Flipping over the ‘Big O’

During the month of January, Lake Okeechobee has been the epicenter of the tournament bass-fishing industry. The Wal-Mart FLW Tour event this week will be the third national fishing event to visit Okeechobee in as many weeks.

Most professional anglers have been to Okeechobee at some point this month. In addition, many folks who are part of the tournament bass-fishing business have also spent some time at Okeechobee recently – including Old Man Winter.

Ever since the EverStart Series came to town during the first week in January, Okeechobee has experienced two weeks of abnormally low temperatures. Nighttime temperatures have averaged in the 40s with several nights dipping into the middle 30s.

On the lake, water temperatures are in the middle 50s – the same water temperatures that EverStart anglers dealt with at the first of the month.

Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn., won the EverStart by flipping heavily weighted plastic craws into thick mats of vegetation. In fact, the primary big-fish producer in that event was flipping heavy vegetation.

“As the bass migrate in off the main lake, they stage up under these mats during cold-front conditions waiting to spawn,” said Morgan after his win.

Last week, the BASS Tour made a stop on Okeechobee as well. Pros were excited by a small warming trend that coincided with a waxing moon. Bass were starting to make beds around the lake. Then the mother of all cold fronts hit, and the coldest blast of the year put water temperatures into tailspin.

Although some bass were caught sight-fishing in the BASS event, flipping was the dominant factor again. Winner Terry Scroggins, a well-known regional angler from Palatka, Fla., flipped a plastic craw anchored by an 1 1/4- ounce weight into matted hyacinths to win.

So will the flipping bite continue to be the primary pattern in the Wal-Mart FLW Tour tournament?

Anglers are concerned that the cold water and waning moon are keeping the next migration of fish from making their way to the bank. Bass that moved in on the last full moon have been subjected to an extreme amount of fishing pressure all month.

“Fishing has been much tougher during this practice,” said Morgan, who is also fishing the FLW Tour event. “This migration has not been near as strong as the migration of bass that came in during the EverStart for the January full moon. Also, some of the best bass anglers in the business have been out here slinging lures at bass for three weeks.”

Morgan says that when bass first move into an area they are defensive, aggressive and ready to bite. “But after they have been there seven or eight days, they kind of wise up to the area,” he said. “They become much more wary. I think that’s kind of the stage we are in now – especially with the fishing pressure. We need a new wave of bass to migrate in.”

Bernie Schultz of Gainesville, Fla., who finished third in last week’s BASS event, says that despite Okeechobee’s shear size, the lake is still affected by fishing pressure. Schultz finds fishing pressure on Okeechobee to be directly proportional to the prevailing weather conditions.

“The bass here are programmed for clear water,” Schultz noted. “Most of the competitors know to look for clear water. So when bad weather eliminates the clear water – the productive water – it forces the anglers into protected areas. The worse the weather, especially in terms of wind, the more fishing pressure that gets applied to smaller areas.”

Fishing has certainly not been up to Lake Okeechobee’s standards over the last several days. Pros are reporting getting just a bite or two per day. This is much different from last year when reports of 20-pound strings were common during practice.

Yamaha pro Takahiro Omori was even considering taking a day off from the water, an extreme departure from Omori’s disciplined dedication to the water.

“Practicing under such cold-front conditions can be dangerous,” Omori said. “You might fish through an area that has lots of fish, but they are not biting because of the conditions and you miss the bite. I practiced all day Sunday and I never had a bite – that is very bad for my confidence. So I think I am better off not even going out because it ruins my confidence.”

The weather is forecasted to warm up on Wednesday, but once again another front is supposed to blow through on Thursday keeping the nighttime low in the 30s.

The Wal-Mart FLW Tour starts tomorrow morning out of Roland Martin’s Marina in Clewiston, Fla.