JT Kenney Wins FLW Tour Lake Toho

In the months leading up to the FLW Tour season opener at Lake Toho, JT Kenney did everything he could to immerse himself in all things Kissimmee Chain. He picked the brains of trusted friends who've had various experiences and offered up their insights on how and where Florida bass, especially the big ones, spawn when the typical warm weather is interrupted by constant cold fronts. He spent many days riding around the various lakes that make up the chain as well. He even caught the biggest bass of his life during a pre-practice trip to Lake Toho. Doing his homework certainly paid off as he built a sizable lead through 3 days, then held off final-day surges from Scott Canterbury and Wesley Strader to come away victorious on Sunday. After winning in his Tour debut at Lake Okeechobee in 2002, Kenney had waited a long time to claim another Tour win. "The big story when I first won was that I had like $38 in the bank," he said. "I was 27 years old and didn't have house payments and I wasn't taking care of my mom like I am now. Being a pro angler everybody thinks it's all great, but it's just like any other small business. There is some money coming in, but there's a lot of money going out, too. "I did the best that I could do," he added. "I hate to use the cliche, but I left everything out on the water this week. It obviously worked out really good for me, but it has been a long week." As cold front after cold front moved through central Florida this winter, Kenney knew it had to end at some point. The weather during weeks of the full moons in January and February were miserable by Florida standards so he figured if the March full moon fell on some sort of warming trend, he could make hay on bass getting into their spawning rituals. The plan came together as he pasted the field over the first 2 days by catching more than 52 pounds before having to scrap and scramble on the weekend to hold on.

Kenney was quick to credit fishing buddies Kyle Walters, Jim Folks and Elite Series pro Bobby Lane for allowing him to quiz them on how the Kissimmee Chain might set up this spring. He took that and applied what his hunches were and added that to his on-the-water preparation to formulate a pretty solid game plan. "They're all great friends of mine and they've all put in a lot of time on that place," he said. "They'd tell me, 'I saw this when conditions were like this or that.' I just talked to them and soaked stuff in and combined it with my own experiences. They were all just pieces of the puzzles. I still had to put it all together and still, I almost messed it up." He'd also had the benefit of competing in the Bassmaster Southern Open at Toho in mid-January, but wound up 54th (Lane finished 2nd). By the time the official practice started the Sunday prior to the start of the tournament, he was already fairly certain what type of cover would be holding the better quality fish. "I knew what they were spawning on and with a full moon set for the first day of the tournament in March, it didn't take much to know they'd be moving on to beds," he said. He focused on isolated reeds and lily pads and literally into every bay looking for favorable cover scenarios. He was dialed in, he was picking out individual reeds and pads. "I went and found all the key ingredients on each little clump," he said. "I knew 277 little one-cast spots to check and see if there fish where there, and a darn lot of them had fish on them." He figured 200 of his waypoints had all the facets he was looking for, while others had three components. "I didn't have a wasted cast in 3 days of official practice like I do at other events," he noted. "I was going to specific spots and making casts with a weight, a hitchhiker and a black and blue Gambler Fat Ace. When practice started, I knew exactly where to throw." Knowing the conditions could possibly change or in the event of overcast skies, Kenney also had areas pinpointed where he could get bites with moving baits in Lake Toho. "The place I caught them on a spinnerbait was a place I knew about," he said. "It's a typical fish-holding area with some scattered hydrilla. When it got overcast and windy, I knew I'd need a place where I could go throw a spinnerbait. "I checked that area right before dark one of the days in practice to simulate low-light conditions and caught three or four fish there."

