ON TOUR
FLW TOUR
FLW TOUR | HARRIS CHAIN OF LAKES
LEESBURG, FLA.
By Curtis Niedermier
WINNING ANGLER
Chris Johnston
Peterborough, Ontario
Winning Weight:
79-06 (20 fish)
details:
Feb. 22-25, 2018
Presented by Lowrance
Hosted by Lake County,
Florida
80
d
espite landing smack
dab in the middle of
the protracted
Florida spawning season, the
Harris Chain FLW Tour event
was dominated by anglers
“fishing out” in offshore grass
in Lake Harris for prespawn
and postspawn fish. The off-
shore bite was undoubtedly
the most consistent, allowing
anglers such as tournament
champ Chris Johnston to
outlast the guys who
weighed a few whopper
bags of spawners for only
one or two days, but struck
out come the weekend.
Johnston started his
tournament in Lake Griffin,
about an hour of travel
time (including passing
through a lock) from the
takeoff in Lake Harris. He
actually caught a couple
spawners in Griffin before
returning to Harris and fin-
ishing his day in the lake’s
offshore hydrilla.
On day two, with an
early check-in time,
Johnston decided not to
make the long run and
started about two minutes
from the ramp. It quickly
became clear to him that
he wouldn’t have to leave
Harris again.
Johnston parked his
Ranger on the edge of a
hydrilla bed in about 12
feet of water and held it in
place with the Spot-Lock
feature on his Minn Kota
Ultrex. Bass and other
predatory fish were feeding
on spawning shad along a
100-yard-long indentation
in the edge of the hydrilla,
and Johnston worked on
them consistently with a
jerkbait and lipless
crankbait until about 9:30.
He stayed for another hour,
then found a 4-pound kick-
er in another area that led
to the tournament’s biggest
limit – 25 pounds, 7
ounces.
Johnston’s strategy on
his offshore spot involved
working a jerkbait in the
narrow band of water
above the hydrilla to catch
numbers of fish, then rip-
ping a lipless crankbait off
bottom out from the edge
where the bigger bass were
feeding beneath the fray of
FLWFIshIng.COm I apRIL 2018