: James Overstreet BASS)

 "For four hours I tried and never got her," he said.
He bypassed a 7-pound male on the same bed, making the call that taking the smaller bass would spook the behemoth.
"That would have been really helpful going into tomorrow," he added. "Shaw's fished a great tournament, and he deserves to win, but it would be nice to give him a little scare."
Grigsby and Goldbeck both said they thought their shared water would hold up under another day of pressure from them and Golden, also in the same small area.
Third-place holder Browning, who said he was not fishing for bedding bass, said he changed his tactics.
"I changed lakes, but did the exact same thing," Browning said. "The lack of wind was wonderful. I was fishing a worm, extremely slow, and that's been the biggest key for me this week. Every fish I've caught this week has been on a soft-plastic worm on the bottom."

Bassmaster Elite Sunshine Showdown Day 2: Shaw Show How to Do It.

Sunshine Showdown
Harris Chain, Tavares, FL, March 10-13, 2011
By Deb Johnson
Bassmaster.com (Press Release)


TAVARES, Fla. -- The bag required to hold Shaw Grigsby's Friday catch at the Sunshine Showdown was so heavy, he had to have help toting it from the docks to the official check-in station. Few who witnessed the lugging of the shoulder-popping bag had any doubts that Grigsby had done very well for himself.

Shaw hoists two brutes!
(Photo: James Overstreet BASS)

Minus the water drained from the bag, the bass weighed 29 pounds, 8 ounces, and Grigsby was leading with a two-day total of 43-15. He was more than 8 pounds in front of Kevin VanDam, who remained consistent with a Friday catch of 18-3 for 35-12 over two days.
The field was cut to 50 for Saturday's round of the Bassmaster Elite Series season opener on the Harris Chain, with the final on Sunday, when the winner will claim $100,000 and instant qualification for the 2012 Bassmaster Classic.
It was a great showing near home for the Gainesville, Fla., pro, who lifted his 10-pound anchor fish for the crowd. Grigsby, whose eight Bassmaster wins include two in his home state, later related how he landed the lunker while he was sight-fishing in an area shared with two other Elite pros.
"I just spotted her and she was a real tough female, I didn't mess with the male, and just kept working on her," Grigsby said. "Finally she got flustered and smacked it, and I set the hook and fought her around. I'd barely hooked her. She was just hanging by a thread."
It was his 7-pounder that snapped his rod. Both were fish he first saw Friday, thanks to a weather change that brought sunny skies, enabling him to see the fish.
"It was catch one here, one there, another hour and catch another," Grigsby said. "All in the same area."
It was an area Grigsby shared with first-day leader Pat Golden, who slipped to fourth with 31-10 for the two days.
For Golden, his day was all about the big one that bit his bait in half, but would not take the hook.
"I worked that fish for about 45 minutes," he said. "For some reason or another, she tasted the bait, and she just started cutting big circles and spooked off. It was weird; I guess she didn't like my tube bait."
Golden likes his chances for tomorrow in the same canal.
"It's apparent we're in a good area," he said. "Both me and Shaw are catching them, and we should tomorrow, too."
VanDam, more than 8 pounds behind, said he changed his entire approach on Friday, but he ended much the same, with 18-3 compared to 17-9 on Thursday.

KVD at it again.
(Photo: James Overstreet BASS)

"But it worked out," said VanDam, who last month won the Bassmaster Classic, his fourth Classic title and 20th Bassmaster tournament win. "I had a much better day as far as getting bit. I was pretty excited about that; I wanted to have something no matter what the conditions were. My area of yesterday had 4-foot waves today. I had to totally change areas and my approach.
"I can't compete with that right there," he said, pointing to Grigsby's 29-8, "but I'm going to do the best I can."
Browning, slipping one place to third, was satisfied with his day.
"I'm hoping some of these sight fishermen are going to run out," said the pro from Hot Springs, Ark. "That's going to be the big thing for me to win this thing."
Rounding out the top five was Chris Lane of Alabama, who grew up fishing Florida waters. He tapped into that knowledge to lift himself from 13th place.
"Do I need to go sight-fishing? That is my big question," he said. "I'm saying no. [I will] see if I can't just keep grinding it out and get another 15 to 17 pounds on Saturday."