It was a cool sixty-eight-degree morning as Rodney Marks waited for his turn to blast off and start his long run to Lake Apopka for the first of two back-to-back days fishing in Phoniex BFL tournaments on the Harris Chain of Lakes. Paired with a young kid from the Lake Eustis area, they would have until 4 pm to catch a bag limit of five fish and return for the weigh-in. Boat 63 was getting up on plane as they sat in their seats and turned their hats backward in preparation to take off. As the announcer called on Boat 64, Rodney pushed the pedal, and they were off.
Rodney’s Run From Venetian Gardens to Lake Apopka.
Running from the boat ramp to Lake Apopka would take about an hour. They would head across Harris, through the dead river, then across Lake Eustis, then a twenty-minute idle on the Dora Canal, then across Lake Dora and into Lake Beauclair, before heading down the Apopka Canal through the lock and finally into Lake Apopka. While the run was a bit long, Rodney knew his best chance to place in the tournament would be fishing the lake he had spent the last six months fishing almost every day, looking for bass in deep water.
Finally able to start putting his Level Performance rods spooled with Sunline American fluorocarbon to work around 9:30 am; it would only take him an hour to put close to 19lbs of fish in the boat. Spending the next few hours continuing to catch and cull fish, using Golden Shinner Jack Hammer chatter bait, with a Strike King 3.25 Rage Swimmer lure. Though the thrill of catching fish is always hard to put an end to, Rodney didn’t want to burn out his spots for the next day’s tournament.
Making the hour-long run back to the weigh-in, Rodney waited patiently for his turn to weigh his bag of fish. The announcer finally called his name, and he placed his bag on the scale and stared at the screen, waiting for the total. 19lbs-11oz was the final weight, good enough to claim a sixth place, 9lbs behind the leader Alex Moore. A top-10 finish out of 200 boats would send him home with a decent check and reasonable confidence for the tournament the following day.
Mother Nature would throw the anglers a curve ball the following morning, with an overnight front passing through and the temperature dropping into the 40s to start the morning. Cloud cover and high winds made for a rough ride to Lake Apopka and would make it tough to have repeat success. Rodney would be putting his Battle Born trolling motor batteries to the test as he moved the boat into position.
The fishing was tough; by noon, he only had three fish in the boat, and all were at most 3 lbs. Knowing that was nowhere close to enough even to place, he decided to change tactics. Rotating between 3 spots spending about twenty minutes in each, he could catch his bag limit and cull all his original two-pounders for 3lb and 5lb fish in about two hours. Keeping an eye on the clock and knowing the run back to the ramp would take longer than usual, he decided to call it a day.
Rodney would again wait for his turn to weigh his bag while hoping to break into the top 5; he knew he had enough to at least place in the top 10. Standing anxiously at the scale, he waited for the announcer to call out his total. “With a total weight of 19lbs-15oz, Rodney Marks will move into sixth place,” the announcer said. As the remainder of the field weighed their bags, Rodney would hold the sixth place for back-to-back top 10 finishes for the weekend.
With two back-to-back days of great fishing and a few nice checks, Rodney will head to Lake Ockecobee to prepare for the upcoming Toyota Series tournament on March 30. With an earlier 9th place finish on the Harris Chain of Lake in February, Rodney will head into this tournament with significant momentum and a chance to win big on the national stage of pro bass fishing.
Stay tuned for all the updates from Rodney’s upcoming tournaments and tips and tricks from the Florida native as he continues to chase the top spot on the Major League Fishing tour.
Written by: Rick Stewart
