Flipping with the king

An inside look at J.T. Kenney’s flipping game on Lake Okeechobee

In the history of professional bass fishing, there have been certain pros that seem to have an inexplicable relationship with particular lakes.

For instance, Shaw Grigsby of Gainesville, Fla., has four top-10s, including two wins, in BASS Tour events on Lake Seminole in Georgia.

Gary Klein of Weatherford, Texas, has a pair of FLW Tour wins on the Mississippi River.

And of course, Kellogg’s pro Clark Wendlandt of Cedar Park, Texas, has become synonymous with Beaver Lake because of his five FLW top-10s, including two victories, on that lake.

Now it seems as if J.T. Kenney of Frostburg, Md., has developed that same kind of mysterious chemistry with Lake Okeechobee.

Kenney’s accomplishments on the Big O include the following: an FLW Tour victory in January 2000; a BASS Open win in October 2003; and a runner-up finish in the recent EverStart Series opener where he broke two EverStart Series records, including the heaviest one-day catch with five bass weighing 32 pounds, 12 ounces.

So how has this 7 UP pro from Maryland become such a phenom on Okeechobee?

To hear Kenney tell it, his success comes from a tremendous amount of confidence when fishing Okeechobee and a total commitment to flipping matted vegetation.

Where it all began

Looking back seven years ago, Kenney can point to the very day his Lake Okeechobee flipping obsession came to life.

He was watching an FLW Tour event television show on Lake Okeechobee where pro Peter Thliveros of Jacksonville, Fla., was flipping matted hyacinths.

“He had his boat nosed up into an island of floating green stuff,” Kenney recalled. “I watched in amazement as he dunked his lure into the island, set the hook and wrestled a giant bass to the top. I can still remember the sound of his line plinking like a guitar string during the battle.

“I always loved bass fishing, but after seeing that, my obsession went to a whole new level.”

Several months later Kenney was on his way to Okeechobee.

“I just had to try it,” he said. “I went down there for a week and did nothing but flip and pitch matted vegetation. I only caught five bass, and no big ones, but for me it was the zenith of bass fishing.”

After several visits to Okeechobee, Kenney befriended well-known Clewiston, Fla., pro Scott Martin, who offered him guide work during Okeechobee’s busy guide season in the winter.

“I was already guiding some in Maryland, so I jumped at the opportunity,” Kenney said. “I came down here and really went to school on the flipping bite.”

Karma or confidence

Kenney claims his Okeechobee karma is concocted with confidence.

“I’ve fished lakes all over the country, but for some reason when I get to Okeechobee, I have an overwhelming sense of confidence,” he said. “I wake up stoked to go fishing before the alarm goes off in the morning. I just love it here and it feels like I can do no wrong.”

These days his passion for plunking a big weight into thick mats with a flipping stick burns in him just as it did seven years ago.

“I come here to flip, period,” he said. “I don’t come here to sight-fish, twitch top-waters or throw Senkos. It’s feast or famine: I may go two days dunking that big weight without a bite, but when I finally find the right area, I know it.”

Exactly what constitutes the “right area” in Kenney’s mind is what many fellow anglers would love to know.

Many figure Kenney has some kind of magical hot spot on Okeechobee, but that’s not necessarily the case.

“My golden rule for Okeechobee is to come out of the Clewiston lock and go left,” he said. “I always fish the north end, from the Monkey Box over to Buckhead Ridge. The exact spot I end up fishing in is always different, but it’s the same general region.”

Kenney’s successful tournaments on Okeechobee share a common denominator: He always catches his fish from a relatively small area, which he fishes for the duration of the tournament.

“Most of my successful areas have been about the size of a football field,” he revealed. “And once I get there, I never crank my outboard again until it’s time to leave.”

“Within the area, there are certain hot spots that become apparent,” he added. “Each day I learn more and more about the area and how the fish are relating to it. As the tournament progresses, I become more efficient at being at the right place at the right time.”

Kenney says Okeechobee is one of the few lakes in the country where an angler can successfully fish the same spot for three or four days in a row.

“That’s the cool thing about this lake: It has so many fish in it that they replenish quickly,” he explained. “You can literally fish one spot for a whole week while the fish come to you, especially this time of year when they are moving in from the main lake to spawn.”

