OKEECHOBEE, Fla. — There’s a bass fishing perfect storm brewing on Lake Okeechobee. That’s the only logical explanation for why this 467,000-acre monster of a lake is producing like it has the last two days in the A.R.E. Truck Caps Bassmaster Elite at Lake Okeechobee.
Over the past several months, in tournaments big and small, a typical winning five-bass bag has been 21 or 22 pounds, according to those with local knowledge. Add to that the negative factors this week of 1) dirty water, and 2) a decrease in aquatic vegetation, and it’s understandable why few thought Ish Monroe’s four-day 2012 Elite Series winning total of 108-5 would be approached.
But here we are, two days into this four-day event, leader Timmy Horton’s total weight is 56-3 and two 30-pound bags have hit the scales. Some anglers think it’s only going to get better over the final two days with stable weather and a new moon rising fully on Sunday.
“It’s definitely coming together, no doubt,” said Ott DeFoe, who had 31-3 on Day 1. “From what I’ve seen and other guys I’ve talked to, there’s stuff happening.”
It’s what Cliff Prince saw late Friday that has him fired up. He was in sixth place with 21-11 on Day 1. Yesterday he didn’t have a limit until about 11 o’clock. He finished with 21-6 for a fourth place total of 43-1.
“After what I saw at two o’clock, it looked like a whole other group was moving in,” said Prince, who now believes a 100-pound total is possible this week. “It’ll take more to win than what I thought coming in. I feel like there fish are coming. The fish I saw this afternoon weren’t there yesterday. It looked real promising to me.
“I caught them totally different yesterday. I didn’t catch any (sight-fishing) yesterday. Pretty much everything I weighed today was caught looking at ‘em.”
Jesse Tacoronte, who jumped from 78th place to 7th with 28-4, claims he hooked the bass to have weighed a 40-pound bag Friday. As it was, he had a 7-15 and a 7-13 in his bag.
Five bass totaling 40 pounds sounds farfetched. But there have been at least three 9-pounders weighed-in the last two days, and a dozen or more 8-pounders.
“There’s a 40-pound bag to be caught here,” Horton said. “You pull in the right place and it can happen really quick.”
Further indicating a perfect storm at Okeechobee is the chart below. Not just at the top, but up and down the standings, this tournament has unexpectedly produced higher numbers over the first two days than it did in 2012.
| Day 1, 2012 | Day 1, 2017 | |
| Total anglers | 99 | 110 |
| Bass weighed-in | 481 | 534 |
| Total weight | 1,249-6 | 1,492-1 |
| Ave. bass weighed-in | 2.60 lbs. | 2.79 lbs. |
| 5-bass limits | 92 | 103 |
| Pct. catching limit | 92.9% | 93.6% |
| Big bag | 34-5 | 31-3 |
| Big bass | 7-13 | 9-5 |
| 12th place | 18-11 | 19-9 |
| 25th place | 14-11 | 17-3 |
| 50th place | 12-1 | 13-10 |
| 75th place | 9-3 | 10-14 |
| Day 2, 2012 | Day 2, 2017 | |
| Total anglers | 99 | 110 |
| Bass weighed-in | 479 | 534 |
| Total weight | 1,241-5 | 1,481-1 |
| Ave. bass weighed-in | 2.59 lbs. | 2.77 lbs. |
| 5-bass limits | 93 | 105 |
| Pct. catching limit | 93.9% | 95.4% |
| Big bag | 24-15 | 30-4 |
| Big bass | 7-13 | 9-3 |
| 12th place | 33-13 | 35-12 |
| 25th place | 29-4 | 31-11 |
| 50th place | 25-10 | 28-0 |
| 75th place | 19-11 | 23-7 |
The totals above compare Days 1 and 2 at the Elite Series event on March 22-25, 2012, and Days 1 and 2 of the A.R.E. Truck Caps Bassmater Elite this week. A few notes are in order:
– 1) It’s not a typo: the exact same number of bass (534) were brought to the scales on Thursday and Friday this week;
– 2) A 7-13 largemouth took big bass honors on each of the first two days in 2012, first by Kevin Short, second by Kelly Jordon;
– 3) Eventual champion Ish Monroe had big bag on each of the first two days in 2012, with 34-5 followed by 24-15. Monroe had a 13-pound, 11-ounce lead on second-place Chris Lane after Day 2. Lane weighed-in 31-3 on Day 3 and cut the margin to 10 ounces going into the final day.