Elite

A look at Harris Chain 2024

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Captions by
Mike Suchan
Five weeks since the historic event on Lake Fork, the 103 anglers in B.A.S.S.’s top circuit reconvene in Florida for back-to-back events, starting with the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Harris Chain, April 11-14.
This will be the fourth Elite tournament on the Harris Chain, the last of which was in 2022. The fishery, which has hosted a number of Opens, college and youth events in recent years, will be holding its 20th pro level tournament.
The Harris Chain of Lakes, just northwest of Orlando, is comprised of eight lakes of varying size that total around 75,000 square acres. At 30,000 acres, Lake Apopka is the largest and ranks fourth in Florida by size.
Venetian Gardens in Leesburg is tournament central, with launches, expo and weigh-ins at the Ski Beach on Lake Harris Drive. Takeoffs are scheduled for 7 a.m. ET, and weigh-ins will be at 3 p.m. ET daily. All B.A.S.S. venues are free to attend.
Florida usually kicks off the schedule, so competing there in April provides a twist. “I don’t feel that’s a big-weight tournament because of the time of the year,” veteran Greg Hackney said. “Fish will be skinny, probably most will be postspawn, but I think fishing will be better, as far as being able to get bites, the catch rates.”
Tennessee pro Buddy Gross won the last Elite there in February of 2022, catching 77 pounds, 11 ounces in Lake Harris’ southern end. “All my research says it’s not the same place … I think people are going to have to gamble on the locks, travel to try to catch them,” Gross said.
Elite veteran Bernie Schultz of Florida said he thinks good limits will be harder to find. “I think fish will be largely postspawn and scattered,” he said. “I think there will be a lot of bass guarding fry. Bigger postspawn females should have moved into thicker cover offshore. Where is anyone’s guess. It could be on brushpiles, mussel beds or deeper grass.”
Schultz expects crowds at the historically better areas, and anglers with early boat draws could get the jump. “I doubt a guy is going to be able to win in a highly pressured area,” Schultz said. “He’ll have to have something, or a couple of patterns to himself where he can exercise those patterns without a lot of competition.”
Schultz said stable weather could present some sight fishing opportunities, although Schultz doesn’t believe that will produce victory. But it is Florida, and big fish can be caught. In 2022, Clifford Pirch brought this 9-13 on the scales on Day 3.
Also on Day 3, Floridian John Cox spent more than three hours sight fishing for this 11-0 that earned the Phoenix Boat Big Bass of the event. Any double-digit fish would go a long way as Schultz expects around 18 pounds a day to compete for the title.
The weather will be stable during the week, with storms Forecast for Day 1.
The most recent event on the Harris Chain was the St. Croix Open in October 2023. Matt Messer won the two-day, weather-shortened event with almost 40 pounds. In that event, six anglers who became Elite Qualifiers posted Top 25 finishes.
One of those six was Trey McKinney, who became the youngest Elite winner at Fork on March 3, just seven days after his 19th birthday. Ben Milliken, another Elite rookie, had the best Harris Chain finish among the EQ six, and he and McKinney top the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year leaderboard after two events.
While Milliken is among the highest percentage anglers picked in Group A in Rapala Fantasy Fishing, sight-fishing aficionados like Drew Benton (above) and Drew Cook, along with Floridians Scott Martin and John Cox, are drawing a lot of play. The anglers had three days of practice to look at the puzzle before they attempt to piece it together starting Thursday.
Catch all the action on Bassmaster LIVE, beginning at 8 a.m. ET Thursday on Bassmaster.com. FS1 picks up Saturday coverage at 7:30 a.m. ET with Sunday’s show starting at 8.

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