Considered one of the best bass lakes in the country, Okeechobee is capable of producing serious weights… provided the weather cooperates. All of us knew that going in. What we weren’t aware of was the amount of habitat loss the lake had suffered — some from Hurricane Ian, the rest due to indiscriminate spraying of aquatic herbicides.

As a result, most of the Okeechobee’s storied waters were rendered useless. Places like J&S, the Monkey Box, Fish Eating Bay, and East Wall— areas that were once lush are now barren. And without healthy vegetation to filter the water, those historic spawning areas have been reduced to silted wastelands.

With that in mind, I began my search for the few remaining areas the lake had to offer.

Practice Begins

Launching on the northwest shore at Harney Pond Canal, my first stops were to various parts of Horse Island — a noted spawning flat that protrudes into the lake.

The wind was howling from the start, and by mid-morning, it was blowing steadily at 30 miles per hour.

Keeping the gusts to my back, I made controlled drifts across fields of topped-out vegetation — including dollar weed, hyacinths, eelgrass, pondweed, cattails and bulrush. The area was beautiful, but I knew it would attract other anglers. So after catching a couple of solid fish in one small area, I continued north along the bank, traversing from shallow to deep and back again.

My lure selection included a ½-ounce black and blue Chatterbait with Zako trailer, a bream-colored swim jig, Texas-rigged Speed Senko and several variations of standard Senko rigs — all in black and blue.

By day’s end, I found only two other spots that had any potential.

On day 2, I headed south to Bay Bottom — a section of the lake surrounded by a huge wall of reeds. It looked perfect. But after several hours of trying, all I caught were a few small buck bass. I then moved north into Moonshine Bay — a gin-clear part of the lake protected by the Monkey Box and Observation Shoal.

Although it looked promising, I only caught a few 1½- to 2-pound fish.

On the final day of practice, I returned to the North Shore to expand on what I had found earlier. Immediately, I noticed a spike in the amount of traffic the area was receiving. Strong north winds had pulled others to the lee side of the lake, and I knew it would be a crowded affair in the actual competition.

Derby Time

Drawing out in the third flight, I figured the better sections of Horse Island would be covered up. When I arrived, however, that wasn’t the case. There were a number of locals and other competitor boats, but only two within range of where I wanted to start … fellow pros Steve Kennedy and Brandon Card. Swapping blows for more than an hour, we each began culling up to bigger fish.

Sometime around 10:30, I hooked and landed an 8-pounder. Having already boated one over five, I knew I was on my way to a solid weight. But little did I know how good it would really get.

After a lull of an hour or so, I decided to move into an adjacent pond. That’s when the sparks flew. In minutes I scored another over six pounds. An hour later, I boated one well over eight. I told my marshal we were pushing 30 pounds, and that I wanted to work my way back to weigh-in.

At the scales, I recorded a 5-fish limit weighing of 28 pounds, 11 ounces … which put me solidly in the lead. After a string of interviews, I headed to refuel and then back to the hotel to prepare my equipment.

The next morning, when I approached my sweet spot on Horse Island, I noticed some additional boats. And by the time I made my first few casts, even more, funneled in. Determined to defend the best area, I dropped the Power-Poles and stared down any would-be intruders.

That worked for a while, but eventually, I had to move to new water. The minutes were turning to hours and by day’s end, I was stuck with a 10-pound bag. It was a bitter ending to a day filled with high hopes. Although I expected some added pressure in my key area, I thought having the lead might buy me some extra space.

That wasn’t the case. My sweet spot had become a community hole.

Fishing on the Weekend

Although I easily made the cut, my aim was to get back inside the Top 10. When I reached Horse Island, however, the area was swarming with weekenders and guides.

I tried fishing the periphery, thinking all the added boat traffic might push the fish to me, but that didn’t play out. And by day’s end, I was two short of a limit and plummeted in the standings.

Looking back, I probably should have been more aggressive and bumped rails with the other boats. But at my age, on-the-water conflict is something I try to avoid.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad finish. I had a banner day to open the season and, hopefully, that will carry me to another solid finish in the next event.

Stay tuned…