Competition:

Kenney couldn't have scripted a better day to start the tournament and season. The mercury climbed into the 80s - "It was the hottest it's been here since October. I knew it'd be perfect," he said - and his system of color-coding waypoints (yellow meant big fish, red mean big-fish potential) produced nearly 30 pounds in the first 90 minutes of fishing. While others targeted fish that were more bank-oriented or spawning closer to shore, Kenney knew with the water level dropping at a rapid rate, the safer play was to stay out away from the bank. "I wasn't fishing where everybody else was in a foot of water where the water dropped 18 inches in the last couple of weeks," he said. "I don't think big bass if Florida spawn in 18 inches of water anyway." Instead, he was casting the Fat Ace to spots sometimes as small as a cereal bowl where he figured a big fish would be. "I caught some smaller ones, but several times I threw back at the same spot and I'd catch the big one. "When I'd catch one, I'd erase that waypoint because I knew I was not going back there," he added. "I'm sure there were more fish in those areas, but I was fishing for specific fish. It's not like I'd go back and expect to catch another 6-pounder. I sure didn't plan on catching 30 in one spot."

He stuck with his connect-the-dots program on day 2 and came back with 22-09 to open a 12 1/2-pound cushion. He didn't finish off his limit until late in the morning and made several upgrades in the afternoon, as the wind became more of a factor. "What I was fishing around, when it's moving around in the waves, they didn't bite as well," he said. "The wind started out of the north so I went to places that were good for a north wind. Then it switched to the east and I had to adapt. It ended up working out." He played the conditions on Saturday and opted to stay in Lake Toho and try to get a spinnerbait bite going. With the wind blowing out of the northeast again and overcast skies above, he was able to scratch together 14-05 to maintain his 12-pound cushion. "I must've done two laps around the lake that day," he said. "I knew with that cold front, it would mess up the other fish I was fishing for." He had high hopes of being able to return to Lake Kissimmee on the final day to comb areas with waypoints he hadn't hit yet. The only drawback was that he didn't know if those spots had been found by other competitors or if nature had run its course as far as the spawning cycle for those bass. "They were gone," he said. He was still able to scramble around and catch a limit on the Fat Ace, but it was by far his smallest stringer of the week and just big enough to clinch an 11-ounce win over Canterbury.

Winning Gear:

Worm gear: 7'6" heavy-action Halo Fishing Daylite Series casting rod, Pro Qualifier casting reel (7.1:1 ratio), 17-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon line, 3/8-oz. Reins Tungsten slip sinker, 5/0 Lazer TroKar TK130 flipping hook, Gambler Fat Ace (black/blue flake).

Spinnerbait gear: 7'3" Halo Fishing medium-heavy casting rod, Johnny Morris Signature Edition casting reel (6.4:1 ratio), same line, 1/2 Nichols Lures Pulsator spinnerbait (double willow/custom skirt).

Main factor: "Having an understanding on what and how to catch big spawning females in Florida."

Performance edge: "My Power-Poles. You had to place your cast perfectly against those reeds, arrowheads or pads. It had to go right there so without being able to pole down and throw at those specific areas, there's no way I could've won without those Power-Poles."

Lake Toho Winning Pattern BassFan 3/10/15 (Todd Ceisner)

Scott Canterbury is starting to develop a soft spot for fishing in Florida, especially in the spring. He finished 13th in the Bassmaster Southern Open at Lake Toho back in January so he brought a measure of confidence with him for the Tour event. "Having fished the Open and spending the extra time on the water really paid off and made all the difference," he said. "I didn't have to run around. I already knew where to look." Having spent considerable time at Lake Kissimmee during the Open, Canterbury wanted to seek out other potential areas for the Tour stop. He found one in Tiger Lake, a small lake connected to the west side of Kissimmee. "I'd never been over there and there were beds all around the docks and everywhere I caught fish had that hard, sandy bottom," he said. "The first day of practice was still cold, but I knew it would change a lot. I still went to Kissimmee every day, but I wanted to look at different areas and Tiger was one of them. It turned out that it made the difference for me."

