In my last entry, I questioned Florida's bass fishing, feeling it was over-rated. I felt other parts of the country held more quantities of 2-4 pound bass. Lake Okeechobee changed my mind. The number of 10 pound limits brought to the scales during competition was high.

My first practice day, a friend of mine, Jim Short who I fished with at the Potomac River during last seasons B.A.S.S. Eastern Invitational, came out with me. Jim was competing on the amateur side of this event. However, Jim is no amateur. He took second place a few years ago at the Everstart Championship on the Pro side. After that event he started fishing the amateur side of events, as it was less pressure on him, but he is still an exceptional angler.

I was glad to have Jim with me, as he has fished Okeechobee in the past. He gave me the courage to go full speed through cattails, Lilly pads, and the like, in only 2 feet of water. Being from the Northeast, where we have lots of rock shoals, many anglers from the North when fishing a new lake, come off plane when the depth hits 10 feet. But in shallow weedy Lake Okeechobee its no problem, as long as the water is up, as it was in this past event.

We started on the east side of the lake, which is supposedly not as popular as areas like the North Shore and Fisheating Bay. However, I figured this particular grass bed was only about 5 miles long and 1/2 mile deep, it should be easier to find some bass. We probably had 18 bass in the first 2 hours all between 1-1/2 -2 1/2 pounds. Not large fish, but after fishing the Harris Chain, it was nice to have some action. The bass were hitting any type of plastic we tried, from black/blue tubes, to junebug worms, to black/red flake speed worms. We saw some beds, but they were empty, or so we thought. Fishing most of that grass bed, which took almost all day, it seemed like the one area held most of the bass. It was a nice 70-degree day, with a slight breeze, a needed brake from the cold we have been having in Florida.

That night I went to dinner with my buddy and fellow competitor Dave LeFebre, his wife Ann, and their five month old son, Mitchell. Being on the road for so many months, it's nice to have people to travel with, and eat with, basically an extended family.

The second day of practice, colder temperatures and a stiff north wind arrived. I "trailered" around to Haney Pond Canal, and decided to fish what is called the North Shore, one of the more popular areas of the Lake. I'm an angler who is not big on fishing shallow vegetation, and at Okeechobee that's about all the cover you have. The grass stretches for miles, and in this area can be up to a mile deep, from the outside grass line to the shore. There are boats lanes cut through the cattails, creating a giant maze where an angler can easily get lost. I fished hard that day, only to show a single 2lb bass for my efforts. With so much cover, it could take more then the three days allotted for practice to find the bass. It was just simply overwhelming.

That night, Ann cooked dinner for all of us, while Dave and I compared notes and worked on tackle to about 11pm. Dave wasn't having a great practice either. The bass I found, and the ones he found had no real pattern. Some were in 4 feet of water off cattails, other were in 2 feet of water in peppergrass, and neither of us had a quality bite in two days. I wasn't feeling confident about my practice and what I was doing.

On day three of practice, I decided to put in some more time where I was the first day, their was a good number of bass in the area, the larger fish couldn't be far away. Also, the cold front was in full swing with highs hitting 50 degrees with cloud cover. I was curious to see if the bass had relocated. To my surprise about 6 other boats were in the area. One thing I do not like is fishing in a crowd, so this brought my confidence lower. Two hours I had yet to get a bite, now I am worried, the only area I had and its not happening. The only positive was seeing a bass about 8 pounds cruising near the old beds.

That night I thought about what to do the next day for the tournament, I had no pattern, and an area that held some small bass a few days ago. I hate having that feeling it ruins confidence. I was worrying about cashing a much-needed check, keeping myself high in the points standings and such. I lost the mental state I had at Lake Harris last week, were I didn't let those things enter my mind.

The first tournament day, I was the first boat in the area. Not sure of myself, and not being able to hear what my instincts were telling me, I didn't know if I should go to the right of this point in the cattails, where I had a bunch of bass three days ago, or if I should go to the left, where I saw the eight pounder yesterday. I decided to go to the left, seeing I was the first boat their, and knew other anglers were coming in.

Within minutes about 17 boats were within 50 yards of me in every direction. Takahiro Omori went to the right of that point, Jay Yelas came into my cut, Denny Brauer was flipping the cattails in deeper water, Shaw Grigsby was down to my right, and Dean Rojas was down to my left, along with some other competitors. Talk about intimidation, I never saw so many big guns in the same area. I went to the back of this little cove, with the full moon the night before their should be some bass on the beds, even with these cool temperatures. There were a bunch of beds, but mostly small bass on them. I worked those beds, as Jay Yelas was working about 20 yards from me in the lily pads, just waiting for me to leave so he could go in there. I caught two bass, but they were short, but saw a bass about 3 pounds cruising. I wanted to leave that exact area, but I knew once I did, another competitor would jump on it, and I figured once the sun started to warm the water, larger females would move onto the beds.

