Decisions, decisions
Stable weather has top 10 pros wondering which way to go on Lake Okeechobee
CLEWISTON, Fla. – Bass fishing is a game of decisions and adjustments. Normally, anglers try to adapt to deteriorating weather conditions that make fishing tough.
Today the top 10 pros and top 10 co-anglers in the $262,000 EverStart Series Southeast Division event on Lake Okeechobee will have the opposite problem. Stable weather has graced Florida for nearly six days in a row, and the water is clearing by the hour on the Big O, making fishing opportunities more abundant – and decisions more difficult.
Specifically, the water is clearing on the southern end of Okeechobee and it has suddenly become a factor.
Yesterday, Pedigree pro Steve Kennedy of Auburn, Ala., caught a huge sack of bass weighing 27 pounds, 5 ounces from the southern end of the lake.
And now the thought of big bass moving into clearer waters in South Bay is starting to weigh on other competitors’ minds, too.
Third-place pro Daryl Deka of Wellington, Fla., is an Okeechobee local, and despite sacking up more than 36 pounds of bass from the northern end over the last two days, he’s convinced that south is the way to go today.
“The conditions are right and it’s Friday, so the Saturday crowd won’t be fishing down there yet,” he said. “This is the day to catch a big bag south. Tomorrow it will be covered up with locals.”
Second-place pro Chad Morgenthaler of Coulterville, Ill., who has been fishing the Monkey Box the last two days, wants to gamble on a southerly move today as well.
“South Bay is the wild card in this game right now, and it could pay big dividends today,” he commented.
Meanwhile, pro leader J.T. Kenney of Frostburg, Md., is ready to dance with what brought him: flipping matted grass in the Monkey Box.
“I have no reason to change where I’m going or what I’m doing,” said Kenney, who had just one flipping stick on his deck this morning.
The weather forecast for today calls for another stupendous fishing day on the Big O.
The weigh-in begins at 4 p.m. at the Clewiston Wal-Mart.
Friday’s conditions
Air temperature: 66 degrees
Water temperature: 65 degrees
Wind: calm
Day’s outlook: Mostly sunny, high of 79, winds from the east-southeast at 10 to 15 mph