OKEECHOBEE, Fla. − Are you standing atop the leaderboard or scratching the bottom of the barrel in your fantasy leagues? Regardless of the answer, take some advice from our Elite Series anglers and who they would consider and why for the 2012 Power-Pole Slam on Lake Okeechobee.
Coming off of a calm tidal system like St. Johns River, the anglers move on to a much bigger animal. A windy Lake Okeechobee filled with mazes of pencil reeds and matted vegetation. Ironically, the fantasy line-ups have remained constant in most regards.
Here is how they picked:
PAT GOLDEN
Either of the Lane brothers: "They're very familiar with Florida waters."
Todd Faircloth: "It's a flippin' bite, and he's good at it."
J. Todd Tucker: " He's been on a roll lately."
J. Todd Tucker
Chris Lane: "Because he's the best out here."
J. Todd Tucker: "I've been doing pretty good out here too."
Bobby Lane: "Also the one of the best out here."
Bradley Roy
Terry Scroggins: "Florida guy on Florida water."
Bobby Lane: "Bobby is a shallow water specialist."
Skeet Reese: "He's on a roll and coming off a bad year so he should do well."
Keith Combs
Bobby Lane: "Knows the water and should do good out here."
Terry Scroggins: "You can't count him out in Florida."
Kevin VanDam: "On the outside chance that flippin' won't be the only pattern, he'd be the guy to find it."
Byron Velvick
Bobby Lane: "He's on big fish"
Skeet Reese: "He's on bigger fish"
Ish Monroe: "He's really mad about last week so he's going to redeem himself this week."
Once again Florida-strain anglers are topping the overall choice for our Elite Series anglers. Local knowledge is always a critical factor when creating your team, but keep in mind that on the final day at St. Johns River, only one angler from Florida (Terry Scroggins) performed accordingly.