KISSIMMEE, Fla. (Feb. 7, 2019) – Pro John Cox of DeBary, Florida, hauled in a massive five-bass limit weighing 31 pounds, 9 ounces – the largest limit ever weighed in FLW Tour competition at Lake Toho – to grab the lead after day one of the FLW Tournament at Lake Toho. Cox will bring a 6-pound, 10-ounce advantage over second-place pro John Voyles of Petersburg, Indiana, into Day Two of the four-day tournament that features 170 of the world’s most decorated bass-fishing professionals casting for a top award of up to $125,000 cash.
“When I got up this morning, I was just excited to go fishing,” said Cox, the 2016 FLW Cup Champion who has more than $1.1 million in career earnings. “The weather was warm – for once – and it was going to be sunny and not windy. It was an awesome day.
“I ran a ton of spots. I ran all around this lake [Toho] and then went down and ran around the other lakes and just kept spot-hopping,” continued Cox. “I caught one good one early and then it was steady – you’d get one here, get one there.”
Cox said he made roughly 30 stops throughout the day.
“I tried to do the sight-fishing thing, but there’s just no movement. There’s no fish moving,” said Cox. “There’s a few fish still there, but most of them left for some reason, so I just started fishing and caught two good ones.”
One of Cox’s two “good ones” was a 10-pound, 9-ouncer that he wrangled a bit deeper using a Berkley Windup Worm. It ended up being the third-largest bass ever weighed in FLW Tour competition at Lake Toho. Overall, three of Cox’s fish came from beds, and two came from the Windup Worm. He said he culled three times as well.
“I’m not sure what I’ll do tomorrow – probably run a lot of the same spots.”
The top 10 pros after day one on Lake Toho are:
1st: John Cox, DeBary, Fla., five bass, 31-9
2nd: John Voyles, Petersburg, Ind., five bass, 24-15
3rd: Scott Martin, Clewiston, Fla., five bass, 24-12
4th: Austin Wilson, Citrus Heights, Calif., five bass, 21-11
5th: Polaris pro David Dudley, Lynchburg, Va., five bass, 21-10
6th: Buddy Gross, Chickamauga, Ga., five bass, 21-7
7th: Ron Nelson, Berrien Springs, Mich., five bass, 21-6
8th: Wade Strelic, Alpine, Cal., five bass, 21-4
9th: Aaron Britt, Yuba City, Calif., five bass, 21-2
10th: Billy McCaghren, Mayflower, Ark., five bass, 19-10
10th: Jim Jones, Big Bend, Wis., five bass, 19-10
https://www.bassresource.com
Cox’s 10-pound, 9-ounce largemouth was the heaviest fish weighed in the pro division Thursday, and earned him the day’s Big Bass Award of $500. Overall there were 815 bass weighing 2,032 pounds, 9 ounces caught by 169 pros Thursday. The catch included 154 five-bass limits.