Gunning for Guice

Five-pound lead precarious on Big O

CLEWISTON, Fla. – On most lakes, a 5-pound tournament lead sounds like a pretty comfortable margin; on Lake Okeechobee, it’s hardly considered safe ground.

That’s what played through Edward Guice’s head Saturday morning as the Decatur, Ala., pro led the top 10 finalists out onto Lake Okeechobee for the final day of the $262,000 EverStart Series Southeast Division event.

Yesterday, Guice checked in 20 pounds, 7 ounces to take an even 5-pound lead over Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Fla., who stands in second with 15 pounds, 7 ounces.

According to the scoreboard, the weights appear to have fallen off yesterday. But to hear the anglers tell it, yesterday’s lower weights were the result of not getting fish in the boat.

Nearly every pro in the top 10 told woeful tales of big fish coming off in Okeechobee’s thick mats.

Though anglers have gained a tremendous advantage on mats fishing with the advent of tungsten weights and braided line, big bass still have the upper hand when a thick blanket of snarled slop stands between them and the boat.

“You’ve got to penetrate the thickest stuff to get the bite,” said Okeechobee flipping ace J.T. Kenney of Frostburg, Md. “Once you set the hook, you’re totally at the mercy of the fish and the vegetation. Many times all you can do is hold on and hope for the best.”

Guice, however, may have figured out how to catch Okeechobee’s bigger bass without having to wrestle them out of dense top layers of vegetation. He isn’t saying much about his pattern yet, but he promises to tell more at the final weigh-in this afternoon.

The final weigh-in will be a 4 p.m. at the Clewiston Wal-Mart.

Saturday’s conditions

Air temperature: 69 degrees

Water temperature: 68 degrees

Wind: calm

Day’s outlook: sunny, high of 82, wind from the east-southeast at 5 to 10 mph