When PartsVu team members Drew and Kamden Bradstreet hit the water for practice last week at the Harris Chain, the bite was tough. Little did they know that perseverance and hard work would pay dividends once again.
When all was said and done, Team PartsVu secured a 3rd place finish out of 136 high school teams at the Florida Bass Nation High School Fall Trail Event at the Harris Chain. The strong showing resulted in a second top-five finish in a row after a successful event on the St. Johns River less than a month ago. The Bradstreet team weighed in 17.63 pounds for their five fish limit, anchored by a giant 7.62 pounder, just ounces away from back-to-back tournaments with big bass honors.
The Harris Chain is located just North of Orlando in Leesburg, Florida. It is renowned as a mega venue for professional, college, high school, and amateur events. The fishery comprises nine fishable lakes with an approximate total acreage of 75,000 acres.
Led by senior Drew Bradstreet, the team used experience, background knowledge, and research to devise a plan of attack. According to Drew,
“At first glance, assessing a massive body of water like the Harris chain can be overwhelming.
“However, once we factored in the time of year, weather conditions, and prevailing bait, we were able to narrow down the chain from a very large area to several identifiable spots that we keyed in on.”
The Bradstreet brothers capitalized on fish that were set apart from fishing pressure. They focused their efforts on several different lakes in the chain, dissecting smaller areas within those lakes. Slowing down and picking apart isolated cover was pivotal to their success. Although tactics varied throughout the day, the foundation of their strategy was slow-moving baits. Kamden attributes much of the success to their use of soft plastics,
“We had three go-to soft plastics during the tournament. Throughout the day, we rotated between three 117 Fishing baits: a Flex Swimmer, a Sticktacular, and a Showdown. We caught between 35 and 40 fish, and each of those baits was equally important.”
The Bradstreet’s continue to march on through a long season, enjoying early success at the first three events of the circuit. Their next event is on Lake Seminole on the Florida/Georgia line in December.
For more information on how to get involved in junior and high school events, feel free to reach out to the team at info@bassfishinginsider.com or visit Florida Bass Nation.