Jay Yelas was a gentleman. He wanted to get in there but respected that I was there first and didn't crowd me. He didn't go far, waiting for me to leave, but he did not crowd me. Another big name pro, whose name I will not mention, saw me fishing beds and came right over and cast into the bed I was fishing. I was shocked, and about to say something, when Takahiro caught a 3lber of a bed. This big name pro cut right over the bed I was fishing, and planting himself next to Takahiro. Takahiro moved about 20 feet to another bed, another 3lber, with this big name pro right on his heels. Now my confidence was getting lower, I opted not to go to the right, where Takahiro caught two bass and would eventually get his limit there for 14lbs 9oz. He then took off on plane, with this big name "Pro" right behind him. I was shocked to see an angler who I've read about since childhood, and thought was a great fisherman, would do such I thing. I have lost all respect for that angler.

After about 2 hours, sitting in the same spot protecting my beds, I decided to move around a bit. I saw a good bed, but nothing was on it, I decided to throw in there anyway with my drop shot rig consisting of a Bakudan drop shot weight, and Lunker City Rascal worm. Over the years I have found this to be the best bedding lure I know. My bait was in the bed for maybe 10 seconds, when this 1 1/2 pound bass came out from the grass to investigate. Fifteen minutes later he was in my livewell. Jay and I started chatting, and he was surprised the bass were not on the beds. I didn't want to tell him they were, but they don't sit right on the bed, they were in the grass next to the bed.

A few feet away, I found another bed. By the way, the beds at the Big "O" are not easy to spot, as they are in the middle of the grass, and the grass helps to conceal them a great deal. I had to almost run over them, to see them, and then back up a bit and throw the anchor. If I touched that trolling motor, they would spook, so the anchor kept me in place. First cast into the bed, a 3 pounder. Ok, things are starting to look up. I watched the other boats that were fishing deeper and had yet to see them land a fish, so I was sure I was doing the right thing.

I went back to the bed I caught the small male to see if a female moved up, hoping I would find that eight pounder I saw yesterday. Instead I saw a bass about 5 pounds, but very finicky. After about 15 minutes I left, figuring when it got a little warmer she would be more committed.

Jay asked how I was doing, told him I had two bass but nothing real big, he said he had 3 small bass. He went by that big bass on the bed, but I didn't know if he saw her. I went back about 30 minutes later, but still spooky. I decided to try some different baits. A black/blue tube got her attention, but she would not hit it. Back to the drop shot, no interest at all. I felt I was getting too close to her. Having seen the bed, and the grass around it, I had a good idea of how it was laid out. I left for a few minutes, came back, and made a cast from far away, seconds later I felt the hit. Using a 7' Lamiglas Certified Pro in Power 6, with 17lb line, I set the hook and held on. I needed the heavy line and heavy rod to control the bass to keep it out of the heavy cover. I put a bass a little over 5 pounds in the well at 1pm. I was excited, loudly saying "Yes, Yes," Jay heard me but couldn't see the bass. Denny Brauer could see it, and a few minutes later left the area without a bass in his well. Jay came over, and asked if I got that one off the bed, and I said yea. He asked how big, and I told him a little over 5.

It felt good to be catching bass out of an area where some big name pro's are struggling. But it was already 1pm, and I only had 3 bass. I decided to put the trolling motor on high and look for some more beds, but I never found them. I ended up the day with 3 bass for 9lbs. 13 oz. just 7ozs. out of a check on day one. Not too bad, but I only wish I made the decision to go to the right instead of the left. I couldn't help but wonder if I had gone to the right, would it be me who had 14lbs 9oz. instead of Takahiro Omori?

I saw Takahiro after weight in and he approached me to see how I made out. We chatted for a bit. He was curious if I thought that more bass would move up over night. He told me he cleaned out all the beds he could find, and so had I. I told him I felt more would move up during the night, but with expected winds out of the West at 25mph, it would make it difficult to fish the East bank. It was nice to see that guys like Tak and Jay are open about their fishing, after all, with all of us fishing the same area and comparing notes to some degree, helps all of us learn and become better anglers.

Well, on the second day the weatherman was right for once. Winds were 25mph out of the West and gusty first thing in the morning. After a rough ride, I got to the area. With the chop on the water it was impossible to see beds. Starting throwing a spinnerbait in the area, hoping to get a strike. Two hours of fighting the wind, nothing was happening. I decided to go for a bold move, to run to Taylor Creek a place I have never fished before, and fish the canals as I would be out of the wind, the water would be warmer, and maybe I would find some more beds.

No beds, and no bass in Taylor creek. In fact, on day 2 I never had a strike. My confidence was way down, feeling I made all the wrong decisions this tournament. I ended up in 153rd, dropping me to 105th in the year to date standings. Still not a bad position to be in after two events, with eight more tournaments I still have a good shot at making the Classic.

I hung out in Okeechobee for two days and went fishing with Dave LeFebre as he has an FLW event the following week. I showed him my spot, and who was practicing in their again, Takahiro Omori, as he is also competing in the FLW. We had a fun day; it helped me get over my poor performance. All I can do is put this tournament behind me and start thinking about the next event.

As I'm writing this, I'm in Naples, Florida visiting an aunt for a few days, getting some laundry done and such. It's also nice to take a break and sleep in a real bed. This afternoon I'm going fishing with her boyfriend for Snook, never caught one before so I'm excited. Then tomorrow morning back to work, heading to Lake Eufaula in Alabama for 10 days of practice, then to Lake Seminole in Georgia for the third event.