Quick Bites: FLW Lake Toho, Day 3

An Army veteran wins a hard-fought battle on Lake Toho, something important is due for Dan Morehead and a gator makes a try for Snickers Big Bass honors

Wal-Mart FLW Tour

Lake Toho, Kissimmee, Fla.

Semifinal round, Friday

Veteran’s day … Co-angler winner Kenneth Chapman is fishing his rookie season on the Wal-Mart FLW Tour this year after serving in Iraq with the U.S. Army. While stationed in Baghdad, Chapman received a banner autographed by FLW Tour pros and co-anglers who fished the Wal-Mart Open on Beaver Lake, and the banner was hung from the joint operations center there. … Chapman is now retired from the Army and is trying to make a living fishing FLW Outdoors events, and he hopes to duplicate the success he’s found in the EverStart Series and the BFL on the FLW Tour. “Somebody’s got to go over there and do the job, and I like the job, but now I want to do this,” Chapman said.

Something in the oven … No. 6 pro Dan Morehead should be excused if his mind is elsewhere this weekend – his wife Jennie is due to deliver their second child via C-section on Monday. “I was supposed to be home by now,” Morehead said. The family is expecting a baby boy.

The big chill … The Lake Toho area is currently in the midst of a cold front, and as a result, the bass have clammed up for everybody except Bobby Lane and Tom Mann Jr., the only two pros to snag a limit Friday. “Everybody told me fish do not bite in a cold front on Lake Toho,” said No. 8 pro Ricky Shumpert. “I believe it.” … Some pros estimate that the water temperature dropped 12 degrees today, with air temperatures falling at about the same rate. Tomorrow’s high is expected to be around 69 degrees, with the wind dying down a bit to 5 to 10 mph.

Hart-sick … No. 7 pro Toby Hartsell managed a meager 5-pound, 13-ounce stringer on Friday, and he may have been able to bump his three-bass catch up to five if only he hadn’t lost some indispensable equipment – Hartsell’s boat hit a wave on windy Toho today, and the big lake swallowed up four of his rods. When weighmaster Charlie Evans advised him to try and put the incident behind him, Hartsell replied, “I ain’t got a lot of rods left. It’s hard to put it behind me.”

Lane change … Bobby Lane surprised no one but himself when he landed in the lead after Friday’s competition with a limit of bass weighing 10 pounds, 14 ounces. “I didn’t think 10 pounds would lead it, but it’s been a good day,” said Lane, adding that he caught nine keepers Friday. He’s been fishing the same area every day and thinks there are enough big fish left in the area to deliver him an FLW Tour win in only his second tournament. … “My confidence is great right now,” said Lane, who also made the top 10 last month on Lake Okeechobee. “I’m living a dream. I’m an average fisherman.”

A different kind of competition … Yesterday, pro Lewis Denney netted a 10-pound bass that went on to earn him day-two Snickers Big Bass honors, but he nearly snagged something a little more threatening – a mean Florida gator. Denney and said gator had been living in harmony for three hours or so, and Denney’s first four fish were caught within a few feet of the sharp-toothed predator. Throwing toward the gator, Denney hooked the 10-pound bass but initially thought he’d caught the gator’s tail. “I told my co-angler, `Hang on, we’re going for a boat ride,’ because I thought, `I’m not losing my $400 Loomis rod,'” Denney said. “The fish was behind the gator, and he turned around and started going for it. You can’t horse a 10-pound fish. I turned to my co-angler and said, `Get the net! Don’t get the gator; get the fish!'” … Denney kept his rod (and all 10 fingers) and earned $750 for the big bass.

Quick numbers:

2: Number of top-10 pros who caught a limit Friday.

3: Number of pros who caught three bass Friday that weighed 6 pounds, 5 ounces. J.T. Kenney, Greg Pugh and Art Berry caught the identical stringers.

2: Number of top-10 Toho pros who also made the top-10 cut at Okeechobee (Bobby Lane and Greg Pugh).

3: Number of bass caught this season alone that have made it into the FLW Tour’s top seven biggest bass in the circuit’s history, including co-angler Richard Lowitzki’s 11-pound, 3-ounce monster caught on day three of the Lake Toho event.

9-1: Kenneth Chapman’s margin of victory, in pounds and ounces, over second-place co-angler Tim Peek.

Sound bites:

“I think it smells a little less than that, but it smells good.” – Co-angler Tim Peek, upon being asked by weighmaster Charlie Evans if he thought his five-bass limit – the only one on the co-angler side – smelled like $20,000, the top co-angler prize. Peek eventually finished second and earned $10,000.

“At 3 o’clock I was changing lines. At 4 o’clock I was ready to get dressed.” – Judy Israel, on her sleepless night before the co-angler finals. She finished fourth.

“I caught the 9-6, which I was really bragging about. Then Trevor Jancasz caught a 9-7 and Richard Lowitzki caught an 11-3, so I don’t talk about that bass anymore.” – Eighth-place co-angler Rob Newell on his 9-pound, 6-ounce catch of a lifetime Wednesday, which was soon dwarfed by even heftier Toho bass.

“Keep your line wet and keep your lure in the water, and you’ll catch them.” – Rookie phenom Bobby Lane, explaining in overly simple terms what it takes to be a bass pro.

“I didn’t say I wasn’t thinking about it; I’m trying not to think about it.” – Greg Pugh, on his chances for Angler of the Year. Pugh has posted two consecutive top-10 finishes.

“I’m probably the worst tournament fisherman that ever lived, because when I’m around big bass, I fish for them. Every now and then, them big bass will take a dump on you.” – No. 10 pro Dion Hibdon, who, with nine FLW Tour top-10s under his belt, is far from the worst tournament fisherman that ever lived.

“Now Junior’s throwing a toad.” – Tom Mann Jr., who took a cue from his winning co-angler Kenneth Chapman and started throwing the Zoom Horny Toad after Chapman hauled in three lunkers on the frog.

“It’s the only rod I bring to Florida.” – Sunshine State bass expert J.T. Kenney, speaking of the flipping rod. Flipping is far and away the favored technique on Florida lakes this time of year.

Tomorrow’s takeoff is scheduled to take place at 7 a.m. EST at Kissimmee Lakefront Park, located at 101 Lakeshore Blvd. in Kissimmee, Fla.