OKEECHOBEE, Fla. — Yes, there is considerably less clear water and aquatic vegetation in Lake Okeechobee than the last time the Bassmaster Elite Series came here in 2012. But one thing hasn’t changed – the most important thing – the bass fishing.
Contrary to all predictions, Lake Okeechobee actually fished better Thursday, on Day 1 of the A.R.E. Truck Caps Bassmaster Elite, than it did on the first day in 2012. No one saw this coming, especially Ott DeFoe, who caught a tournament leading five-bass limit weighing 31-3 Thursday.
“That kind of weight was totally unexpected,” DeFoe said. “I would have been happy with 31 pounds over TWO days.”
Randall Tharp, who won an FLW tour event in 2012 here with 104 pounds, didn’t see this coming either.
“I keep track of what’s going on here pretty closely,” Tharp said. “The biggest bag that’s been caught all year on this lake is 27 pounds.”
That’s the only category where Thursday’s numbers didn’t match those of the Elite Series event on March 22, 2012, when eventual winner Ish Monroe opened with 34-5 limit. Big bass, percentage of limits, average bass weighed-in and the weights down to 75th place were higher Thursday than in 2012.
On one hand, it’s not surprising. Lake Okeechobee has always been one of the top bass fishing lakes in the country, even when it’s not in prime shape. But the lack of water clarity and vegetation had everybody thinking the lake couldn’t possibly match the 2012 totals. It hadn’t been producing numbers like that, not just in months, but years.
“It’s been taking about 21, 22 pounds a day to win,” Monroe said Wednesday. “We’ve not seen those (2012) weights here since then. And it won’t be like that again for another four or five years.”
So it’s back to the future, apparently, at Lake Okeechobee.
DeFoe thinks another 30-pound bag this week is possible, just like it always is here.
“It’s Okeechobee,” he said. “It can happen every day of the week. My odds of doing it are probably slim, but it can happen every single day of the week on this place.”
Mark Davis is in 15th place with 19-0. His long career includes a Bassmaster Classic win and three Bassmaster Angler of the Year titles. Davis ranks Okeechobee among his favorite lakes of all time.
“In my honest opinion, Florida bass fishing as a whole is overrated,” Davis said. “There are big bass down here, but they’re hard to catch. Okeechobee is the exception. It’s full of fish. They act like bass are supposed to most of the time.
“It’s just unique. It’s changed a lot over the years, but it’s still a really, really special place.”
Lake Okeechobee simply was unexpectedly special Thursday.