John Murray – Harris Chain Behind Us Harris and on to the St. John’s River

Well, the first tournament of the season is behind me, and I’m okay with how it turned out.

Of course I would have liked to have finished higher than 47th place, but I took a chance on Saturday at moving way up in the standings, but it didn’t work out.

I’d been fishing in the same pond with Steven Browning, Kevin Wirth and Cliff Crochet, and when it the bite in there died on the third day; I decided to go look for some bigger fish in a different area.

I caught two small fish early, then I pulled up the MotorGuide and ran an hour through locks and canals to Lake Harris, and didn’t catch anything. Then it was an hour back, and by then, it was really time to start heading back to weigh-in.

I came to the scales with only three little fish, but it was that best day to have that happen. My 47th place finish was worth a paycheck, and some good points in the Angler of the Year standings.

My pattern for the week revolved around a Phenix Vibrating Jig and Flipping a Zoom Lizard; I caught my biggest fish of the tournament on the Vibrating Jig, but my best overall quality came on the lizard. I threw the jig on a Powell Endurance 764; an Ardent XS1000 spooled with 17-pound-test fluorocarbon. My Flipping set up was the Endurance 774 Flippin’ Stick with my XS1000 and 1/4-ounce River2Sea Tungsten weight on a 4/0 heavy hook.

I have to say how impressed I am with my new Verado 250 Pro Four Stroke. Not only did my Ranger Z521 hit 69.7 MPH with a full tournament load and full livewells, but I only ran one full tank of fuel through it for the week. I am really happy with this motor.

Even though I wanted a higher finish, I’ll take it, and head to the St. John’s River to start practice for this week’s tournament.

It was great to have Amy and T.J. here, the motor home worked out really well, and they both enjoyed themselves.

Amy had fun with the other wives. She got a chance to0 get to know some more of them at Becky Iaconelli and Norma McCaghren’s baby shower; which she really enjoyed. T.J. had a blast being a boy in the campground. He played in the dirt and got all banged and bruised trying to climb around the Cypress knees; which he didn’t seem to enjoy too much.

We’ve gone the hour over to the St. John’s River, and we’re all set up and ready for the week, we’ll talk to you next week.

www.johnmurayfishing.com