Lefebre’s Okeechobee Monster Locks Up Knockout Round Berth
OKEECHOBEE, Fla. – “Did you really catch a 9-pounder?” Skeet Reese asked as he waited to pull his boat out of Lake Okeechobee.
“Yeah, I did,” Dave Lefebre said. “How about that? That kind of stuff doesn’t happen to me.”
It’s amazing what one massive fish can do for you – Lefebre will be one of the first to tell you that. A 9-pound bass can take a day of questions and confusion and turn it into a day you won’t ever forget.
Looking for Answers
Lefebre entered Qualifying Day 3 in 15th place with three bass for 8 pounds, 12 ounces. Not a great position, but a solid place to be considering the tough conditions Group A faced on Day 1 during the Favorite Fishing Stage Two Presented by Bass Cat.
Lefebre spent nearly two full periods looking for his first scorable bass of the day without any success. He finally decided to scale down his tackle in hopes of coercing the fickle Florida bass to bite.
“Right at the end of the second period I decided to switch to 14-pound Suffix Advanced Fluorocarbon, and a No. 3/0 VMC Offset Shank Heavy Duty hook instead of a 4/0 because I needed a bite, any bite. I caught my first scorable bass with it (a 2-11), so I kept the same idea heading into Period 3. I don’t know if that was the difference, but it sure helped.”
Lefebre Lightens Up
Lefebre was targeting matted grass with a 7-foot-6 13 Fishing Envy rod paired with a Boss 8:1 13 Fishing reel. The Pennsylvania angler also tied on a lighter weight, a 1/4-ounce Fishing Online tungsten to aid in a slower presentation for his 5-inch Yamamoto Senko in green pumpkin with blue flake.
All of those adjustments led to the second-biggest fish catch of Lefebre’s 19-year career (he caught a 9-1 on Lake Murray years ago). Even though the fish was obviously massive in stature, the initial bite made Lefebre believe the fish was lacking in substance.
“Believe it or not, it bit the bait like a bream at first,” Lefebre recalled. “I felt three little ticks at the bait and then it went slack. It wasn’t this mind-numbing bite. When I set the hook it was all tangled up in the grass so I had to go get it. I had my trolling motor on high going to get it and I almost overshot it. I had one shot to grab its face and luckily I was able to do it. I thought it was at least a 10-pounder, but a 9-0 isn’t too bad either.”
Eyeing Heavy Hitters
The Yamamoto pro finished the day with three bass for 13-14 bringing his two-day total to 22-10. He will be moving on to Tuesday’s Knockout Round behind an 11th-place finish. But like most of the anglers competing, his eyes just aren’t on Stage Two’s $100,000 prize. Lefebre knew exactly where he stood in the Heavy Hitters qualification ranks – 45th place with a 4-9 at Lake Eufaula – coming into Stage Two.
“I needed a monster here in Florida and I think I found one,” Lefebre said. “When I heard the announcement for Heavy Hitters, I immediately got excited for the opportunity. All of us want to be fishing in that event on a famous lake like Toho, and it would suck to be home while that event is going on. I know this helps out my average a lot moving forward.”
Lefebre and the other 18 Group A anglers that qualified for the Knockout Round will fish again on Tuesday where they will meet the top 19 anglers from Group B. Qualifying Day 4 with Group B can be streamed for free on MLF NOW! starting at 7:45 a.m. EST on MajorLeagueFishing.com or the MLF app.