Canal contest
FLW Series top-10 finalists pin winning hopes on canal bass
CLEWISTON, Fla. – An informal poll of the top-10 pros fishing the fourth and final day of the Wal-Mart FLW Series BP Eastern Division event on Lake Okeechobee revealed that a majority of them are planning to fish in the rim canal or Harney Pond Canal.
High northeast winds on Friday battered much of the big lake’s waters, rendering them muddy and unfishable.
Only one angler in the top 10, third place local pro Jimmy McMillan of Belle Glade, Fla., made it known that he was going put all his eggs in the main lake’s basket.
“I’m committed to the big lake,” McMillan confirmed this morning. “I’ve only spent about 
30 minutes in the canal in the last three days.”
Tournament leader BP pro JT Kenney said he was going to check his day two hot spot again this morning, but has little hope that it has already cleared up.
“I’ve got to at least go look at it, but I’m afraid it’s wishful thinking,” Kenney said. “I believe I’ll be in the rim canal a lot again today.”
Second place pro Chad Grigsby said he’s staying in the canal as well but was going to a bigger worm in hopes that it will bring a bigger bite.
Other canal devotees include Greg Pugh, Andy Morgan, Tommy Biffle, Russ Lane and Takahiro Omori, who landed a 9-pound, 13-ounce behemoth out of the canal yesterday.
Greg Hackney and Mark Rose are the only two anglers in the top 10 fishing in Harney Pond Canal.
In fact, Hackney is using an aluminum tunnel-hull boat to access the canal because the entrance is guarded by vast flats and shallow bars. For Hackney, it’s like driving a skim board across inches of water.
“The bottom of the boat has an inverted tunnel near the transom that allows me to jack the foot of the motor all the way up so that just about two inches of my skeg is the only thing sticking down below the bottom of the boat,” explained Hackney, who is in 9th place.
Fifth place pro Mark Rose refused to be outdone by Hackney’s savvy craft and has managed to get his full size Ranger into Harney Pond Canal every day.
“I’ve got to time everything just right to get in there,” Rose said. “If I so much as miss my mark by a few feet I’ll be stuck for a long time.”
Though the top 10 is separated by 10 pounds, this tournament is still anyone’s ballgame. One 10-pound class bass, like the ones Omori and McMillan caught yesterday, could put an angler on top at this afternoon’s weigh-in.”
The final day weigh-in will be held at the Clewiston Wal-Mart at 4 p.m. The Family Fun Zone will start at noon.
Saturday’s conditions
Sunrise: 7:12 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 59 degrees
Expected high temperature: 74 degrees
Water temperature: 60’s
Wind: E 5 to 10
Day’s outlook: sunny and warmer