Bed fishing was a fruitless endeavor since all he could catch were male bass. "I just started fan casting those areas because you couldn't get up on top of the big ones because they'd spooky easily," he said. He did that the first two days and came back with 19-pound bags both days, thanks to 7-pound kickers each day. He switched gears on day 3 and focused more on current-oriented fish. He didn't stick a big fish, but his 14-13 stringer gave him a spot among the 10 finalists. He went back to the soft stick bait on the final and spent some time in Tiger because the conditions were conducive to the area he'd found. On his second flip, he caught a 9-pounder from under a boat dock and rode a 21-10 bag to the runner-up spot. "If it would've hot and sunny all week, there's no telling what the weights would've been," he said. "I had to change every day and I'm really proud of what I did to change with the conditions and fish my instincts." As far as his presentation, "super slow was the whole key," Canterbury said. "If I was throwing it weightless, I had to let it fall to the bottom. Half of the fish bit it while it laying there. Same thing with boat docks, I'd pitch in there and let it sit. "They just wanted it super slow and were not wanting to chase a bait. They were just in that spawning mood."

Worm gear: 7'6 heavy-action Halo Twilite Series casting rod, Ardent Elite Grand casting reel (7.3:1 gear ratio), 15-pound P-Line Ultimate fluorocarbon line, 3/16-, 3/8- and 1/2-oz. unnamed tungsten slip sinkers, 4/0 unnamed offset wide-gap worm hook, Bruiser Baits Stick Worm (black/blue flake). He upsized his weights when casting the worm in areas with current. He also threw the worm weightless at times. Regarding his decision to fish with 15-pound line around some pretty thick cover, he said, "I think that got me more bites. It scares you a little putting 15-pound line under docks and things like that, but I didn't have a problem with it."

Main factor: "The ability to change on the fly and fish the conditions. The other key was fishing super slow this week."

Performance edge: "My Typhoon sunglasses helped me a tremendous amount. The water was lower than it was for the Open and everybody was saying it was heard to see, but those Typhoon glasses were helpful and gave me confidence in what I was looking at. Also, half the fish I caught came with my Power-Poles down to those were a key to slowing down."

Lake Toho 2-5 Patterns BassFan 3/11/15 (Todd Ceisner)

Wesley Strader has had success in Florida in the past, but his decision to target a shell bed in Lake Hatchineha on day 3 turned his tournament around and darn near won it for him. He worked over bedding areas in Kissimmee grass over the first two days, casting to holes in the vegetation with a Zoom Trick Worm and Super Fluke. He went through the same areas on Friday with a Old School Baits Twin Spin prop bait to catch 14-07. "It was windy and overcast so it felt right for that bait," he said. On the third day, with more overcast conditions, he stopped on a shell bed he'd fished in previous events. After 30 minutes of no bites with the Trick Worm, he opted to pull a Yo-Zuri lipless crankbait across it. For the next 45 minutes, he caught fish after fish until he totaled up 21-05. "With that vibration bait, if one would miss it, before I could my slack reeled up, another would hit it," he said. "I didn't get any bites yo-yoing it like you can at other places. I just kept it steady right along the shells." He said the shell bed topped at 2 1/2 feet deep, but he had discovered the right angle cast to trigger bites. "It was like fishing a ledge," he said. "The spot was about 50 feet wide and that was it." He went back there on day 4 and had another flurry that netted him an 8-pounder that anchored another 20-pound bag.

Fluke gear: 7'5" medium-heavy Powell Max 3D casting rod, Team Lew's Lite casting reel (7.5:1 ratio), 16-pound unnamed fluorocarbon line, 1/16-oz. Reins Tungsten slip sinker, 4/0 Lazer TroKar offset worm hook, Zoom Super Fluke (watermelon).

Worm gear: 7'6" mag medium-heavy Power Max 3D casting rod, same reel, 20-pound Izor monofilament line, 1/4-oz. Reins Tungsten slip sinker, 4/0 Lazer TroKar offset worm hook, Zoom Trick Worm (junebug).

Lipless crankbait gear: 7'5" heavy-action Powell Max cranking rod, Team Lew's Pro Speed Spool casting reel (6.4:1 ratio), 16-pound unnamed fluorocarbon line, Yo-Zuri Rattl'N Vibe (baby bass).

Main factor: "Being able to adjust and go with my gut and do something different and experiment and explore. Being so far behind, I had to play around and go with my gut."

