Immediately following the opener on the St. Johns River, the entire field of anglers moved to Lake Okeechobee for Stop 2 of the Bassmaster Elite Series.

Considered one of the best lakes in Florida, Okeechobee has suffered in recent years. A combination of major storms with excessive aquatic weed control has left the lake barren of numerous plant types — most of which provide water filtration and ideal habitat for bass and the forage they seek.

In years past, more than 70 percent of the lake was productive. That number has since been drastically reduced … the result of which puts tremendous angling pressure on the remaining healthy sections. Complicating things further, the lake is in an aggressive drawdown phase.

Knowing that, I prepared myself for the challenge ahead.

Practice Begins

On day-1 of practice, I launched at Scott Driver State Park — our official headquarters for the event. From there, I moved into the Kissimmee River to try several stretches of floating hyacinths and hydrocotyle. The air temperature was in the fifties and dropping, but the water was warm. I figured the river might offer the most stable conditions.

My soft-plastics selection included a 5-inchYamamoto Senko in black with blue tail, Texas-rigged with a 1/4-ounce weight; Speed Senko in watermen-red, rigged Texas style with a 1/8-ounce weight; Flappin’ Hog in watermelon-red, rigged with a 3/4-ounce punching weight; and a Ribbit surface frog rigged on a weighted 4/0 EWG Gamakatsu hook.

My hard baits included a Shimano World Minnow in a shiner pattern, 1/2-ounce Bill Lewis Rat-L-Trap in chrome-blue and a Rapala X-Prop in olive-gold.

Alternating those baits, I moved through several stretches of the river without much action. By mid-morning, I decided to try a canal system to the west. There I found a number of bedding bass, all of which were small. With them were countless tilapia and other rough fish.

Although the area appeared quite active, I didn’t see the potential for big bass.

The rest of the day was spent scouting main-lake grassbeds from King’s Bar to Horse Island. Sometime in the afternoon, I found what I was looking for — an inside stretch of eelgrass and dollar pads in reasonably clear water. I knew immediately it had the right ingredients. All it needed was a few days of warming temperatures.

On day-2, I launched at Harney Pond Canal and motored over to Fish Eating Creek. The lake was extremely low and falling. Trying to reach the creekmouth was a challenge. I ran aground several times while idling in super shallow water. It was aggravating, but I was determined to access the creek. About the time I got close, young Trey McKinney blew by me on pad, snaking his way into the creekbed. How he knew to navigate the flat at high speed seemed suspect. Only a highly experienced local would have known how to pull that off.

After witnessing that, I decided to move to another part of the bay, where I located some small schooling bass. From there, I moved into the Rim Ditch west of Fish Eating Bay. Again, I found fish, but not in the numbers or size needed to do well in the event.

My last stop was to the Monkey Box where, again, I found schooling bass in the 1½-pound class.

On the final day of practice, I drove south to Slim’s Fish Camp in Belle Glade. My first stop was to a stretch of lily pads just inside Boy Scout Cut. Realizing they were too shallow to hold any numbers of fish, I then ventured out onto the flat to try some deeper, isolated reed clumps. There I scored a couple of nice fish, but nothing more.

My next stop was to a dynamite hole, where I shook off several fish. One in particular felt big. Seeing that potential, I filed it away and trailered back north to try Taylor Creek. 

There, I found numbers of male bass defending their nests. Catching them was easy, but after several hours of trying, the biggest was only 2½ pounds. I didn’t feel it was enough, so I wrote the area off and headed back to prepare my gear for the competition ahead.

Tournament Time 

Drawing out in the third flight, I watched as the anglers ahead of me exited take-off at Scott Driver State Park. To my surprise, a number headed north, up the Kissimmee River. The rest went south into the lake.

When my number was called, I took the southerly route and headed to the eelgrass bed west of Tin House Cove. When I arrived, I noticed a number of other competitors — including Drew Benton, Dakota Ebare, Jordan Lee, Beau Browning, Cory and Chris Johnston, Keith Combs and a few others. Normally that would seem like too much pressure, but it was a big area and all of it looked good. 

Minutes into the round, I could see the fish weren’t cooperating. Hardly anything was being caught.

Eventually Drew Benton approached to see how I was doing. After hearing I had only one small keeper, he circled back to his starting point. I decided to pull the trolling motor and head to Horse Island, to a spot holding a number of small schooling bass.

Within minutes, I was hooking up. And just as I put my fourth keeper in the livewell, Drew pulled into the opposite side of the cove. There, he caught a quick limit and then left. I stayed and caught fish after fish, none of which were tournament grade. Eventually, I decided to run south to Belle Glade, to try the spot where I shook off the big bass during practice.

Thirty minutes later, I idled into a protected pond and began casting. I needed a bigger bite, but as the minutes turned to hours, all I caught were more small keepers. It was so frustrating, and I was running out of time. With an hour left to fish, I raced back to the mouth of the Kissimmee River in hopes of finishing there.

Unfortunately, when it was time for weigh-in, I registered the smallest limit in the field — 5 pounds, 5 ounces. It was disheartening. To catch so many keepers and end up with such small weight.

The next day had to be better…

One Last Chance

The following morning, the temperature was much warmer, so I decided to try the eelgrass bed west of Tin House Cove once more. This time, however, I started at the opposite end.

 Within minutes, I hooked and boated a solid 4-pounder, and that gave me hope.

A little while later, I connected with another 4-pounder. At that point, I decided to commit to the area for the remainder of the day … and it proved to be a good decision.

A while later, I moved to a shallow kicker trail and found several occupied beds. The first fish I connected with weighed better than 3 pounds. The next was a solid 2-pounder. Eventually, I finished my limit and was culling. When weigh-in time came, I raced to Scott Driver State Park and put nearly 16 pounds of fish on the scales. Although I was a bit short of the two-day cut weight, it was a strong recovery from such a dismal start.

The next morning, I made an appearance on Bassmaster LIVE, then spent the remainder of the day working sponsor booths at the expo.

In all, it was a productive two weeks. If not for the slow start on day 1 of the Okeechobee event, it would have been a great Florida Swing. Nonetheless, I ended up with some solid points and I’m now looking ahead to the Carolina events.

Stay tuned…