Thursday, January 24, Lake Okeechobee, Day Two
Dan writes:
The big difference between yesterday’s fishing and the previous days’ was the wind. When the winds are calm, you can move the boat slower through the grass, and you can see the holes that you need to pitch your worm into from further away. When it’s windy it is difficult to get a bait in front of a fish before the boat drifts over the top of it. The other effect the wind has is to muddy-up the water. I have mentioned before how important clear water is to catching fish on Lake Okeechobee. Yesterday’s wind had begun to dirty the water up in my spots, and that probably contributed to the slower bite.
When I reached the flats this morning, the wind was still blowing and the water in my prime area was considerably dirtier. The fishing was correspondingly slower as well, but by noon time I did have five little fish. Five fish that weighed about six pounds. A major factor in determining success on the tournament trail is knowing when to make a change. I had sat on these spots all day yesterday. I waited the fish out, and ended up doing pretty well. By one o’clock this afternoon though we had not had one bite in my prime area, and the water was getting dirtier. I made the decision to abandon these fish and start scrambling.
We ran over to the hydrilla patch back behind the reed line, where I had caught some on the Flappin’ Shad. We fished it for half an hour without a bite, and I told my partner “Pack it up, we’re leaving. I don’t know where we’re going yet, but it’s time to move.” I had two choices. Run back to Clewiston and fish those bedding fish on the West Wall, or gamble on the “hot spot” I had found ten whole days ago. Remember that I had returned to check that spot Monday, and the fish were all gone. Something told me now though that I needed to go back in that direction, and by the time we were clear of the reeds I had made up my mind.
We arrived at the “hot spot” with one hour of fishing time remaining. Before I even had my Gambler Crawdaddy rigged and ready to fish, my partner was reeling in a fish. I thought, well, that may be a fluke. I started pitching to the reeds though and within five minutes I was culling out one of this morning’s smaller fish. It was too much to ask, but had my fish returned? Yes! In the next half hour I culled out my entire limit from this morning. I was so excited! The fish were back, and doing exactly what they were doing last week, when I had caught two seven-pounder’s!
As it happens in every tournament, you’re fishing against the clock, and I ran out of time. Without a doubt I had made the right decision to return to this spot, but I had made it too late in the day. In the hour I had there I caught just enough fish to guarantee me a check, but not enough to make the Top Twenty cut. I was just one bite away though, and who knows, another five minutes might have been all it took.
My total weight for two days was nineteen pounds even. Surprisingly, the weights went up a little today (they usually go down) and I needed every fish I caught this afternoon to put me in the money. A Top Twenty finish would have been just what we needed to jump-start the season for us, but it’s always good to at least start out with a check.
Annie writes:
I put Dan in the water at six am., then came back and went back to bed for a couple of hours. When I finally got up, I began disassembling our campsite to make things easier for tomorrow. I was excited and nervous all day waiting for Danny to come weigh in. On our way to the launch ramp this morning I asked him if he was nervous and he said “I can only do what is already planned for me”. It made perfect sense and helped us both to ease some jitters about how we will finish up.
I was waiting on the dock when he came in, and he motioned that he had five fish again. He thought he had about the same weight as yesterday, and we knew then that we would get a check. He ended up with a total of 19lbs, which put him in 65 place.
It makes such a big difference in our year when we start the season off with a check. It will boost our confidence for the start of the next tournament, and relieve some of the tension.