ON TOUR
FLW TOUR
detaILs
March 9-12, 2017
presented by ranger boats
hosted by Lake County, Florida
DORTCH WINS HARRIS ON SPAWN-OFFSHORE COMBO
PITCHING PADS AND “TRAPPING” HYDRILLA WERE THE KEY TACTICS
By Rob Newell
bass could compete with the spawn bite.
In his Florida experience, that shift often
happens sometime in March, depending
on the weather during winter.
At the Harris Chain Tour event
March 9-12, he knew the tipping point
would be tenuous, especially with
water temperatures hitting the 70-
degree mark in practice and more bass
moving to the beds where sight-fisher-
men would have a chance at big limits.
Knowing the situation, Dortch had a
game plan to target spawners, but he
was always prepared to transition from
the last of the bedding bite to the
beginning of the postspawn bite. When
the situation shifted he managed a
final-day comeback to win the event
with a total of 73 pounds, 9 ounces.
In and out
I
Admittedly not a fan of sight-fishing, Dortch blind-cast to spawners and fished offshore hydrilla.
76
n professional bass fishing, some-
times knowing your fishing weak-
ness is better than knowing your
fishing strength.
Bradley Dortch knows this point
well. The FLW Tour rookie from Atmore,
Ala., does not claim to be a specialist in
a particular technique, but he knows
one thing he is not: a bed-fisherman.
“Fishing for bedding bass is just not
my thing,” Dortch says. “I don’t like to
get in canals and backwaters with the
crowd and troll around just looking into
the water. I like to fish, make casts,
wind and rip something to provoke a
bite. I feel like I’m wasting time trolling
around looking for beds.”
That’s why when Dortch saw that
the FLW Tour event on the Harris Chain
of Lakes was set for mid-March, he had
a sparkle of hope for a big finish.
Dortch actually lived in Celebration,
Fla., from 2008-2013. During that time
he fished a lot on Toho, Kissimmee and
Okeechobee and even sampled the
Harris Chain a few times.
“I learned quickly that January and
February was not my time of year,”
Dortch says. “That’s when Florida bass
get on beds strong, and sight-fishing or
pitching to ones you can’t see are the
dominant patterns.”
Dortch typically sought out the first
opportunity when targeting postspawn
During the first two days of the
event those pros that were sight-fish-
ing and pitching beds earned the head-
lines. But as the tournament pro-
gressed, the bedding bite dried up and
a strong o ffshore bite developed.
Dortch had the best of both worlds,
getting out of the blocks strong with a
bedding bite and then rallying on the
final day with an offshore pattern.
Dortch is the first to admit he didn’t
exactly plan it that way, though.
“It just sort of unfolded like that,” he
says. “I felt like that canal sight bite was
really winding down, especially with all
the boats prowling around in them. I
thought canals might produce some
checks, but not a win.”
Dortch thought a late wave of big
main-lake spawners would possibly
move up to pad stems during the tour-
nament where they could be caught by
pros pitching soft plastics to bedding
bass they could not see.
flWfIshIng.com I may-june 2017