Dudley moves to the top at Okeechobee

Canal bite becomes day-three ticket to top 10

CLEWISTON, Fla. – Two things dropped like an anchor in the state of Florida on Friday: Lake Okeechobee’s water temperature and the catch rate in the BP Eastern Division Wal-Mart FLW Series season opener.

Thursday’s passing cold front left 20 mph winds and plummeting water temperatures of some 12 degrees. And as a small reference as to how bad such a front can impact Okeechobee’s bite, consider that on day one of this event, there were 157 limits caught on the pro side and 81 limits caught on the co-angler side.

Today, there were just 29 limits weighed in on the pro side and 4 limits on the co-angler side – ouch!

Despite the front, the Big O did produce some nice bags of bass, including three limits over 20 pounds, for a select few individuals. And chance are, those individuals were probably fishing in one of Okeechobee’s connecting canals or rivers, where the red hot bite now seems to be playing out.

David Dudley of Lynchburg, Va., loaded the scales with 20 pounds, 2 ounces today to take the tournament lead with a three-day total of 45 pounds, 10 ounces, nearly a 4-1/2 pound lead over second place.

“I’m doing some stuff we typically don’t do here on Okeechobee,” Dudley said. “If I told you what it was, it would shock you. And I just can’t say too much about it because it would be easy for others to figure out.”

Auten climbs to second

Todd Auten of Lake Wylie, S.C., brought in another good catch today weighing 14 pounds, 5 ounces to move into second with a three-day total of 41 pounds even.

Auten is pitching a jig in a canal.

“I’m totally going for a reaction bite,” he said. “I’m using 1/2-ounce jig and I’m just pitching it out there, letting it go to the bottom, reeling it back up and pitching it again. I’m not soaking it. I’m not hopping it. They’re biting it out of reaction on the initial fall so that’s all I’m giving it. Really, I’m just trying to cover as much water as possible and make as many drops with that jig as I possibly can.”

Strader third

Wesley Strader of Spring City, Tenn., toted the biggest bag of the day to the scales – 21 pounds, 5 ounces – to jump from 82nd to third place with a three-day total of 36 pounds, 6 ounces.

Strader owned right up catching his fish on rattling lipless crankbaits first thing this morning.

“When we first got there, it was on,” Strader said. “Every cast we’d catch a 2-pounder or a giant. And for the rest of the day it would go in spurts like that. We’d go 2 hours without a bite and then bam, bam, bam – they would start biting for just a few minutes.”

And while Strader would not say exactly where he was fishing, he did reveal, “I’m not in the lake, I can tell you that.”

Farley fourth

Tim Farley of Lula, Ga., took over the fourth place position with a three-day total of 35 pounds, 1 ounce.

Farley, too, is in a canal but is having to switch up tactics to keep his fish biting.

“Yesterday I was fishing a topwater toad and today I tried everything and eventually switched to a shallow-running crankbait to catch a limit in about 20 minutes,” Farley said. “It’s definitely a reaction-type bite; you don’t want to give them much time to look at the bait.”

Morgan fifth

Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., moved up into the fifth position today with a three-day total of 33 pounds, 14 ounces.

Morgan is one of the few in the top-10 still fishing the lake.

“I’ve been surviving over there on the west side for three days, but I don’t know how much longer I can take it,” Morgan said. “My bites are few and far between. The lake bite is dieing and the canal fish are smoking right now. Whenever these fronts come through like this, it sets up a window of time in those canals when those dudes eat. So I don’t know what I’m going to do tomorrow.”

Big Bass

Wesley Strader and Jim Short of Ocean Pines, Maryland shared the big bass honors of the Pro-Division, both catching 8-pound, 6-ounce lunkers.

Rest of the best

6th: Jason Knapp of Uniontown, Penn., three-day total of 33-10

7th: Jim Dillard of West Monroe, La., three-day total of 33-03

8th: Joe Thomas of Milford, Ohio, three-day total of 32-14

9th: Pat Fisher of Buckhead, Ga., three-day total of 32-10

10th: Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla., three-day total of 32-4

The top-10 cut has been made. The final day of the FLW Series on Lake Okeechobee begins Thursday at 7:00 a.m. at Roland & Mary Ann Martin’s Marina & Resort.