Biffle flips into lead at Big O

Tougher day two still sees some big Florida fish

CLEWISTON, Fla. – Renowned flipping artist Tommy Biffle of Wagoner, Okla., found his element Thursday and worked his way into the Pro Division lead at the end of Wal-Mart FLW Tour opening-round competition at Lake Okeechobee. Battling breezy, post-cold-front conditions, Biffle caught 14 pounds, 11 ounces of bass on day two and moved up into the No. 1 spot with a two-day total of 32-9.

Okeechobee decided to be a little stingier with her quarry on day two, which surprised few pros. The skies brightened up, but the bass were, by and large, suffering from more lockjaw thanks to the cold front that moved through the day before. While 162 pros caught five-bass limits Wednesday, that number fell to 91 limits Thursday.

“It was just a lot tougher today,” said Biffle, who caught around eight keeper fish. “We all knew that the second day after the front would be the tough day. I’m just looking forward to the next few days, especially now that 190 of the other boats will be gone.”

Despite the downturn in numbers, the Big O still lived up to its reputation as the big-bass destination in Florida. Pro Clifford Pirch of Payson, Ariz., won the day’s Snickers Big Bass award with 9-pound, 2-ounce behemoth. Jake Deeds of El Dorado, Ariz., won the big-bass award on the co-angler side with the same weight, a hefty 9-2.

But it was the pros managing to catch a full limit plus a 5- or 6-pounder or two, like Biffle, who came out on top. The leader flipped mats in Moonshine Bay using a Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver, but said it has been tough to pull fish out of the thick vegetation. Still, he managed to yank out one good 5-pounder to anchor his limit.

“If I could just keep them hooked up, I might be able to catch a few fish. I should have had a really big stringer yesterday, but I lost eight in a row,” said Biffle, who managed to place third on day one with 17 pounds, 14 ounces despite the lost fish. “Today, I didn’t lose as many, and I think that came from just a little bit of learning. It’s really thick stuff I’m fishing.”

Biffle, who already has three runner-up finishes plus a victory on the FLW Tour, earned his ninth career top-10 berth this week.

Jordon for two

Tucked in 1 pound, 4 ounces behind Biffle in second place is pro Kelly Jordon of Mineola, Texas. Coming through with a good, 13-pound, 9-ounce limit to push his total to 31-5 for the opening round, the defending FLW Lake Okeechobee champion proved that he remains a force to be reckoned with at this lake.

Still, even for the hot stick, day two was a tough one.

“”It was a hard day today. They just didn’t bite like have been. I got 20 bites yesterday, and they weren’t biting at all today. I only had one fish by about noon, then I finally caught my limit by 2 o’clock,” said Jordon, whose stringer was anchored by a nice 5 1/2-pound kicker. “I only got seven flipping bites all day. I didn’t get that 5 1/2-pounder until 3:45.”

Throughout the day, however, Jordon remained unfazed by the lack of action. He stuck to his pattern of flipping cattails with a Blue Bruiser Lake Fork Craw Tube all day.

“The water changed color because of all that wind yesterday. That might be part of the deal, but not all of it. With that front, the water temperature dropped into the 50s,” he said. “You’ve just got to bear down. When it’s tough, you know it’s tough for everybody. What do you do when it’s tough? You go flip mats.”

Shin’s back, takes third

Returning to the top 10 after a yearlong hiatus since winning the 2004 FLW Angler of the Year award, Japan’s Shinichi Fukae grabbed the third pro slot by posting a two-day weight of 29 pounds, 10 ounces.

Fukae said he was casting worms to catch his limit of 16 pounds, 8 ounces Thursday – the day’s second-heaviest – which included a 6-pound kicker fish. Like many top pros, he’s fishing in Moonshine Bay, but after practicing at Okeechobee – with limited success – for 18 days prior to the tournament, he said he finally found an area on the south end of the bay all to himself.

