I just registered in the southern open on Toho as a co-angler and i was looking to hopefully chat with some other competitors before i make the trip down to Kissimee this January about what i should expect and how i should prepare. Also i was hoping to possibly link up and split the cost of a hotel room with someone and just wanted to know a few people before i got all the way down there. Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I'm not fishing it but bass will be spawning at that time, however, your pro may not be on that pattern. You're going to have to be prepared for just about anything.

You can get by with the following setups:

Punching

Weightless fluke, senko, 10" worm

Buzzfrog and/or soft plastic swimbait such as the RI Skinny Dipper

Whatever your favorite bed fishing setup is

In addition to this an early shad bite can be found in spots yeilding some topwater action or even action on squarebills, lipless' or sus. jerkbaits.

Anything can change with the weather. A front will shut them down and make the punching bite the go-to approach. A warming trend can can yield some fast and fun action on buzzfrogs and weightless swimbaits. Be prepared to follow up with a weightless worm.

what james said

You're going to be there a week after the full moon.  I would plan on targeting staging fish.  Skinny Dipper, toad, and an Ugly otter/ Mega bug for pitching.  I guarantee those three will pick up good fish your pro misses.

I am a co-angler as well and you have be prepared and ready to fish the style your pro will be fishing.  I am a shallow water power fisherman and 99.9% of the time, I am throwing spinnberbaits, chatterbaits, and crankbaits.  I am not good at finesse fishing with soft plastics or pitching/flipping a jig, but I have rods rigged up for that in the event that I get paired with a pro who does nothing but that, so I am ready to adapt and give it a shot.

There is no finesse fishing on Toho.

 

If you want any shot at winning you better start practicing your pitching.  If your pro sets up on a bed for an hour, you need to be pitching a Texas rigged black/blue something into every baseball size hole in the Kissimmee grass you can get to.  You are only allowed 3 fish and you will need 15 lbs a day to compete.  The only way to get that from the back of a boat is to pitch.

 

3/4 oz or heavier on a heavy rod with 65 lb braid.

I just registered in the southern open on Toho as a co-angler and i was looking to hopefully chat with some other competitors before i make the trip down to Kissimee this January about what i should expect and how i should prepare. Also i was hoping to possibly link up and split the cost of a hotel room with someone and just wanted to know a few people before i got all the way down there. Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

 

I am a co-angler as well and you have be prepared and ready to fish the style your pro will be fishing.  I am a shallow water power fisherman and 99.9% of the time, I am throwing spinnberbaits, chatterbaits, and crankbaits.  I am not good at finesse fishing with soft plastics or pitching/flipping a jig, but I have rods rigged up for that in the event that I get paired with a pro who does nothing but that, so I am ready to adapt and give it a shot.

 

Well how did you guys do?

I fell down in the bottom of the boat on day one and broke my hand so I had a tough tournament from the start. I braced it all up but I still had a lot of trouble pitching and setting the hook so I only managed 1 fish a day ( it was a miracle I even had that). It was a great experience regardless and I got to meet and hang out with every big name pro you could imagine so despite my performance I had a blast. I'll be back for redemption and next time I'm gonna kick toho's butt