Fishers foiled by fog again

Fog delay hours beginning to add up at FLW Series

CLEWISTON, Fla. – For the second day in a row, the official start of the Wal-Mart FLW Series BP Eastern Division event on Lake Okeechobee was delayed by fog. Thursday’s fog delay, however, was more severe than Wednesday’s delay.

The entire field of 200 boats was held at the launch site for an hour and 45 minutes before the dense fog thinned out enough for tournament directors to give the official start of day two.

Yesterday’s fog delay cost anglers an hour’s worth of fishing time. Combine that with today’s nearly two-hour loss and the fishing time deficit begins to mount. A total of 3 hours is a lot of fishing time to cull up through a few more keepers.

As valuable fishing time ticked away this morning, anglers devised, “strategized” and then devised and “re-strategized” again. Some talked of scrapping long runs and began changing tackle around to suite the shortened fishing day.

BP pro JT Kenney, in 7th after day one, was reconfiguring his fishing arsenal during the delay.

“Well, if I can’t fish for very long, I want to make sure that when I do get a bite, it’s a big one – I better get one of those swimbaits to tie on,” Kenney said to friend Prilosec pro Chad Grigsby.

“I’ve never fished one of these before,” Kenney announced with a laugh as he tied the swimbait on. “What do you do when a bass bites this thing? Do you let him swim with it for a while or do you just jerk?”

“You jerk and then let him swim with it,” Grigsby offered, while shaking his head at Kenney’s inquiry.

A few boats down, National Guard pro Scott Martin was retieing his SPRO “Little John” flat-sided crankbait that he planned to fish along rock in canals.

And in the boat next to him, fellow National Guard pro Ramie Colson was crafting a Carolina rig.

“All you can do during a delay is check your tackle and tie on a few more baits,” Colson grinned.

“By the time this delay is over, I’ll have way too many rods on the deck,” he added with a laugh.

Fortunately Okeechobee, and its adjacent waters, seems to be giving up plenty of bass. Even with the hour delay yesterday, there were 132 five-bass limits weighed in.

The day two weigh-in will begin Thursday at 3 p.m. at Roland & Mary Ann Martin’s Marina & Resort located at 920 E. Del Monte Ave. in Clewiston.

Thursday’s Conditions

Sunrise: 7:12 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 66 degrees

Expected high temperature: 79 degrees

Water temperature: 60’s

Wind: WNW 5 to 10

Day’s outlook: warm, balmy, 30% chance of rain