Ready Moves Ahead After Day 2 on the Harris Chain
LEESBURG, Fla. – A 19-year-old rookie fishing his first Toyota Series event has taken the lead in a field of nearly 200 pro anglers.
Andrew Ready of Auburndale, Florida, is starting to put together a whale of a week at the Harris Chain in the Toyota Series Presented by A.R.E. Southern Division event. After sacking up 21 pounds, 5 ounces to rank third on Day 1, he followed it up today with 20 pounds, 13 ounces to jump to the lead with 42 pounds, 2 ounces.
Fishing his first Toyota Series event, Ready is not only confident in his pattern, but he also keeps a calm head when adversities arise. On Friday, Ready had to deal with both a mechanical issue and a major change in the weather at the same time and still cracked 20 pounds.
“It was a bit of a challenging day,” Ready said. “I got off to a good start this morning, but then spun a hub on my prop. I had my dad bring me a new prop, got it installed, and then the weather went crazy with storms and wind. I only got to fish maybe five hours total, but I still got done what I needed to do to make sure I fish tomorrow.”
What’s more impressive is Ready’s dock skipping skills at 19 years of age. Most of his two-day total has come from skipping a floating frog so far up under docks that the only way to tell if a bass eats it is to hear the crushing “flush” from beneath the ultra-low platforms.
“That’s when you know to swing,” Ready said with a laugh. “It’s a sound you never forget; I hear it in my sleep. It’s so addictive.”
Ready honed his frog skipping skills on the Kissimmee and Winter Haven Chain during torturously hot summers. According to him, the hotter the better.
“Bluegills love to spawn around docks,” he said. “And that’s a big part of it. There are hundreds of bream around where I’m fishing.”
Ready only skipped his frog until about 9 o’clock and caught four good fish before his prop trouble occurred. Once he got that fixed and the storms hit, he used the weather to his advantage by going out into the main lake and fishing eelgrass with a spinnerbait – another tactic he learned from his home waters.
“For some reason, a spinnerbait is good in that eelgrass,” he said. “Weather helps that bite, so I pretty much did that the rest of the day to finish my limit.”
Top 10 Pros
1. Andrew Ready – 42 – 02 (10)
2. Austin Baskette – 40 – 04 (10)
3. Bobby Bakewell – 38 – 03 (10)
4. Christian Greico – 36 – 07 (10)
5. Dustin Smith – 35 – 15 (10)
6. Mike Surman – 35 – 02 (10)
7. Jonathan Semento – 34 – 14 (9)
8. Eric Conant – 34 – 09 (10)
9. Flint Davis – 34 – 06 (10)
10. Val Osinski – 34 – 02 (10)