After two days of warm, calm conditions, the final day of the Basspro.com Bassmaster Eastern Open on the Kissimmee Chain saw an approaching cold front shave off several degrees in air temperature and roil the lakes with strong east winds. Florida pro Scott Martin said the west sides of were blown out, but there was another challenge that was less intuitive.
Noting that he had trouble finding the spawners he was hoping to target, Martin said the wind so jostled the shallow vegetation that the usual spawning patterns were disrupted.
“The wind was blowing those lily pads so much, those stems were shaking back and forth,” Martin said. “The bucks (smaller males) were in there, but those big females don’t like to be in those pads when the stems are moving around like that.”