Fishing is a give-and-take proposition. For one thing to happen, you must forego something else. Flip here and you can’t fish there. Pick up this bait and you chose against the other options.
Same goes for time management. Every day, an angler must decide how much of their allotted time to spend running and how much fishing.
Brady Vernon knows this truth well. He ran to Lake Apopka on Day 1 and caught a 17th-place bag of 14-7. The Alabama pro believes greater fortune awaits, so he’ll commit his second and final day to these distant water.
“I came here 100 percent committed to Apopka,” Vernon said. “There’s big ones there and that’s how you win.”
Running about an hour and a half each way, Vernon’s giving up approximately 3 hours of his fishing day in hopes of taking some of Apopka’s well-known quality back to the weigh-in stage.
The Run
Florida’s fourth-largest lake, the spring-fed Apopka covers about 30,900 acres and forms the headwaters of the Ocklawaha River and the Harris Chain. Rich with grass, reeds and other habitat, the lake’s distance from Leesburg-based tournament sites typically discourages most of the field, so those committing to the run often find little competition.
From takeoff at Venetian Gardens on the west side of Lake Harris, reaching Apopka requires anglers to run northeast across the lake, take the Dead River into Lake Eustis, then link down to Lake Dora through its namesake canal. On Dora’s east side, you’ll take the channel down to Lake Beauclair, run to the southwest corner and follow the Apopka-Beauclair Canal down to Apopka.
About midway through that canal, the Apopka-Beauclair Lock controls further access. This is where the pressure starts to mount, as waiting on a lock can heighten the anxiety.
Another Day
Vernon weighed early on Day 1, but with a later Day 2 flight, he said he feels comfortable with his decision.
“I have a longer day (today), so maybe I can come out of there with 20 pounds,” Vernon said. “I think these fish bite in the afternoon, so I’ll have a little more time to catch a big bag.”
Flipping and frogging produced his first-round weight. Would he change anything for Day 2? Only in the meteorological sense.
“I think the lack of wind was (a limitation) on Day 1,” Vernon said. “It was slick calm and I don’t think these fish bite when there’s not a ripple on the water. It was very tough and I was very blessed with what I caught.”
