Bassmaster Open on Lake Okeechobee Scott Martin takes it home!

[Zcoker]

Big congratulations to Scott Martin for scoring a win on the big O here in Florida. 90lb record goes to show just how good that lake can be...when it wants to cooperate! Lotta guys got into some very nice fish, including a 10 pounder for the heaviest. Everglades bass fishing at it's very best!  

[Mike L]

As I mentioned in a previous post, The Lake has been fishing great for the last few months and will get even better from now to early May. 
There are beds in all phases but of course you gotta know where to go. 
 

Once an angler gets that dialed in and gets on the right pattern it can be lights out as is being proven. 
 

 I’ve been finding that reaction baits have been working better as the water gets more tannic. 
Historically different 

 

 

 

 

Mike

 

[Zcoker]

Typical Florida everglades bass fishing, things can seem totally off for a while and then boom! The sky opens up and the lightening bolts flash. Big bass everywhere! Glad it worked out for Scott! I've encountered much the same on that lake as well as many other places around the lake. Find a spot, stay put, fish slowly and methodically, and sooner or later that big girl will hit! I've caught 7's just about every trip so far. February thru March are prime months.  

[AlabamaSpothunter]

Yeah it was super impressive, congrats to him as I'm sure his entire family were thrilled especially to see him win on their home pond.

 

That said, it's amazing how FFS even dominates shallow water fisheries now.   

 

At one point on the final day when Scott landed one of the 9s, he screamed out "man I've been staring at that fish for over an hour throwing at her".......he wasn't sight bed fishing either.   He stayed on a single fish for over an hour with the scope.   

 

At times I feel bad for these big special fish, especially ones that are getting hauled to weigh ins, or by social media stars wanting a 5 fish bag pic at the end of the day.   5 years ago these big fish could spit on your presentations and the angler would move along.   Now they'll get pestered until they fire.    Just a totally different sport, but it's here to stay.

 

No coincidence the 3 day Open record was almost broken last year by Milliken on the scope at Toledo Bend, and now it was broken this year on the scope by Martin.  

 

Rivet won the Elite Series event last year on the Big O with a scope as well.  No fishery, or population of big fish are safe anymore.   

[Zcoker]

2 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Yeah it was super impressive, congrats to him as I'm sure his entire family were thrilled especially to see him win on their home pond.

 

That said, it's amazing how FFS even dominates shallow water fisheries now.   

 

At one point on the final day when Scott landed one of the 9s, he screamed out "man I've been staring at that fish for over an hour throwing at her".......he wasn't sight bed fishing either.   He stayed on a single fish for over an hour with the scope.   

 

At times I feel bad for these big special fish, especially ones that are getting hauled to weigh ins, or by social media stars wanting a 5 fish bag pic at the end of the day.   5 years ago these big fish could spit on your presentations and the angler would move along.   Now they'll get pestered until they fire.    Just a totally different sport, but it's here to stay.

 

No coincidence the 3 day Open record was almost broken last year by Milliken on the scope at Toledo Bend, and now it was broken this year on the scope by Martin.  

 

Rivet won the Elite Series event last year on the Big O with a scope as well.  No fishery, or population of big fish are safe anymore.   

 

I just don't know what to think about all this FFS stuff anymore. Seems like it has altered bass fishing in a big way, literally. I'm no biologist but I've seen some of these DD fish taken from extreme depths and it looks like their eyes are ready to pop out. I often wonder if they ever make it. They may swim off, sure, but guys like Josh Jones at least admit to loosing a few of them. On the whole, I reckon it's no good for them and most perish. No place to hide anymore. They will be found. They will be caught. And we will see many more big wins in tournaments yet to come. 

[Fishingmickey]

I have caught shallow big girls with bulging eyes. Bass over 6-7lbs get really big eyes. I think.  Just the way they are built. I do agree with you on the dangers of catching big fish that are deep especially in the summer time.  Anyone that is a responsible angler that fishes deep needs to learn how to "fizz" a fish. The truly big bass require seriously good handling skills. Minimize the time out of the water. If you want to see how to properly handle bass.  Honestly watch one of  A-Jay's video's. He shows absolutely phenomenal fish handling, weighing and release skills when he releases his Big Brown sweethearts! 

FM

[Team9nine]

2 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

At times I feel bad for these big special fish, especially ones that are getting hauled to weigh ins, or by social media stars wanting a 5 fish bag pic at the end of the day.

