The Big O change-up

Different techniques coming to light at Stren Southeast

OKEECHOBEE, Fla. – When most bass anglers prepare for a fishing trip to Lake Okeechobee, they pack soft plastics, soft plastics and more soft plastics.

Given Okeechobee’s massive amount of vegetation, a plastic craw punched through a mat, or a big ribbon-tail worm slithered through the grass is hard to beat.

But with 4 feet of water missing from the lake, Okeechobee’s lush vegetative zone shrinks, and the lake becomes a different animal. Hard baits such as diving crankbaits, rattling lipless crankbaits and jerkbaits become a factor.

Currently two anglers in the top five, leader Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla., and third-place Matthew Parker of Whitesburg, Ga., are using hard baits to catch their fish.

Given his choice, Browne would take a flipping stick over a cranking rod any day, but things are different on the Big O this week.

“I tried the big stick for a couple of days, but it didn’t work for me,” Browne said this morning as he tied on a crankbait. “I caught a bunch of fish shallow, and they were all 2-pounders. So I had to switch up and try some other techniques for bigger fish.”

Browne’s search led him to cranking ledges, where he found a bevy of bigger fish.

“I’m cranking one long ledge in about 4 to 6 feet of water that has a bunch of rock, points and cuts along it,” he said. “I’m using this Frenzy FD7-S crankbait because it’s a reaction bite. I’m cranking it down real fast with the 6.4-to-1 ratio on the Revo reel and working it erratically with pauses. When I slam the crankbait into something and stop it, that’s when a fish slams it.”

Browne is fishing the Frenzy on 12-pound-test Big Game line, a vast departure from the bigger lines he normally flips with.

“Having a 6- or 7-pounder on that smaller line causes some tense moments,” he said. “But so far, so good. I’ve got my drag on the Revo backed way off, and that’s helping a lot.”

Weigh-in watch

The day-three weigh-in will begin at 3 p.m. EST a C. Scott Driver Park in Okeechobee, Fla. For bass-fishing fans unable to attend the festivities in person, you can catch all the weigh-in action live at FLWOutdoors.com with FLW Live.

Friday’s conditions

Sunrise: 7:15 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 69 degrees

Expected high temperature: 82 degrees

Water temperature: 68-72 degrees

Forecasted winds: SSE at 10 to 20 mph

Day’s outlook: warm and balmy