It’s hard to believe that last event on Cherokee was the start of my fourth year on the Elite Series. Where does the time go? This is also the fourth year I’ve been writing these “How I Will Fish” articles. I hope they’re helpful to you all that read them. If we’ve fished there in the past three years you can go back and find my story about it going into the event.
This week we kick off the second Bassmaster Elite Series event of the year in the middle of the Sunshine State on Lake Okeechobee. After a decent finish at Cherokee two weeks ago to start the year I’m excited to hopefully keep that momentum going this week. I’ve only been to Okeechobee one time prior to this week. The last time I was here was in 2013 when B.A.S.S. had the wild card tournament here.
From what I’ve seen the lake is fishing better now than it did then, and I think we’ll see some big bags weighed in this week. One thing that is amazing to me is how much this place can change in a few years. I went back to some of my old waypoints from 2013, and the grass and everything looks completely different than I remembered it. I understand how it all happens with changing water levels and winter cold fronts and such, but it’s still amazing nonetheless.
Another thing about the place is just simply how big it is. It’s one thing to look at it on a map and read that it’s 30 miles long and 30 miles wide, but when you set out on the water it can be just a little bit intimidating. I was prepared for it this time, but last time I was here, I won’t lie, it threw me for a loop.
I suspect you’ll see several different patterns from the leaders this week. There are fish in all three stages of the spawn right now, and with the mild winter they’ve had down here in Florida I would say there are more postspawn fish now than there normally are this time of year. As usual you’ll see guys catching them flipping mats and reeds, but there will be fish caught on moving baits and topwaters as well.
As for me I’ll have a few different options to throw at them, but one staple in my arsenal every day I rig up for Florida is my mat flipping setup. It starts with the right rod and for me that’s a MHX-FP-936. It’s 7-foot, 9-inch in length which is the perfect length for a punching rod in my opinion. It has plenty of power to get these big fish out of the nastiest cover too. Pair it up with a high-speed reel, 60-pound Vicious No-Fade braid, a 1-1/2 ounce tungsten weight and a Mustad 3X Grip Pin Max flipping hook and you’re good to go.
For baits a sturdy compact creature bait will get the job done, and this week I’ve been testing a couple new ones in development from a company I’ve been working with. It’s very exciting to see a bait come from concept to reality. It’s really exciting to catch fish on them in a tournament too. Let’s hope they’re the right ones.