Lane lines up lead at Okeechobee

Alabama pro cracks 20-pound mark for top honors on day one

CLEWISTON, Fla. – After losing an hour of fishing time this morning to a fog delay, Russell Lane of Prattville, Ala., ran out into Lake Okeechobee and sacked up five bass worth 20 pounds, 1 ounce to take an early lead in the FLW Series BP Eastern Division event.

Lane, who is of no relation the well-known Lane fishing family from Central Florida, caught most of the fish he weighed in out on the main lake on his signature series Vicious spinnerbait – a 1/2-ounce double willow with a white and chartreuse skirt.

“What helped me more than anything today was the wind,” Lane said. “Once it picked up and started blowing onto certain places I started running and gunning that kind of stuff.

“I don’t know that I can duplicate that kind of weight tomorrow because I don’t really have a school of fish coming to me, which is normally what it takes to win on this lake. I was just junk fishing today, catching one here and one there and I just happened to get several decent bites.”

Local Shepard second

Okeechobee guide Mark Shepard of Clewiston, Fla., wants the world to know that the Big O maybe low, but it’s still a world class fishery churning out bass.

In an effort to prove his point, Shepard brought in five bass weighing 18 pounds, 13 ounces, including an 8-pound, 1-ounce kicker, to take the second place position after day one.

“There are still plenty of big fish on the Big O,” said Shepard, who estimates he boated about 15 keepers today. “I’m just having to fish in ways that I’ve never had to fish here before. I can’t get to any vegetation so I’m taking some of my own homemade crankbaits and fishing them along rock.

“It’s kind of wild, I’m fishing Okeechobee, but instead of fishing the salad like I normally do, I’m fishing like I would be on a lake in Tennessee or Alabama – cranking rocks and structure.”

Monroe third

Ish Monroe of Hughson, Calif., hauled in the day one big bass in the Pro Division weighing a whopping 9 pounds, 6 ounces, which anchored his five-bass limit of 18 pounds, 11 ounces.

“That big one was the first fish that bit me this morning,” said Monroe. “That fog killed me though; I need sunshine. I think with sunshine and an extra hour of fishing I could have weighed over twenty pounds today.

“I boated five fish and lost two, one of which I saw and it was every bit of 6 pounds. I think the area I’m in has more big ones in it. I caught an 8 pounder in there in practice. But I need sunshine; the sun helps position them a little better.”

Monroe noted he was fishing outside the lake and made a super long run today.

“I got there and back thanks to my Yamaha,” Monroe added. “Not only is it a long, long way to where I’m fishing, I’m running around quite a bit once I get there and I couldn’t do it without the fuel efficiency of that motor.”

Lefebre fourth

Kellogg’s pro Dave Lefebre of Union City, Penn., holds down the fourth place position with five bass weighing 18 pounds, 8 ounces.

He estimates he caught about 20 keepers from the main lake today.

“With the lake being so low, the fish are really compressed and grouped up,” Lefebre said. “I’m not really sure what stage these fish are in though. There’s not any spawning area around where I’m fishing for the fish to move to, so I don’t think the fish I’m catching are anywhere near spawning.”

Brauer fifth

Chad Brauer of Osage Beach, Mo., holds down the fifth place position with five bass weighing 18 pounds, 1 ounce.

Brauer caught his fish outside of the lake today, going through about 10 keepers to cull up to his limit.

“With so many people fishing outside the lake, it’s pretty crowded out there,” Brauer said. “It’s all about timing for me – timing the crowd – either getting to a place before others do or waiting until boats leave to fish a spot.

“I don’t have a single area where I can catch a limit. I’m just riding around looking for a good spot to fish, pulling in there, catching one or two and then moving on to find the next vacancy.”

Brauer does have some main lake areas in mind, but he’s waiting for the wind to subside enough for those areas to clear up.

“If it gets calm a day or two, I may go out there and poke around,” he added. “But if the wind persists, I’ll just keep fishing outside the lake.”

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top-10 pros in the FLW Series BP Eastern on Lake Okeechobee after day one:

6th: Kyle Mabrey of McCalla, Ala., five bass, 18-0

7th: JT Kenney of Port Charlotte, Fla., five bass, 17-3

8th: Glenn Chappelear of Acworth, Ga., five bass, 16-4

9th: Kirk Crump of Lancaster, S.C., five bass, 16-1

10th: Terry Bolton of Jonesboro, Ark., five bass, 15-11

Heatwole leads co-anglers

Mark Heatwole of Harrisonburg, Va., leads the Co-angler Division of the FLW Series event after day one with a five bass limit weighing 15 pounds, 2 ounces.

Heatwole fished with pro Lloyd Pickett today and sacked 7 keepers.

“I started the day by catching one on a topwater, then I switched to a shaky head and a variety of other baits to fill out my limit,” Heatwole said.

Robert Wood of Jupiter, Fla., fished Gambler soft plastics behind pro Mary Divincenti to catch five bass weighing 13 pounds, 15 ounces for second place.

Jon Newman of Brielle, N.J., is in third place with five bass weighing 13 pounds, 8 ounces.

Leo Reiter of Goshen, Ind., is in fourth place with five bass weighing 13 pounds, 6 ounces.

And Michi Oba of Tokyo, Japan is in fifth place with five bass weighing 13 pounds, 5 ounces.

Big bass

Bruce Kane of Del Ray Beach, Fla., caught the big bass in the Co-angler Division on day one weighing 6 pounds, 1 ounce.

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers in the FLW Series BP Eastern on Lake Okeechobee after day one:

6th: Brent Cantville of Plantation, Fla., five bass, 12-13

7th: Phil Jarmon of Apex, N.C., five bass, 12-11

8th: Michael Burrell of Marietta, Ga., five bass, 12-8

9th: Cleveland Stephens of Lebanon, Tenn., five bass, 12-8

10th: Matt Leavell of Tuscaloosa, Ala., five bass, 12-5

Day two of the FLW Series BP Eastern on Lake Okeechobee will begin on Thursday at 7 a.m. at Roland & Mary Ann Martin’s Marina & Resort located at 920 E. Del Monte Ave. in Clewiston.