Lake Okeechobee tournament busts the scales
By FRANK SARGEANT | The Tampa Tribune
If you're even thinking about a bass fishing trip, right now is the time to go, and Lake Okeechobee is the place. The "Big O" not only broke the FLW all-time tournament catch record last weekend, it stomped that sucker flat, with the top four finishers all toppling the former maximum for a four-day event.
"We were catching 40 to 50 fish a day, most of them over 4 pounds," reported second-place finisher Randall Tharp of Gardendale, Ala., who turned in a catch of 20 fish with a total weight of 102.2 pounds for the four days.
Top gun was Brandon McMillan of nearby Belle Glade, who weighed in 106 pounds, 10 ounces. Chad Prough of Chipley was third at 100 pounds, 15 ounces, and Terry Scroggins of San Mateo was fourth with 99 pounds, 9 ounces. The former record of 95 pounds, 7 ounces, was set on Lake Guntersville in northern Alabama last year. Scroggins also had the big bass of the event with a 12-pound, 12-ounce monster.
While tournament fishing may not be the cup of tea for many recreational anglers, the amazing catches mean that Okeechobee is in prime shape this year, and that the spawn is peaking right on time. The big lake frequently kicks off a month or so earlier than lakes farther north in the state.
Most top competitors caught their bass along the north shore, where firm sand bottom and scattered bulrush reeds and sawgrass provided ideal habitat for fish seeking bedding areas. McMillan said he caught his fish by flippin' in grass mats with soft plastic crawfish imitations including the Gambler BB Cricket and the Bruiser Intruder fished with a 1-ounce sliding sinker. Flippin' is close-range fishing with a long rod; the hookups frequently come within 10 feet or less from the boat.
The tactic is to ease through floating duckweed and moss on the trolling motor and swing the heavily weighted lure into every tiny pothole through the cover. The bait is allowed to sink to bottom, jigged up and down a couple of times, and then hoisted straight up for another drop. It's demanding fishing, but it's the only effective way to fish such heavy cover without getting the line fouled. Because of the thick vegetation the fish rarely spook from the boat, even though the hookups often come right at the tip of the rod.
Some FLW anglers did well by sight-fishing bedding fish; bass typically bed in 2- to 5-foot depths. With calm water and high sun, it's possible to see the light-colored depressions they fan out for their eggs. Anglers pitch plastic worms or topwaters to the fish repeatedly to draw the bite. That strategy worked well the first three days of the tourney, but on the fourth day fog followed by wind made sight-fishing tough.
Okeechobee has had its ups and downs in recent years, with poor water quality moving fish out of thousands of acres of prime habitat at times. Drought also has a dramatic effect on the shallow lake, sometimes pulling water back a half-mile from the nearest grassy shoreline. Current water conditions are good, however; water levels are high, and the water is clean, FLW anglers said.
The excellent action on the 25-mile-wide lake was triggered by the last several weeks of warm weather. With water temperatures in the shallow flats rapidly approaching 70 degrees, thousands of fish have moved from the open-water depths to the shoreline where they are far easier to locate.
The full moon this week is also likely to push more spawning fish to the shallows; like many species, bass seem to spawn most heavily around the new and full moon periods, even though fresh waters are not tidally influenced as are coastal waters.
The FLW tourney was fished out of the Roland and Mary Ann Martin Marina in Clewiston, on the south side, which offers rental cabins, guides and a fully equipped tackle shop. There are other lake access points at Lakeport on the northwest side, and at the Kissimmee River and Okeechobee City on the north.
And for those who view fishing as a spectator sport â FLW's Fantasy Fishing payoff for Okeechobee and the McMillan win was $15,000, paid to a 75-year-old Illinois woman with the handle of "Fishin' Momma." The fantasy contest mirrors fantasy football leagues, but is funded from Jacobs Management, which owns the FLW tours.
Details are available at www.FantasyFishing.com.
