Derek invited me to contribute to this awesome blog, and we agreed that continuing the Okeechobee story was a good way to go. In order to put my entry into context, I strongly suggest you read The Holy Grail and Lake Okeechobee Report which set the stage for two twitter friends who have never met getting together on the Big O plus Derek's summary of our day. You can also watch Lake Okeechobee Christmas Special which visually puts into context the rest of this piece.
Now that you have the context, I will break down what I found in Friday practice and the Saturday BFL Gator Division opener on Lake Okeechobee. What you see in the video is a large school of pre-spawn fish fresh off the lake staging and feeding on a large concentration of shad. The area is one long flat that is 3 to 6 foot deep with deep channels on both sides. On the flat there is a mix of grasses, cane and lily pads.
We caught many quality fish and figured our best 5 probably went 16 to 18 pounds. Even though we were over 3 weeks out, I had a good sense that they would still be doing this come tournament time. This is a perfect staging area for pre-spawners fresh off the main lake. When Friday practice arrived, my son and I made a fast run directly to this spot and graphed the area. I saw exactly what I needed to see.
The school was still there, the bait was still there, and the bass were actively feeding. Bingo! Exactly what I had spent three weeks dreaming about. My son and I fished around the flats to see if any of them had pulled up shallow into the cover, but I left the schooling fish alone. We went on to flip and cast in multiple areas in and around South Bay and Pelican Bay on the southern end of the lake. We saw everything in my back up areas that we needed to see and found more quality fish including this solid 4lb gal.
We rounded out the day throwing spinner baits on rip rap banks in the rim canal which has always been a good way to pick up a few keepers and fill a limit if necessary. Overall I was elated. My big school was still home and very active. My back up areas were solid and the fish were eating all over the south end of the lake. I knew I was going to have a 20 pound bag by the end of the day.
Like all good practices, everything changed over night. Friday the conditions were stable with light winds and overcast with a few showers. Saturday the winds jumped up in the 15 to 20 mph range with blue bird skies. When I ran to the first spot, I had a feeling things were not going to work out. The wind was creating a current that was blowing through my area. I was still graphing the fish, but the shad was gone and the fish were in tight groups on the breaks. I assume the shad got blown out into the main lake and the fish were staying out of the worst of the current. But they were still there, and I had to try.
My co-angler and I spent close to 3 hours fighting the wind and trying to get the school to eat or at least fire up long enough to catch a few good ones. I did catch two small keepers on the outside edge of the lily pads up on the flat. My co-angler who was now ready to strangle me caught one small keeper on the shallow bank edge across the channel. I had promised myself that I would invest the time, it didn't pan out, so we moved on. Sadly my primary backup area in Pelican Bay was no better. It was setup in the same wind as the first spot, but the water was still clean, and we had much better cover. I idled way back into the 'junk' so that we could fish it and then let the wind do the majority of the work fishing our way back out again. About every 25 yards or so, I would Talon us down while we made casts to all of the visible grassy targets in that area. Then I let the wind move us another 25 yards and repeated the process. It allowed us to cover a lot of ground without standing on the trolling motor the entire time. I caught one more small keeper during this process. But the big bites from this area the day before were simply gone. I kept us moving with the wind but would push us on different angles to try as many different types of grass in the area as possible. Given the bright sun overhead I had confidence that they would be up tight to the different pockets of grass, cane, and lily pads. At this point we had about 2 1/2 hours left of fishing time before our 3:30 check in time. Still without a limit, but hoping to salvage something from my first primary area where I knew the big ones were still around, we moved back to the first spot, but this time I used the Talon to lock us down on the shallow edge of the deeper channel and fired at the schools a few last times. Neither concentration of fish (still proudly gripping tightly to the channel break edge) would give us a bite. I only used a half hour for the final attempts. With 2 hours remaining, we blasted around the rim ditch to find one or two of my rip rap spots that was out of the wind.
Luckily Plan C at least got us on fish. Within minutes my co-angler caught a nice keeper close to three pounds. The best fish of the day for the boat I am sad to say, but I was glad my co had a nice one in the box. Over the next hour or so we both filled our limits. As small as they were, I had some pride that I didn't give in and still scrambled out a limit while putting my co on enough fish for him to limit as well. I spent six years on the backs of boats, and I know it can be tough. I always make a point of hitting areas like this for my co-anglers to fill out limits. I had a few boaters do that for me over the years and it always meant a lot.
I finished with 7lbs 10oz in 181st place out of 229 boats. Just typing that makes my skin crawl. But that is the reality of a small limit on Okeechobee. It took 27lbs to win it, 19 pounds to make the top 10, and 12.5 lbs to cut a check. FLW Results Needless to say this is not how I thought I was going to finish given how great my practice days were. However, I always try to find the win in the loss so to speak. So, here are the silver linings. My brand new Big Bear Fishing rods were exceptional. I joined the Big Bear team this year, and these rods are already making a huge difference in my game. My sponsor's baits worked like they always do. Part of why I trust and market them the way that I do. Three of my keepers came on a Lock Jaw Jigs 1/4 oz 3D Eye jig
In summary, I am proud of my performance running the front of the boat in an FLW Gator division that is stacked with big time bass talent. I am thankful to my sponsors that help me live this dream, part time as it may be. It is truly a dream come true for me. Many thanks to Derek and Bounty Hunter Outdoor Adventures, Mister Twister, Lock Jaw Jigs, Toho Marine, and Big Bear Fishing Rods. I am also a recent convert and devout believer in Rage Liquid Mayhem fish attractants. I am mostly thankful for an amazing wife who takes the brunt of our complicated life, so that I can pursue this passion.
Watch the video link above. You will be a believer too.
Tight Lines and Thanks for reading.
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