Florida Update

Well, tomorrow I hop on the big bird and head back toward Georgia after a great week of fishing and photo work. Blogs are behind, but it's not because I haven't had stuff to share. I've been without internet and have had no means of sharing.

First, a past-due final word about the PAA Tour Team Challenge. Bobby Lane and Gerald Brown, the Day 2 leaders, held on and won the event. Bobby's brother, Chris, won the previous week's B.A.S.S. Southern Open on the Harris Chain, just up the road from Kissimmee.

After the Toho weigh-in, Lawrence Taylor and I headed north to Salt Springs, Florida, which was our base camp for three days of fishing. We fished a day on Lake George with Tim Mann and then got together with Terry "Big Show" Scroggins and Cliff Prince for a day on the Harris Chain and a day on the St. Johns River. Each day was completely different, but all three were highly productive and lots of fun. I even managed to catch a pretty nice bass (pictured above) on an XCalibur Xt3 Twitch Bait, and added a hybrid to my 2012 species list. I'll follow with more about the fishing in upcoming blogs.

Double-Digit Repeat

Photo courtesy of PAA

Gerald Brown and Bobby Lane brought a 10-pound-plus largemouth to the scales for the second day in a row today and overtook the lead in the PAA Tour Team Challenge on Lake Toho. The team's two-day total of 49.65 pounds puts them a little more than a pound ahead of first-day leaders Glenn Browne and Chad Morgenthaler with one day of fishing remaining.

Today was rainy and windy. Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and calm. Will Brown and Lane bring double-digit fish No. 3 to tomorrow's weigh-in and enough pounds of total weight to take the crown?

While the teams are fishing, I'll be traveling, and my plan is to be at Bass Pro Shops with my camera in hand by 4:30, when they begin weighing fish.

Toho Delivers Big on Day 1

Photo courtesy of PAA

Plenty of pigs were held high for pictures as PAA pro teams brought their catches to the scales yesterday. It was Day 1 of the PAA Tour Team Challenge, and the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes did not disappoint. Glenn Browne and Chad Morgenthaler took the early lead, with a five fish limit that weighed 31.89 pounds. Gerald Brown and Bobby Lane brought in the day's biggest single bass, which weighed 10.59 pounds.

The pros came to the scales as teams and talked about their day on the water -- not only about the fishing but about the unique dynamic of fishing together. For some it was natural, like buddies just fishing together; for others, who are used to always running the boat and making every decision, fishing together was a challenge and required some adjustments.

Today is supposed to be windy and rainy. That could make navigation rough, and it certainly won't favor sight-fishing; however it could turn on a different bite and create some pretty exciting fishing.

For updates throughout the day today and tomorrow, visit the PAA's facebook page. Yesterday, they were able to post shots of some hawgs right after they were caught -- stuff that made it pretty clear that the weigh-in would be exciting for fans. To see great photo galleries and more detailed reports, visit fishpaa.com.

Toho Practice Begins Today

The current Kissimmee outlook warns of heavy fog, so the going might begin a little slow as PAA teams launch into first official practice day for the unique team event that begins on Thursday. The good news in the same forecast from a fishing fan's perspective is that the 5-day is full of sun and 80s. That means the Kissimmee Chain's fabulous bass fishing should show itself well and that some of the big girls in the system should be moving up onto their beds.

The PAA Tour Team Challenge promises big fun for fishing fans and for the fishermen themselves, who rarely get to fish together. Most pros have fished countless team tournaments over the years, but not at this level and with so many top names in the field. Add prime time for big fish on the legendary waters of Lake Toho and the rest of the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes...

Terry Scroggins and Gerald Swindle, good friends who travel together and share information during the Elite Series season, ended last year having to compete head-to-head in a B.A.S.S. play-off format tournament. This week they not only get to practice together, they get to compile their shared findings into a single strategy and fish side-by-side as a team come tournament time. Scroggins and Swindle have both won B.A.S.S. events on Toho, by the way.

Pairings also include Shaw Grigsby & Paul Elias; Russ Lane & Derek Remitz; Mike McClelland & Jared Lintner... And then there are the top pros that you can bet have matched themselves with the best local angler whose name I don't know but whose faces are very well known by anyone who ever fishes tournaments on the Kissimmee Chain. Should be exciting.

I'll have to learn all I can and report from home through most of the week, but on Saturday I'm Florida bound to watch the final-day stories unfold live!

Let the Games Begin

Excitement abounds about now around a couple of famous Florida waterways. Less than two hours from now, the B.A.S.S. Southern Opens will kick off a new season on the Harris Chain of Lakes while Southeast Division FLW Everstart Series anglers blast off at Lake Okeechobee. Rumor has it that Okeechhobee is red hot and that some big bags should show up at the scales this afternoon.

This weekend's concurrent events begin a month or so of major Florida tournaments and really bring a new season of bass tournament competition into swing.

Next week at Lake Toho, the PAA Tour Team Challenge will bring a brand new look to bass fishing, with two-man teams competing together in a major national-level event. The field will pair some of the biggest names in the sport -- Terry Scroggins & Gerald Swindle; Shaw Grigsby & Paul Elias; Mike McClelland & Jared Lintner -- so it should be fun to watch.

A couple of weeks after the PAA's Toho tournament, FLW will return to the Big O, this time with higher stakes, as the Walmart FLW Tour begins its 2012 campaign on Lake Okeechobee.

Then the focus shifts from Florida to Louisiana's Red River and the 2012 Bassmaster Classic!

Sudden Death & Alabama Rig Research

Photo Courtesy of PAA

One fish was all it took for Keith Combs to win the Toyota Texas Bass Classic and the $100,000 and Legend boat that came with the victory. One fish in a sudden death fish-off, that is.

After three full days of fishing, Combs and Mike Iaconelli had ended up tied atop the leaderboard, each with a weight of 76 pounds 12 ounces. Between Combs and Iaconelli, they had six daily limits of fish that average more than 5 pounds per bass, and they outfished the rest of the field by more than 25 pounds. Still, they were tied, and Combs was able to seal the deal with a 15-inch fish, which he caught on the same Norman crankbait he'd used throughout the week.

A championship event comprised of top pros from the BASS Elite Series, the FLW Tour and the PAA Tournament Series, the TTBC included 50 of the nation's top pros. It was held on Lake Conroe in Texas.

Meanwhile, the big buzz in the bass fishing world has been the Alabama rig, a unique multi-lure rig that's unlike anything that most bass fishermen had ever seen a week and a half ago. That was when Paul Elias revealed the crazy rig he's been using to blow away the field in the FLW event last week at Guntersville and to catch 102 pounds, 8 ounces in four days. The Alabama rig notched another big win last weekend at the Everstart event on Kentucky Lake.

Enough has been reported about the Alabama rig by folks who have seen it for themselves that I'm not going to re-hash it here. That said, I'm North Alabama bound tomorrow for three of fishing on three different lakes (including Guntersville) with four different pros. One of those pros, Chris Lane, was in the middle of all the excitement at the Guntersville tournament. If I get to see the rig and how it works first-hand, therefore, that probably will be my next blog!