Pro Circuit Championship Comes to Big Toho Sept. 18-20; Lake Bessie Ramp Closed Two Weeks

Major League Fishing runs its Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Championship on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes Sept. 18-20, out of Big Toho Marina in Kissimmee, with up to $135,000 to the winner.

Results

Clayburn Reed and Clay Reed won the ninth and final Xtreme Bass Series Kissimmee division event Aug. 30, topping a 19-boat field with 16.95 pounds on a three-bass limit. Kyle Brewer and Cheryl Brewer took the Visit Central Florida Sports big bass with a 7.69-pound kicker. Andrew Ready and Jonathan Waters locked up the division points championship in the same event, which puts them in the Team of the Year race at the Falcon Boats Xtreme Bass Series Championship.

Coming Up

The championship closes a six-stop Pro Circuit season. Banks Shaw comes in holding the 7 Brew Angler of the Year title for the second year running, clinched at the regular-season finale on Lake Champlain in Plattsburgh, New York, July 24-26. Shaw finished the points race with 1,141 to Ryan Lachniet's 1,126. Cal Lane won that Champlain event outright.

Worth Knowing

Windermere closed the Lake Bessie boat ramp for roughly two weeks, announced Sept. 4. New sod along the Lake Bessie lakefront, installed as part of the Bessie and Butler Stormwater Improvement Project, needs time to establish before traffic returns.

Tropical moisture moving across the state at the start of the month cut Orlando's summer-season rainfall deficit to just under 6.5 inches, though Central Florida still recorded its 17th-driest summer on record. Roughly 52% of Florida remained in drought as of Sept. 1.

The Southwest Florida Water Management District's Modified Phase III extreme water shortage order holds through Oct. 1, keeping landscape irrigation at one day per week across the district, private wells included.

Central Florida's driest year on record has dropped levels on the Clermont Chain far enough that part of the Clermont city boat ramp has been shut since late July. Orlando was running 15.29 inches below its normal year-to-date rainfall.