Cox continues to rule at Okeechobee
Sight-fishing bite strong among leaders
OKEECHOBEE, Fla. – Lake Okeechobee has never really been known as a sight-fishing lake. Usually other techniques such as casting to reed clumps, flipping holes or reeling plastics over Kissimmee grass have been more productive methods of catching bass than actually seeing fish on beds and catching them.
Don’t tell John Cox of Debary, Fla., that, though. Because Cox, a self-proclaimed sight-fishing fanatic, is having a big time at the FLW Series Eastern event this week, catching visible bass off beds on the Big O.
In the last two days, Cox has weighed in the two biggest stringers of the tournament: 25-1 on day one and 22-14 on day two to take a large lead with 47-15.
“Pretty much all I’m doing is sight-fishing,” Cox said. “I’m not casting and reeling or flipping holes; I’m just trolling and looking, and when I see a good one, I fish for it. If the fish seems interested, I’ll stay after it. If not, I move on. Most of these females are biting pretty quickly. The longest time I spent on a fish today was maybe 20 minutes.”
In case you’re wondering, Cox is not catching fish that he scoped out during practice. He prefers to find them on the fly; it’s actually part of his strategy.
“Today, I didn’t even return to the place where I caught them yesterday,” he said. “I covered new water, looking for new fish. I want to find new ones that have just moved up because they are by far easiest to catch.”
When asked about lure specifics, Cox only laughed and candidly answered, “It doesn’t really matter. When you find a fresh bass, they’ll bite it, no matter what the bait is.”
Martin moves to second
National Guard pro Scott Martin moved into the second-place position with a 17-14 limit Thursday, which gave him a two-day total of 39-2.
Though Martin has caught a few sight-fishing this week, he’s mostly been on the casting-and-reeling bandwagon.
“I’m casting and reeling a Lake Fork Magic Shad over the grass,” Martin said. “Yesterday I did use a toad some, but today I went to that Magic Shad in a June-bug color. It doesn’t have paddle-tails or splash around, and I think that helps on slick days like this. So many of these areas have been hammered by buzzing-type baits, and the Magic Shad just kind of slithers and glides along the surface – it is much more subtle and provides a different look.”
As for sight-fishing, interestingly Martin contends that he has purposely left a few decent males on beds over the last few days.
“They may have helped me by a couple of ounces, but I figured leaving them alone is kind of a double bonus,” he explained. “One, they are there if I need them later in the tournament and, two, they attract the bigger females into an area. In fact, where I caught my biggest female today, I had left a male there yesterday. Today I went back, and he had a big girlfriend with him and I caught her. If I had caught that fish yesterday, she would not have been there today.”
Gagliardi digs in for third
Chevy pro Anthony Gagliardi caught five bass for 14-4 today to hold himself in third place with a two-day total of 35 pounds, 11 ounces.
Gagliardi returned to the area that served up 21-7 to him on day one, but there were more boats and way less females. Everything he caught came off beds.
“I thought some more females would move up last night, but they didn’t, at least not for me,” he said. “And the area has been smoked; there are boats crawling around everywhere, picking the bucks off. I’m going to new water tomorrow, so I really don’t know what to expect.”
Izumi moves to fourth
Bob Izumi of Milton, Ontario, shot to fourth place today with an 18-13 catch, which gives him a two-day total of 34-6.
After a terrible practice period, Izumi had to keep practicing when the tournament started.
“I had nothing going on, so I just ran to an area, put the trolling motor down and started burning up those grassy areas, looking for good, clean bottom where those fish spawn,” he said. “Pretty soon I started seeing beds, and I noticed if I found a fish on bed, it would bite pretty quick, so that’s all I’ve done for the last two days: keep the trolling motor on high and look for beds.”
Izumi’s big bonus today came when he spied an 8-pounder on bed and caught it immediately.
Mann fifth
Tom Mann Jr. of Buford, Ga., holds on to fifth place with a two-day total of 34 pounds.
Mann’s primary weapon so far this week has been a 5-inch Yamamoto Senko in watermelon-red color.
“I’m mostly blind-casting the Senko out over grass, and when I happen upon a fish on bed, I’ll pick up a Yamamoto tube and pitch in there to catch the fish,” Mann said. “I also used a Rapala X-Rap yesterday to catch a couple of key fish in a canal. But other than that, it’s mostly been Senko fishing in the grass.”
Rest of the best
Rounding out the top 10 pros in the FLW Series Eastern on Lake Okeechobee after day two:
6th: Craig Dowling of Grant, Ala., two-day total of 33-5
7th: Scott Canterbury of Springville, Ala., two-day total of 33-2
8th: Ray Scheide of Dover, Ark., two-day total of 32-0
9th: Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Fla., two-day total of 31-8
10th: Trevor Fitzgerald of Ocklawaha, Fla., two-day total of 31-3
Cummins leads co-anglers
Jeff Cummins of Marion, Ohio, caught 14-4 Thursday to take the lead in the Co-angler Division with a two-day total of 25-2.
Cummins fished with pro Pat Kelly today, tossing Skinny Dippers, Flukes and Senkos out of the back of the boat. His biggest fish, weighing nearly 5 pounds, came on a Senko.
“It was a great day,” Cummins said. “That big fish was my second fish of the day, and I culled once. You can’t ask for more than that.”
Dipper Daddy second
Larry Mullikin of Lauderhill, Fla., aka the Skinny Dipper Daddy, is in second place after catching 17 pounds, 6 ounces today for a two-day total of 24 pounds, 6 ounces.
For those of you who don’t know, Mullikin won back-to-back FLW events last year as a co-angler – the FLW Series and the American Fishing Series on Okeechobee – throwing none other than the Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper and Trixie Shark.
“I’m doing the exact same thing this year,” Mullikin said. “My partner fished open water yesterday, and I couldn’t really throw the Dipper. But today I was in the right kind of stuff, and that’s all I threw, the Skinny Dipper and the Trixie Shark.”
Butler, Rhodes, Jarabeck round out top five
Larry Butler of New Haven, Vt., is in third place with a two-day total of 19-13.
Richard Rhodes of Calvert City, Ky., is in fourth place with 19-12.
And Philip Jarabeck of Lynchburg, Va., is in fifth place with 19-2.
Day three of the FLW Series Eastern on Lake Okeechobee will begin Friday at 7 a.m. at C. Scott Driver Park.