There are eight lakes and 64,120 surface acres of tournament water for the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at the Harris Chain. That total number isn’t daunting. Alabama’s Lake Guntersville is 67,900 acres. However, moving between these lakes, through the various idle zones in canals and locks is a time-killer.
“The thing about this place is it’s so spread out,” said Drew Cook after practice concluded yesterday. “I’ve got an 11-pounder (on a spawning bed) in one lake that I want to start on. But I haven’t found a place I can hunker down in. That can kill you if you don’t have that.”
It will be interesting to chart the travel of the 94 Elite Series anglers this week. Drew Benton didn’t know where he was going to start this morning as his three-day practice period concluded yesterday.
“This is the most confused I’ve been in Florida this time of year in a long time,” Benton said. “I’ll tell you how bad it is. I don’t know where I’m going to start (Thursday). If you make a mistake and start on the wrong place, you can waste three or four hours of your day just moving around. It’s definitely a unique place with different challenges.”