Kenney lays up, retains FLW Series lead
McMillan, Omori blast into top 10 with giant bass
CLEWISTON, Fla. – The temperatures dropped, the wind blew, and the waters muddied. By all accounts, the fish on Lake Okeechobee should not have bit today. After all, we are talking about a cold front in Florida.
But apparently Lake Okeechobee bass did not get the bass-don’t-bite-after-cold-fronts memo that went out last night.
Despite the wind and weather, the Big O – and its adjacent rivers and canals – continued to churn out bass for anglers in the Wal-Mart FLW Series BP Eastern event on day three with 119 pros sacking up limits.
BP pro J.T. Kenney of Port Charlotte, Fla., continues to lead after day three with 49 pounds, 13 ounces, and two pros, Jimmy McMillan and Takahiro Omori, crashed into the top five with big bass.
With 10 pounds separating the top 10 pros, this FLW Series event is still anyone’s game. A 10-pounder can take an angler to the top in a single cast – just ask McMillan or Omori.
As for Kenney, the wind battered his red-hot area from day two, which gave up 23 pounds, 2 ounces yesterday.
“I went in there this morning and the water looked like liquid dirt,” Kenny said. “I stayed about seven minutes and retreated to the rim canal to crank a little crankbait for a limit.”
Kenney’s day-three limit weighed in at 9 pounds, 8 ounces, shrinking his lead to 3 pounds, 4 ounces.
With his best water destroyed, Kenney was more at liberty to discuss the details from his monster string yesterday.
“I caught them all on a Berkley Frenzy Rattler lipless rattling crankbait, 1/2 ounce, in a shad color,” he said. “They all came from about a foot of water.”
As for tomorrow, Kenney plans to ride his lead out in the rim canal.
“All I can do now is go fishing in the canal and hope a 6- or 7-pounder runs into my bait at some point during the day,” he added.
Grigsby second
Similar to Kenney, Chad Grigsby of Maple Grove, Minn., also lost his best water to 
mud today and had to drop back and punt in the rim canal.
The Prilosec pro sacked a solid 13 pounds, 10 ounces and ate away at Kenney’s lead with a three-day total of 46 pounds, 9 ounces for second.
“It looked like coffee out there on my best spot,” Grigsby said. “So I pulled out the old shaky head – a Berkley finesse worm with 1/8-ounce head – and went to work in the rim canal. I didn’t catch a keeper until 11 o’clock, but then I kind of got it together and put eight or nine keepers in the boat.”
And what about tomorrow?
“I’m just going to put the trolling motor down and start fishing as soon as I can,” he said. “Maybe if I get another 13 or 14 pounds, I can win this thing.”
McMillan third
In the big-bass department, Jimmy McMillan of Belle Glade, Fla., brought in three bass – that’s three bass – for 19 pounds today, thanks in large part to a 9-pound, 2-ounce lunker.
The weight rocketed McMillan from 17th to third with a three-day total of 46 pounds, 6 ounces.
Interestingly, McMillan has not given up on the main lake, despite the wind and mud.
“I’ve been dealing with this muddy water on this lake since last January,” said the local pro. “And I’ve really taken the time to try to figure the fish out when it gets muddy like this. The fish are still there, it’s just a matter of being extremely persistent and making them bite. It’s a long time in between bites, but when I finally get one, it’s usually a better fish than what comes out of the canal.”
McMillan’s first bite today was the 9-2, which gave him the confidence to stick it out in the mud for better bites.
“I lost one other 2 1/2-pounder today, and I only got those four bites the whole day,” he added. “But you can see by what I weighed in what lives out there.”
As for tomorrow, McMillan will once again pin his hopes on the main lake.
Omori fourth
While McMillan’s 9-2 was impressive, it was Takahiro Omori of Emory, Texas, 
who took the big-bass honors on day three with a 9-pound, 13-ounce Okeechobee behemoth.
The big fish anchored Omori’s limit of 20 pounds even and took him from 23rd place to fourth with a three-day total of 45 pounds, 12 ounces.
“That’s the biggest bass I’ve ever caught in a tournament, and I caught it on a shaky head. Can you believe that?” said an elated Omori, still in disbelief himself. “I caught it on a spinning rod with 7-pound-test Sunline, and it got stuck in a brush pile twice.”
As food for thought in terms of what can happen in one day on Lake Okeechobee, consider that Omori’s single bass weighed more that Kenney’s entire day-three limit.
Rose surfs for fifth
Another face breaking into the top five on day three was that of Mark Rose of Marion, Ark., who caught 16 pounds, 12 ounces to claim fifth with a three-day total of 45 pounds, 11 ounces.
Interestingly, Rose has found a way to access Harney Pond Canal with his full-size bass boat.
“I’m turning that Ranger boat and Yamaha motor into a surf board and actually surfing in over the bar in front of Harney Pond Canal,” Rose said. “I’m an old river rat from the banks of the Mississippi River, and I know a few tricks when it comes to getting a boat across shallow flats and bars.”
“I have to time everything just right, but basically I’m trimming (the motor) all the way up at the very last possible second and literally skimming across the bar, using only the boat’s momentum. It’s wild. I’m so close to not making it all the way in there each time, it’s scary. If I lose any more water, I won’t make it in there tomorrow.”
Once Rose gains access to the canal, he throws a jerkbait to get a limit and then “slows way down” for quality.
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 pros in the FLW Series Eastern to be fishing the final day on Saturday:
6th: Russell Lane of Prattville, Ala., with a three-day total of 45-5
7th: Tommy Biffle of Wagoner, Okla., with a three-day total of 44-10
8th: Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., with a three-day total of 43-11
9th: Greg Hackney of Gonzales, La., with a three-day total of 42-4
10th: Greg Pugh of Cullman, Ala., with a three-day total of 40-12
The final day of the Wal-Mart FLW Series BP Eastern on Lake Okeechobee will begin Saturday at 7 a.m. at Roland & Mary Ann Martin’s Marina & Resort located at 920 E. Del Monte Ave. in Clewiston.