Performance edge: "My Lowrance electronics were really key for me being able to see those shell beds. And I really think the copper rose lenses in my Typhoon sunglasses really helped me see a lot deeper in the tannic water."

Lake Toho 2-5 Patterns BassFan 3/11/15 (Todd Ceisner)

Up until two weeks before the Lake Toho tournament, Stacey King wasn't sure he was up for the potential week-long grind of a Tour event. "I have really been feeling good, but my endurance wasn't that good," he said. "I could fish for five or six hours and would get worn out. (My wife) Peggy coaxed me into coming to this thing. We came down early and fished three days at Okeechobee to get in shape so this was more of an endurance contest for me. I did pretty well, I think." Over the years, King, who hails from the Ozarks, has been able to obtain a better understanding of how to fish effectively in Florida and he used that experience to his advantage. "It's just a learning experience after you've fished a lot in the same place," he said. Eventually, you learn how to catch them. When you're blind casting, you have to understand what type of cover they spawn around. You need a hard bottom and openings in the vegetation so there's sunlight getting through so they can build the bed. "Pads and Kissimmee grass typically grow on a hard bottom, so I was keying on little openings in those." His go-to bait was a soft stickbait, but he also threw a buzzbait, but caught the majority of his keepers on the Bass Pros Shops Stick O. He popped 28-01 on the first day and was a fixture in the top 5 the rest of the event. He ran to Lake Kissimmee three of the four days, opting to stay in Toho on day 3. "I stuck with a pattern all week," he said. "I caught most of my fish in 3 to 5 feet."

Worm gear: 7' heavy-action Carbon Lite casting rod, Johnny Morris signature series casting reel (6.4:1 ratio), 17- and 20-pound XPS fluorocarbon line, 1/16- and 3/16-oz. tungsten slip sinkers, 3/0 Gamakatsu Finesse Heavy Cover hook, 6" Stick-O (green-pumpkin), Zoom Magnum Speed Worm (junebug).

Main factor: "That face that my wife and I had had several big bites in practice and that zeroed me in what they were doing and it paid off for me."

Performance edge: "My Power-Poles and Lowrance electronics, not so much for the depth but for the course extension features. You can pinpoint a spot 20 miles down the lake and go directly to it."

Lake Toho 2-5 Patterns BassFan 3/11/15 (Todd Ceisner)

Toho will always hold fond memories for Clausen, who won the 2006 Bassmaster Classic there to become youngest millionaire in the sport. He fished a few memories last week - Jack's Slough was where he won the Classic, but he said it got hammered pretty hard during the Tour event - but he was mostly focused on scattered clumps of lily pads and Kissimmee grass. He caught all of his weigh-in fish on Z-Man's version of the Senko - the ZinkerZ. "The spawn drags out so long here," he said. "I think a lot of them had spawned already and there are still a lot that haven't spawned. In Florida, you can probably come here in November and find some on beds and come back in May and still find them there." With the weather pattern leading into the event, he was sure there'd be a wave of fish moving on beds, but he surprised at how few were there. "For the most part, all of my better fish were out deeper in 4 to 5 feet," he said. "I could get in shallow and get more bites, but not the quality you'd catch out deeper. There were few bites to be had out deep, but they were usually better ones."

Worm gear: 7'9" extra-heavy Megabass Orochi XX casting rod, unnamed casting reel, 16-pound Gamma Edge fluorocarbon line, 1/8- and 1/4-oz. unnamed slip sinker, 4/0 unnamed straight shank hook, Z-Man ZinkerZ (black/blue).

Main factor: "Just keeping an open mind and keeping that bait/rod/line setup in my hand. I had confidence in knowing that would work and in finding new areas."

Performance edge: "There's no way I could've caught them that well without my Power-Poles. The way the wind was blowing, you could never get up wind and fish effectively. I put wind at my back, put the poles down and was able to be efficient."

Lake Toho 2-5 Patterns BassFan 3/11/15 (Todd Ceisner)