Kenney’s goal on Okeechobee is to locate a small area where the fish are funneling into and blockade it with his flipping stick. But finding such a spot requires knowing the finer points of how Okeechobee bass migrate – something he learned from another Okeechobee icon, Mike Surman of Boca Raton, Fla.”

“Surman has a theory that the big fish – the 5- to 10-pounders – migrate in off the main lake in big groups, and the first place they gather is under the mats to stage for spawning,” Kenney described. “I would agree with that, totally. This is more of a timing game. The idea is to catch a wave of fish just moving into an area as the tournament begins.”

“Smaller resident fish live in these mats year round,” he continued. “The trick is being able to tell when the bigger lake fish are moving in. Usually, I can tell this by the bite I get from each fish. The resident fish kind of peck and nibble at the bait, but the big ones give you a definitive `thonk’ that I’ve learned to recognize. When I start getting more thonks than pecks, I know something is up.”

The right stuff

When it’s time to get down to business on the Big O, Kenney wields his proven mat-flipping gear.

His rod is a “Dad’s Custom,” an 8-foot extra-heavy flipping stick custom built by his father.

When it comes to line, Kenney prefers 25-pound-test Big Game monofilament instead of braided line.

“I know this sounds goofy, but I can’t stand the sound of braid,” he said. “When working a bait up and down in matted vegetation, braid makes that zipping noise and that bothers me.”

For weights, he uses Bass Pro Shops XPS tungsten in the 1 1/2-ounce size. Kenney even custom “paints” his weights with a tedious powder-coating process to make them match the colors of the plastics he is flipping.

His hook is a 3/0 straight shank hook in an “extra strong” gauge. Also, he ties the hook with a snell knot on the hook shank instead of using a conventional knot on the eye of the hook.

“Snelling a hook is personal preference,” he said. “I think it helps kick the hook out of the plastic faster.”

Finally, Kenney’s flipping bait of choice is a Smallie Beaver, a 3-inch ribbed creature bait made by Reaction Innovations.

“For some reason big bass under those mats like a tiny bait this time of year,” he said. “Don’t ask me to explain it, because I can’t. When I flip a big worm, I just don’t get the same number of bites. Yet, if you cast a big worm in open water, big bass will bite it better than a tiny bait – it makes no sense.”

Boredom and terror

Above all, what likely makes Kenney’s flipping method so productive on Okeechobee is his total commitment to it.

When he goes through tournament checkout at an Okeechobee tournament, he often has one flipping stick strapped to his deck. He removes most of the tackle from his boat except for a few extra weights, hooks and soft plastics.

“Occasionally, I’ll get out another rod and make a cast or two with a spinnerbait or Senko, but I never stray from that flipping rod for more than a few minutes,” he said. “It doesn’t bother me in the least to go a couple of hours without a bite in the tournament.”

“I think that’s what gets to most guys,” he surmises. “They go a couple of hours without a bite and their co-angler or other anglers in the area are catching fish like crazy on other lures, and they put the big stick down.”

Another thing that turns anglers away from the flipping game is the number of fish that come off in the thick mats.

“That’s part of it,” Kenney counters. “You are going to lose fish in that stuff, and you just have to accept it.”

Kenney points to the recent EverStart Series tournament as an example.

“I had the 32-12 on the first day only because I happened to get all my big bites in the boat; that’s a rare occurrence,” he said. “On the contrary, on the third day, I lost five great big ones that cost me the win.”

Kenney describes mat flipping on Okeechobee as being “hours of boredom interrupted by seconds of stark terror.”

“You dunk, plunk and dip that bait forever and nothing happens,” he said. “And when you least expect it – THONK – your line tightens, and then it’s game on; there’s nothing else like it.”

FLW Tour outlook

As Kenney looks ahead to the upcoming FLW Tour event, he knows he has his work cut out for him, especially since crowded fishing conditions will be standard issue.

“Other than crowds, I really don’t know what to expect,” he said. “I try not to plan out my day with a set schedule. I’ll just be going fishing and see how the day develops. I may hero; I may zero; I may lose them; I may set another record – you never know what’s going to happen here.

“But you can bet on one thing. I’ll be up before the alarm goes off.”