Pretty much - it’s starting to show in the fisheries now, too (size structure).

[TnRiver46]

Same ole story, people are worried and the fish are just fine. Been happening since the 60s or so 

 

lemme tell ya what happen in the 80s and 90s in Florida. Every single tire shop owner in America went there, caught 10 lb bass, and hung it in their tire store back home. 30 yrs later Scott Martin breaks the weight record and releases his fish. All of a sudden the bass is doomed ?? 

[Mike L]

15 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Same ole story, people are worried and the fish are just fine. Been happening since the 60s or so 

 

lemme tell ya what happen in the 80s and 90s in Florida. Every single tire shop owner in America went there, caught 10 lb bass, and hung it in their tire store back home. 30 yrs later Scott Martin breaks the weight record and releases his fish. All of a sudden the bass is doomed ?? 

Thank You

Well Said

 

 

 

 

Mike

[TnRiver46]

If the habitat is there, the bass are there. Doesn’t matter how you catch em 

[gim]

3 hours ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

5 years ago these big fish could spit on your presentations and the angler would move along.   Now they'll get pestered until they fire.    Just a totally different sport, but it's here to stay.

That's exactly what muskie fishing has turned into in some parts of the country.  Pestered until they bite.  And muskies stick out like trucks on live sonar too.

 

Its a sad way to target those fish, I'll tell you.  The "fish of 10,000 casts" is no longer a true statement.

[Captain Phil]

56 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Its a sad way to target those fish, I'll tell you.  The "fish of 10,000 casts" is no longer a true statement.

 

I wouldn't use FFS unless I was fishing for money and I needed it to be competitive.  Not because it doesn't work or because I have anything against it, because it doesn't seem like fishing to me.  The fun of bass fishing is in the hunt, reeling them up is not all there is.   

[gim]

4 minutes ago, Captain Phil said:

I wouldn't use FFS unless I was fishing for money and I needed it to be competitive.  Not because it doesn't work or because I have anything against it, because it doesn't seem like fishing to me.  The fun of bass fishing is in the hunt, reeling them up is not all there is.   

 

I understand, thanks Phil.  These guys are pro bass anglers and they need to do what keeps them at a competitive level.  If that means staring at a screen for an hour or more trying to get one fish to bite, so be it.  Its not for me.  But I'm sure Scott Martin is glad he kept after that fish.

[Captain Phil]

24 minutes ago, gimruis said:

 

I understand, thanks Phil.  These guys are pro bass anglers and they need to do what keeps them at a competitive level.  If that means staring at a screen for an hour or more trying to get one fish to bite, so be it.  Its not for me.  But I'm sure Scott Martin is glad he kept after that fish.

 

I agree. Tournament fishing is not the same as fun fishing.   Tournament fishing is hard work.  It's mentally, physically and financially stressful.  Everyone wants to catch more fish. Not everyone wants to turn something they love into a job.  

[Zcoker]

2 hours ago, Fishingmickey said:

I have caught shallow big girls with bulging eyes. Bass over 6-7lbs get really big eyes. I think.  Just the way they are built.

 

I dunno, maybe it's me but I've caught them up around 12 pounds and none of their eyes were as big as some of them that I've seen lately. I mean, I've seen bass with big eyes before. In fact, bigger bass do indeed have bigger eyes. Maybe it's when they are taken directly from extreme depths that they look freakish? With YouTube and all, these FFS dudes show these catches all in real time and some of those bass, I tell ya, looks like their eyes are half hanging out by a cord.   

[Team9nine]

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Same ole story, people are worried and the fish are just fine. Been happening since the 60s or so 

 

lemme tell ya what happen in the 80s and 90s in Florida. Every single tire shop owner in America went there, caught 10 lb bass, and hung it in their tire store back home. 30 yrs later Scott Martin breaks the weight record and releases his fish. All of a sudden the bass is doomed ?? 

 

No, no, no - don't take the discussion point out of context. Bass fisheries, as a whole, are in most cases as good, or better, than ever, for a variety of reasons. It's a good time to be a bass angler. But what hasn't fared near as well, again, for a variety of reasons, are the population of big fish, especially the biggest of the bunch.

 

Because one guy, under ideal weather conditions, who has lived his entire life on that one lake, and whose father, who happens to be considered one of the greatest bass anglers to ever compete, and who also has lived and competed on that same lake for around 50 years himself, happened to win a single tournament with a record catch proves nothing. Second place on down were well off the record pace and not even close.

