Despite only weighing in four bass totaling 9 pounds, 15 ounces that had him buried in 119th place after Day 1, Jonathan Semento of Okahumpka, Fla., rallied on the final two days – including a 25-03 final-day limit – to win the Toyota Series event at the Harris Chain of Lakes and claim the top payout of $80,500, including the $35,000 Phoenix MLF Contingency Bonus. Semento’s three-day total of 14 bass weighing 60-01 gave him the victory by a 3-12 margin over runner-up Andrew Ready of Auburndale, Fla., who caught 15 bass weighing 56-05 to finish second and earn $17,000.
The tournament was the third and final event of the regular season for the Southern Division.
“It feels great to come back from so far and win like this,” Semento told MLF reporter Rob Newell. “I was pretty frustrated that first day. But I knew those big fish were offshore and I just needed to relocate them. On the second day, I moved around a lot more and found them about 200 yards from where I caught them two weeks ago.
“What made it possible to relocate them was the fact that I had the whole lake to myself,” he added. “If 80 boats went over there every day, I wouldn’t have been able to hop around and fish as freely. Having no pressure over there was definitely a big key.”
The lake that Semento fished in was Lake Griffin, which was avoided by many tournament competitors after recent hydrilla spraying, algae blooms and rising water temperatures had colored the water into a hue that resembled pea soup. Despite the tougher conditions, Semento, had placed second in a local tournament after fishing in Griffin a couple of weeks ago and decided that he was going to stick with the lake for this event.
Semento’s key area in Griffin was a 100-yard stretch of clumpy eelgrass in 4 to 6 feet of water. To do his work, he utilized two ChatterBaits: one was a 3/8-ounce golden shiner color for shallower 4-foot clumps and the other was a 1/2-ounce chartreuse and white model for deeper clumps in 6 feet. He trailed both with Yamamoto Zakos in matching colors. He fished both on 15-pound P-Line.
“Sometimes with tournament fishing, it just comes down to being stubborn enough until it pays off,” Semento said. “Some people might think I was crazy to go right back over to Griffin after catching 9 pounds there the first day. But this fishing game can get personal, and it comes down to knowing you are doing the right thing even when your weigh-in ticket doesn’t reflect it the first day. I knew in my heart what lived there and I was determined to prove it.”
MLF Pro Circuit competitor Christian Greico won the division's Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 711 points.
