Bryan New Wins 2020 Bassmaster Eastern Open Kissimmee Chain with 49-08lbs!

Chatterbait and Squarebill key to win

By David A. Brown

BASS Press Release

Knowing when to adjust proved essential for Bryan New of Belmont, N.C., who admits he employed a disjointed fishing regimen to win the Basspro.com Bassmaster Eastern Open on Florida’s Kissimmee Chain with a three-day total weight of 49 pounds, 8 ounces, cementing a spot in the 2021 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Huk.

“I’ve said it all week, I haven’t been dialed in to one thing, it was junk fishing at its best,” said New, who earned $52,500 and claimed the early lead in the race for the Falcon Rods Bassmaster Opens Angler of the Year award. “I’ve fished a lot in Florida and I’ve never been able to junk fish. But you have five lakes in this chain, and I junk fished three of them (Toho, Cypress and Kissimmee).”

New kept himself in the hunt from start to finish. He caught 21-0 on Day 1 to place second and backed that up with a Day 2 limit of 13-7 that put him in third. Catching the heaviest bag of Day 3 — a five-bass limit that weighed 15-1 — pushed him across the finish line with a winning margin of 4-6.

New spent part of Day 3 working the offshore hydrilla spot in Lake Toho where he caught part of his big Day 1 catch. The first day saw him locking down to Lake Kissimmee. But when that failed to produce anything significant for him, he decided to maximize his fishing time by spending the next two days in Toho.

The junk-fishing mentality came into play when he realized his offshore spot was not going to be enough. From there, he went shallow and bounced from spot to spot in an effort to establish consistency.

New caught his bass on a Texas-rigged green pumpkin magic Damiki Stinger, a 1/2-ounce green pumpkin Z-Man ChatterBait with a green pumpkin Zoom Speed Craw and a Greenfish Tackle G2 squarebill in High Rock shad. The latter, he said, proved to be his biggest producer.

2015 Walmart FLW Tour Lake Toho Day 1: JT Kenney Sacks 29 Pounds!

Kenny and King Take Control.
FLW PRESS RELEASE

There was fuel, and there was flame.
The fuel was in the form of a delayed largemouth bass spawn on Lake Toho that had been pushed back for several weeks due to low water temperatures and high water flows through the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes. The biological clocks of Toho’s bass have been ticking, so to speak.

Kenny states he's on them big time. (Photo: FLW)

The flame was in the form of a fast warm-up over the last three days, a full moon occurring right now and water temperatures rising nearly 10 degrees in the last 72 hours.
At the day-one takeoff of the Walmart FLW Tour event presented by Mercury this morning, everyone held his breath for the combustion that was about to occur.
And when fuel met flame there were a few fiery flare-ups, but not of the size that many expected.
In all, the 20-pound mark was reached by seven anglers on a warm, balmy day that had five-alarmer written all over it.
Exactly why the bite was not as good as expected is still in question. Many pros reported a vanishing act of bedding bass that had just started to show up during practice, but have now disappeared despite highly favorable conditions
At the top of the standings are Florida ace JT Kenney and Missouri veteran Stacey King, who checked in with 29-14 and 28-1, respectively.

Top Ten Standings Below

Van Soles wins 2014 BASS Bass Pro Shop Southern Open on Lake Toho!

By Ken Duke
BASS Press Release

ORLANDO, Fla. — He started slowly, but in the frigid weather that marked the first Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Southern Open of the year on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, Van Soles was like a snowball. He gathered speed and eventually rolled over his competition.

Frigid temps were not enough to cool Van Soles.
(Photo: BASS)

For each of the final two days Soles posted the heaviest catch in the field. After being mired in 30th place on the first day, he posted catches of 19 pounds, 4 ounces on Day Two and 21-9 on Day Three. His three-day tally totaled 50-15, giving him the win in his first B.A.S.S. professional event.

"I fished the southwest side of Lake Kissimmee all three days, focusing on matted vegetation that had floated up against buggy whips, cattails and Kissimmee grass," Soles said. "The bass were really lethargic and the bite was slower on the last day than on Day Two."

Soles pitched and punched the matted vegetation with a Gambler BB Cricket (Emerald Blue, Black and Blue Flake and Bowen Silver Shadow) fished on a 3/0 Cobra Flipping Hook behind a 1 1/2-ounce Elite tungsten sinker pegged to the line by a Jethro Baits bobber stop. His line was 65-pound-test Power Pro braid spooled on a Lew's Speed Spool casting reel (7.1:1) and mounted on a 7-foot, 11-inch Halo XXX flipping rod (the same rod Jesse Tacoronte used to finish second in the Bassmaster Wild Card presented by Star brite back in December; Soles borrowed it from Tacoronte).