 

I  look at it instead from the point that 224 boat anglers, along with another 135 non-boat anglers, spent up to 3 days, amassing nearly 6,000 angler hours on the water, in a state long considered by many as the best big bass location in the country, and on one of the premier tourist destinations for big bass anglers, during prime spring conditions, and if I read the results correctly, only a single 10 pound bass was caught.

 

That's sad. But it's pretty reflective of what seems to be happening on a good majority of the waters across the country. There are a lot of reasons for that, but FFS and social media wannabes will not in any way help that situation out. The fisheries are fine - but the big fish in those fisheries are not. Size structure is taking a hit.  And it's still early in the game, so I imagine things getting worse with time and not better, as what is happening now will take some time to play out to a greater degree across a good many waters.

 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

Thread derailed……..

 

while we are discussing big bass, how do folks like Ben milliken and Josh jones catch more big bass than ever if they are all dead ? 
 

with all the racket people make in bass tournaments, I’m surprised they catch anything. The bass persist thru it all 

[Zcoker]

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Thread derailed……..

 

while we are discussing big bass, how do folks like Ben milliken and Josh jones catch more big bass than ever if they are all dead ? 

 

Maybe some of them don't say nothing. Josh Jones does admit to loosing a few fish each outing....a few DD fish! That's a BIG loss, imho, regardless of the fish that they still catch. 

[TnRiver46]

@Zcoker, DD fish also die when people don’t catch them. They don’t spawn as successfully at that age either. They are going to die no matter what, it’s called consumptive mortality. 
 

I don’t think the fishing was vastly better before Josh jones caught hundreds of monsters and I’d bet it won’t be any different after Josh jones is gone either as long as the habitat is there 

[Zcoker]

Yep, what do I know. They were catching them before FFS way back when but with trout fed lakes instead. They gonna get 'em one way or another, I guess. 

[gim]

1 minute ago, Zcoker said:

Yep, what do I know.

I would say you have more knowledge on the bass in and around the Everglades area than almost anyone on this forum.

 

That's what I know.

[TnRiver46]

Zcoker, you catch like 300 bass over 7 lbs in a month , fish are healthy 😂 

 

you too Brian , with your 40 degree water Mudhole 5 lbers 

2 minutes ago, gimruis said:

I would say you have more knowledge on the bass in and around the Everglades area than almost anyone on this forum.

 

That's what I know.

Yeah he gets those sickly little stunted 8 lbers suffering from improper population dynamics 😂 

[Team9nine]

The mudholes can't even begin to compete with the Everglades  

 

The early bird gets the worm - those guys were the early adopters, the pioneers, so they get to reap the rewards. Even a guy like Jones, who had nearly 200 DD bass to the boat this year between him and clients, hasn't caught a 13+ ShareLunker himself since 2022. Notice the 10-12 lb fish are stacking up below that threshold though...kind of like 13-3/4" fish on a 14" minimum length lake  The biggest fish are few and far between to begin with - stuffing all the "nearly" fish into wells for trips to scales and end-of-day social media pics isn't going to help with the numbers of giants. They need to hope for a big rain and Mother Nature to play her part to offset the pressure. Most of those guys still catching the bigs have moved on from the BB factories like Ivie anyway to less productive locations (relatively speaking) that haven't been beat to death already. Lots of lakes in Texas, but eventually they'll all succumb to the pressure. Over 30 years later and we're still no closer to breaking the Texas state record from what I can tell.

[Zcoker]

My whole take on this FFS thing is that folks will keep buying it and using it no matter what. Doesn't really effect the way I fish, so I'm not all that up in arms about it. I mean, sure, I'd hate to think that it's harming the big breeder bass. Other than that, I have yet in all my years fishing out in the glades seen anyone using FFS. It's about as old school as old school gets out there. Perhaps one day bass will learn to adapt. They'll evolve to avoid it. I've just recently heard interesting stories about how bass shy away when the units are in close proximity, that or they just go completely lockjaw. They've done the exact same thing with fishing lures, so why not with FFS? 

[TnRiver46]

You guessed it z. One thing you always hear scopers say is there are tons of fish that don’t bite. The bigs are still there, they are just learning. if the habitat is there, another fish will take a big dead one’s place