2018 FLW Tour Harris Chain Day 3: Chris Johnston Claims Slim Lead with lbs!

Gustafson in 5th, 7 pound out of lead.
by Curt Neidermier

FLW PRESS RELEASE

If it’s going to happen for Chris Johnston, it has to happen early. At least, that’s what his results on days two and three of the FLW Tour event presented by Lowrance at the Harris Chain suggest.

Chris Johnston' needs his "honey hole" to produce one more day.
(Photo: FLW)

On day two, the Ontario pro experienced a quick flurry of action right after takeoff that lasted until about 9:30 a.m. and produced most of his tournament-best 25-pound, 7-ounce stringer. Today, the action was similar. Johnston made his first cast just two minutes after takeoff and hammered away at fish after fish. Yet, the bite shut off earlier – at about 8:15.

Both days he parked on a key indentation along an edge in some offshore hydrilla, and he’s hoping there are enough fish left there to produce one more morning flurry to carry him through to the win. With 16-12 today, Johnston’s 62-pound three-day total leads second-place pro Tony Dumitras by only 14 ounces.

“Today the overall size was better on average,” Johnston says. “Yesterday I caught a lot more, but I did get a 5 and some other big ones [including an 8-6]. At 8:15 is when I started to expand on my area because it stopped. I thought I could expand, but I didn’t get a bite.”

Johnston’s key baits in the morning are a jerkbait and lipless crankbait. The fish are feeding on a shad spawn, and reaction baits have been the ticket in the low-light period. Both baits have produced big bites. The lipless duped the 8-6 bass yesterday.

“I’d like to throw a jerkbait the whole time where they’re chasing, but there’s only about a foot and a half [of water] over the grass,” Johnston says. “So I have to fish something that’ll come over the grass better. I caught my biggest one on a trap. Also, there are a lot of fish there. I can see them under the boat – white bass, bass and probably some gar. So I think the big ones are too lazy. An 8-pounder doesn’t want to come up through that and hit the jerkbait.”

Johnston says that after he left his starting spot he went nearly six hours before catching the next keeper that could help his limit. Along the way, he landed a few on a ChatterBait and broke off a good one on a bed. Eventually he had to audible to a secondary pattern he’s had his eye on all week, stemming back to when he lost a good fish in a fray of surface schooling activity on day one. Ever since, he’s been on the lookout for more breaking fish. Today he found it and was able to capitalize at 3 p.m. with just minutes left until check-in.

“There were quite a few fish in the area. I wish I’d had another 20 minutes,” he says.

Johnston plans to start on his honey hole once again in the morning and keep watchful for schoolers. With the bed-fishing bite heating up and others behind him in the standings working that program, he knows he’ll need to be prepared to pack up and regroup quickly if the morning flurry never comes.

“I’m nervous because if they aren’t there I’m going to hit the panic button really early. It’s been fast and furious the last two mornings, and I’m hopeful there’s one more morning there.”

Top 10 pros

1. Chris Johnston – Peterborough, Ont. – 62-0 (15)

2. Tony Dumitras – Winston, Ga. – 61-2 (15)

3. Glenn Browne – Ocala, Fla. – 58-15 (15)

4. Anthony Gagliardi – Prosperity, S.C. – 57-13 (15)

5. Jeff Gustafson – Keewatin, Ont. – 55-13 (15)

FLW Tour Potomac River Day 2: Lane On Top, Nixon Tumbles to Bottom

Bobby Lane Bolts to the Top

Bobby Lane ready to win again on the
Potomac River.
(Photo by Gary Mortenson FLW)

03.Jun.2011
FLW PRESS RELEASE

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Fla., caught a five-bass limit weighing 18 pounds, 8 ounces Friday to capture the lead on day two of the Walmart FLW Tour on the Potomac River presented by the National Guard. His two-day catch of 10 bass weighing 35 pounds, 11 ounces gives him a 2-pound, 2-ounce lead heading into the third day of the tournament. There were 154 pros and 154 co-anglers from across the United States and Canada that started the tournament. The top 20 will fish day three and the top 10 will compete for the title on day four.

“This river has been good to me,” said Lane, who was in fifth place after day one. “The key factor in being successful on this river is learning the tides. For me there is an hour-and-a-half window when the high tide starts rolling in that gives me my opportunity. All my big fish came in that hour-and-a-half window.

“There is not one area that is going to produce consistently year after year,” Lane went on to say. “The traffic on the river is so heavy that it puts a lot of pressure on the fish and they tend to move to new areas. I have had a lot of success in many different areas on the river. This week I have been fishing some new water. The area I am fishing now seems to be where the brim are spawning and the bass are coming back to feed..

FLW Tour Potomac River Day 1: Vetern Larry Nixon Takes Command!

Nixon, Vatalaro share overall lead during wind-swept opening round of FLW Tour competition on the Potomac

02.Jun.2011

by Gary Mortenson

FLW PRESS RELEASE



Larry "The General" Nixon takes command.
(Photos by Gary Mortenson FLW)

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Heading into Thursday’s opening round of competition on the Potomac River, anglers had an idea that they would have to battle some type of wind. However, when all was said and done, most competitors seemed to be caught off guard by just how fiercely today’s wind actually blew. With regular wind speeds clocking in at 18 to 20 mph, anglers were forced to deal with giant swells as well as a heavy dose of mud which darkened waters and messed with the anglers’ prime fishing locations all day.

In the end though, Larry Nixon of Bee Branch, Ark., and Vic Vatalaro of Kent, Ohio, managed to put enough pieces of the Potomac River puzzle together to muster identical limits weighing 20 pounds, 2 ounces – enough to grab the overall lead in one of the tougher opening tournament rounds in recent memory.

“With the way the wind and tides were today, it made fishing very fickle,” said Nixon. “A lot of anglers had some pretty good areas in practice that really got messed up today. I got a little lucky and had a pretty good backup area where the wind was just right so I could fish it. And that really helped. But a lot of other guys weren’t so fortunate.”

Nixon said another key to his successful outing, in addition to have a stellar backup plan, was lack of fishing pressure.

“I really didn’t have much pressure in my area. I think I saw only one or two other boats there,” said Nixon. “And I was kind of excited about that.”

While Nixon didn’t want to divulge too much regarding bait choices and fishing locations, he did say that he targeted grass “all day long.”

“I fished two or three different baits and caught all of my big fish pretty much fishing one way,” he said. “Overall, I feel really good about what I’m doing and where I’m at. I’m doing what I like to do.”