More Top Patterns from the Big O

Though Val Osinski ran away with the Rayovac FLW Series event presented by Power-Pole on Lake Okeechobee, the rest of the top 10 still accomplished an impressive feat. Okeechobee can be a fickle body of water, and the following five pros were all able to catch quality fish with surpassing consistency and set themselves up well to qualify for the 2015 Rayovac FLW Series Championship or to earn priority entry in the Walmart FLW Tour.

6th place – Brandon McMillan – 45 pounds, 5 ounces

Brandon McMillan lives right in Clewiston and has an incredible record on the Big O. Though he didn’t win, this could be considered one of his most impressive finishes to date. McMillan came straight from the B.A.S.S. Open on Lake Toho, and after taking about two days off to recuperate, he managed to rack up a top-10 finish out of the south end of the lake.

The Lake O legend is know for his flipping prowess, and he caught most of his fish flipping cattails on days one and two, but the weather forced a change on day three.

“I really thought I figured them out on day two,” McMillan says. “I found an area where my co-angler caught a 6-pounder and I caught two big ones and lost an 8-pounder. I went back there on day three and the wind had just trashed it.

“I caught more fish today [day three] than I did the first two days combined,” he adds. “I just never caught anything worth it. All the buck bass that were on the beds were moving, and I think the females were on their way out. Today just wasn’t conducive for flipping.

“There was about a two-and-a-half-hour window today when the fish that we were all targeting down south bit. But most of them had spawned out, and they were running shad in the grass. I had to scrap my game plan and throw a swim jig in the grass instead of flipping like I wanted to do.”

McMillan picked up a ½-ounce black-and-blue 4×4 Brandon McMillan Signature Series Swim Jig with a matching Zoom Ultra Vibe Speed Craw to catch his 12-pound, 15-ounce day-three limit.

7th place – Tyler Suddarth – 44 pounds, 5 ounces

Tyler Suddarth made the drive down from Valdosta, Ga., to Clewiston, Fla., and ended up the best of a trio of Rayovac rookies in the top 10.

On day one, Suddarth flipped mats in the rim ditch and cattail clumps in South Bay to scrabble together a 12-pound limit. He backed that up on day two with a limit weighing 20 pounds, 6 ounces. Throughout the event, Suddarth was forced to adapt. He did it well, especially on the second day.

“Friday I moved out more toward the main lake more into dirtier water,” says Suddarth. “I found a good stretch about 200 yards away from the main lake, and my co-angler and I caught more than 28 pounds of fish off just three cattail clumps.”

Unfortunately, the strong winds blew out his hot spot on day three, and though he pushed farther back into cleaner water, Suddarth was unable to boat more than a small five-bass limit.

Suddarth’s primary bait was a superbug-colored Missile Baits D Bomb with a Kissimmee blue Gambler Lures KO Punch Skirt and a 1-ounce weight.

8th place – Hensley Powell – 43 pounds, 9 ounces

Hailing from Whitwell, Tenn., this was Powell’s first Rayovac FLW Series experience, and he acquitted himself admirably. Like many in the field, the wind worked against him all but the first day.

“Today [day three] I ran a long way to an isolated place, and I thought it wouldn’t be muddy but it was,” says Powell. “Then I ran another 20 miles to a place where I thought I had other fish, and that was trashed too.

“I would have loved to have fished how I wanted to fish. This is the first time I have ever been on Okeechobee, and I learned a lot and found out that muddy water shuts them off real quick.”

Powell landed 40 bass on Thursday and an additional 30 on Friday by fishing a depression at the mouth of a cove that was loaded with shiners and bass. His key bait was a 3/8-ounce Trixster Custom Baits black-and-blue swim jig paired with a blue sapphire-colored Trixster Custom Baits Crusty Crawler.

9th place – Scott Martin – 43 pounds, 7 ounces

Scott Martin has banked more than $2 million in winnings with FLW, and the Clewiston, Fla., pro added to his resume this week. The former Forrest Wood Cup champion relied heavily on an offbeat pattern and local knowledge to lock up the 31st top-10 finish of his career.

“Day one was awesome,” says Martin. “I felt like I was 16 again and didn’t know anything about fishing. I was just throwing a 10-inch junebug Bruiser Baits Curly Tail Worm with a 1/4-ounce sinker around the outside edge of the grass on the main lake.”

Martin’s worm bite died on the second and third days, but he continued to fish outside edges where he didn’t have company from opposing anglers. Swapping to an M-Pack Flipping Jig and Swim Jig helped him put his fish in the boat. Martin didn’t have any specific areas to fish – he was simply running main-lake edges where the water was clear.

10th place – Tim Frederick – 43 pounds, 7 ounces

Frederick, who lives in Leesburg, Fla., about three and a half hours north of Okeechobee, was the only pro who failed to bring in a limit on day three.

After fishing an area that had a mix of grass mats and reeds the first few days, Frederick arrived to a wreck on day three. About a foot of water had blown out of his reeds, and many of the mats he planned on flipping had gone with it.

“I went into panic mode pretty early, and that obviously didn’t work,” says Frederick. “I’ve only fished Lake Okeechobee about 10 times in my life, and I’m going to have to get more experience on it, because I ran out of stuff to fish today.”

Punching a superbug-colored Missile Baits Baby D Bomb with a 1 3/4-ounce weight produced most of Frederick’s fish. When he ran out of the Baby D Bomb, he swapped over to the regular-sized model.

For complete results click here.

To read how the top five caught their fish click here.