Okeechobee

[F14A-B]

12 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Talk about two different starts to the year in regard to epic smashfests in Texas last year at Toledo Bend and Lake Fork.  

 

75% of the field can hardly catch 10lbs in Florida, meanwhile the handful of 20lb bags are caught within casting distance of each other.   

 

Watching all these boats sitting on top of each other should be a clue for BASS, but I doubt they care.   

I’m not sure they do, it seems they are more interested in judicial punishments than anything.. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

7 minutes ago, Pumpkin Lizard said:

I find it actually incredibly interesting. 

I too find it interesting that 106 of the world's greatest Bass anglers can go to a top 10 biggest lake in the U.S., and the only 20lb bags it's capable of spitting out came from a 25yd section of the lake.   

 

Tells me I have no desire to come fish Lake Okeechobee though, not sure that's the pay off the Chamber of Commerce has in mind. 

 

ETA:   I remember at Toledo Bend and Fork last year all I could think about was taking a trip to fish either of them.    

[TnRiver46]

3 minutes ago, F14A-B said:

I’m not sure they do, it seems they are more interested in judicial punishments than anything.. 

it sells, people can’t stop talking about it 

[F14A-B]

@AlabamaSpothunter I agree with you also on Texas being the better fisheries, for me, Florida is where my heart is, but Texas, no doubt has done incredible management. It’s about time for me to do a trip down there. 

[TnRiver46]

22 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

Talk about two different starts to the year in regard to epic smashfests in Texas last year at Toledo Bend and Lake Fork.  

 

75% of the field can hardly catch 10lbs in Florida, meanwhile the handful of 20lb bags are caught within casting distance of each other.   

 

Watching all these boats sitting on top of each other should be a clue for BASS, but I doubt they care.   

Everyone whined about the smash fests to open last year as well

[Pumpkin Lizard]

2 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

I too find it interesting that 106 of the world's greatest Bass anglers can go to a top 10 biggest lake in the U.S., and the only 20lb bags it's capable of spitting out came from a 25yd section of the lake.   

 

Tells me I have no desire to come fish Lake Okeechobee though, not sure that's the pay off the Chamber of Commerce has in mind.    

Hard to predict high water and temps 10+ degrees lower than the average. Such is fishing.

Just now, TnRiver46 said:

Everyone whined about the smash feats to open last year as well

Some will always have a reason to. Everyone is faced with the same conditions and the fishing isn’t that bad.

8 minutes ago, F14A-B said:

I’m not sure they do, it seems they are more interested in judicial punishments than anything.. 

 

There is nothing wrong with what they are doing. Those guys found the spot. It’s no different than establishing a rotation in a community hole.

[F14A-B]

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

it sells, people can’t stop talking about it 

Yea I know I been posting on it a lot.. but some of the changes are unenforceable. Scott told on hisself and they made him walk the plank. 
 

Maybe it was much worse than Scott is saying it was but I just love the guy, Florida and I’m in court divorcing Bassmaster 🤣

[AlabamaSpothunter]

6 minutes ago, F14A-B said:

@AlabamaSpothunter I agree with you also on Texas being the better fisheries, for me, Florida is where my heart is, but Texas, no doubt has done incredible management. It’s about time for me to do a trip down there. 

You and me both brother, I've been dreaming of fishing Texas since I was a boy and my mentor told me stories of growing up in Texas and fishing it.

 

It's amazing what Texas has done for Bass fishing.    They deserve all the love they get.   In 2024, 89 different public fisheries in Texas produced lunker class fish.  

 

Even the Sabine River is awesome because it's not expected to be a smashfest, it's a grinder event.     

 

Okeechobee and St. Johns shouldn't be grinders, they should schedule them when they are healthy fisheries and producing big weights imho.  

8 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Everyone whined about the smash fests to open last year as well

People whined about the scoping, but I don't remember hearing any complaining especially at Lake Fork. 

People will talk about that Lake Fork event for forever, it was the most exciting smash fest I've ever seen.    

 

Fans wanna see DD fish when the world's greatest are in Florida or Texas imho.  

[F14A-B]

18 minutes ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

You and me both brother, I've been dreaming of fishing Texas since I was a boy and my mentor told me stories of growing up in Texas and fishing it.

 

It's amazing what Texas has done for Bass fishing.    They deserve all the love they get.   In 2024, 89 different public fisheries in Texas produced lunker class fish.  

 

Even the Sabine River is awesome because it's not expected to be a smashfest, it's a grinder event.     

 

Okeechobee and St. Johns shouldn't be grinders, they should schedule them when they are healthy fisheries and producing big weights imho.  

People whined about the scoping, but I don't remember hearing any complaining especially at Lake Fork. 

People will talk about that Lake Fork event for forever, it was the most exciting smash fest I've ever seen.    

 

Fans wanna see DD fish when the world's greatest are in Florida or Texas imho.  

Exactly it was all about trying to view an Elite series event that was dominated by scoping. It sucked as a spectator..

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, AlabamaSpothunter said:

 

People whined about the scoping, but I don't remember hearing any complaining especially at Lake Fork. 

 

I found some on the first page from some guy in Alabama 😂 

 

 

[TnRiver46]

Palanuik with a 9.25 lber! 

[Tennessee Boy]

4 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Palanuik with a 9.25 lber! 

I thought he was going to have a heart attack.  I know I would have.  A 9 pounder on a crankbait with money on the line is dangerous stuff.  😆

[JediAmoeba]

6 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

I thought he was going to have a heart attack.  I know I would have.  A 9 pounder on a crankbait with money on the line is dangerous stuff.  😆

I don't know- when I have one hooked on a crank I am pretty confident I am going to land it. They don't usually shake them. 

[LootyDjibouti]

Shout out to South Jersey’s own GDP 😎

 

Shared a 30 acre pond one fall day with him. Since I’m kinda new to this I didn’t recognize him until I saw his wrapped truck and I bluntly/dumbly asked “hey are you a pro bass angler?” 
 

We had a laugh. 

[A-Jay]

BP just landed another 9 !

He's having a day.

A-Jay

[Jar11591]

Followed by a 7. Insane. 

[A-Jay]

10 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

Followed by a 7. Insane. 

Almost as good as Baccarac ~

Almost.

A-Jay

[fishballer06]

19 pound lead on day 2. Unreal.

[TnRiver46]

Wild 

[lmoore]

BP having a "pizza delivered to the dock" type tournament so far.

[scaleface]

What crank is Brandon tossing and handing out like candy.

[F14A-B]

I saw him catch one on a red/orange rattle bait, looked like an Excalibur maybe.. 

[JHoss]

24 minutes ago, scaleface said:

What crank is Brandon tossing and handing out like candy.

Appears to be the Big M Series from Megabass. The one I got a good look at appeared to be the PM Strike Chart color. 

 

https://megabassusa.com/product/big-m-4-0/#bwg95/1620

[TnRiver46]

Somebody weighed an 11.5 lb! Possibly the biggest to hit the stage in bassmaster history 

 

correction: in okeechobee bassmaster history 

[GReb]

34 lb bag