Day one of the Toyota Series Southern Division event on Lake Okeechobee has been a beauty so far. Takeoff went off without a hitch in the morning, and there’s basically been just a light breeze and sunny skies all day. Though it hasn’t been oppressively hot, it has been quite warm, and after setting down on their first spot, many anglers probably never put their hoodies back on.

Tournament details

So far, the fishing seems to be really good. Lots of pros and co-anglers are putting keepers on board, but we haven’t gathered any reports of someone sitting on a huge bag. Most anglers are either winding in submerged grass or flipping reeds, with an unusual number along the west side of the lake above Clewiston. There was also definitely a shad spawn bite in the morning, and some anglers used it to get right in a hurry.

Capitalizing on a shad spawn, Dakota Ebare is the early and extremely unofficial leader. Ebare had about 15 pounds in the box when we left him first thing. Tony Couch is another angler doing notably well, who we saw for sure catch two good ones. Jae Evans is also off to a good start, with 16 pounds in the ‘well.

Otherwise, a whole pile of pros and co-anglers have a limit, with perhaps one good on in the box. On the list of limits in the 10-12 pound range are the following pros: Kyle Walters, Jared McMillan, John Dial, Brandon Classon, Brad Robinson, Frank Kitchens III, Hojin Chang, Reid Heard, Dennis Redd and Brad Stalnaker.

There are also a decent number of anglers we found early that were still building limits. Though it’s reasonable to assume limits by now, the following anglers had fewer than five fish when we found them: Jeff Ragsdale, Stephen Hatala, George Matthews, Chris McBeath, Billy Hall and Austin Bell.

Weigh-in starts at 3:30 p.m. ET, and you’re sure to see plenty of sun and bass if you tune in.