“In practice, I couldn’t find any big fish,” Fukae said. “I got lucky today. I had (a) limit in 30 minutes. (I) caught 20 fish.”

Hardin busts a 20, leaps into fourth

Bringing in the week’s first and only limit over 20 pounds, pro Mark Hardin of Jasper, Ga., leapt from 102nd place into fourth Thursday.

His limit weighing 20 pounds, 12 ounces was anchored by two nice kickers, one weighing roughly 8 1/2 pounds and the other about 8 pounds. In fact, Hardin, who’s mainly flipping a Zoom Brush Hog and a Sweet Beaver, said he lost another 8-pounder in action yesterday.

“I was really worried. I thought that one was going to cost me,” he said. “With flipping, sometimes you’ve just got to put everything else away.”

Hardin totaled 28 pounds, 13 ounces for the opening round.

Harrison fifth

Chip Harrison of Bremen, Ind., held on to take the fifth pro spot with a two-day weight of 26 pounds, 6 ounces.

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 pros to make the cut at Lake Okeechobee:

6th: Dale Teaney, Williamsburg, Ohio, nine bass, 26-0

7th: Chad Grigsby, Maple Grove, Minn., 10 bass, 24-14

8th: David Fritts, Lexington, N.C., nine bass, 24-9

9th: Sean Hoernke, Magnolia, Texas, nine bass, 24-7

10th: Keith Pace, Monticello, Ark., 10 bass, 24-2

Co-angler phenom Stevens leads again from the back

Darrell Stevens of Roseland, Va., has already amassed one victory, 12 top-10 finishes and more than $100,000 in winnings during his FLW Tour career. And he did it all while fishing as a co-angler in the back of the boat.

Thursday, Stevens added his 13th guaranteed top-10 finish, at Okeechobee, by leading the co-anglers with an opening-round weight of 18 pounds, 14 ounces.

Stevens began his run at Okeechobee by flipping reeds Wednesday with pro Toby Hartsell and caught four bass weighing 8 pounds, 4 ounces. Thursday, he flipped reeds again with pro Karen Savik and landed four more fish weighing 10-10.

“I’m just fishing open water and pockets around reeds,” said Stevens, who said he’s caught most of his fish on a black-and-blue-flake Kinami Flash. “Karen Savik, she’s a great partner.”

Qualifying in second place for the co-anglers was Bryan Thrift of Shelby, N.C., with an opening-round weight of 18 pounds, 1 ounce. Notably, Thrift won the Stren Series Eastern Division opener here at Lake Okeechobee two weeks ago while fishing as a pro.

Buoyed by a 5-pound kicker Wednesday, third place for the co-anglers went to Fred Martin of North Little Rock, Ark., who caught 17 pounds, 1 ounce over the first two days. Martin caught his big bass while flipping, but switched up to throwing a white War Eagle spinnerbait today.

“I was just concentrating on open water,” he said. “If I’d see any activity, I’d throw it over there. Anything that seemed different, I took advantage of it. And it worked out.”

Jerry Goble of Sherrills Ford, N.C., grabbed the fourth qualifying spot with a weight of 16 pounds, 11 ounces, and James Fredieu of Saint Martinville, La., rounded out the top five with 16-5.

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers to make the cut at Lake Okeechobee:

6th: Rob McMurray, Troy, Mich., 16-1

7th: Lee Teeter, Hickory, N.C., 16-0

8th: Tim Johnson, Dallas, Ga., 15-8

9th: Randy Clark, Mobile, Ala., 15-5

10th: Ron Chapman, Lake Quivera, Kan., 15-4

The co-anglers caught 17 five-bass limits Thursday.

Day three of competition at Lake Okeechobee begins as the 10 pros and 10 co-anglers take off from Roland and Mary Ann Martin’s Marina at 7 a.m. Eastern time Friday for the second half of competition. The co-anglers will wrap up competition Friday while the pros are fishing the first half of a two-day final round.

For this tournament, the top award for the winning pro is $100,000. The winning co-angler will earn $20,000.