Living the Dream: Lake Okeechobee, Part 3
Dave Andrews offers look at second half of official Lake Okeechobee practice
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Editor’s note: This is the third piece in a series of journal entries from Dave Andrews, winner of the 2007 TBF National Championship, which will be published at FLWOutdoors.com throughout the course of the 2008 FLW Series Eastern season. As winner of the “Living the Dream” package offered by FLW Outdoors through The Bass Federation, Andrews had his entry fees paid to test his club skills on the pro tour with the use of a fully wrapped boat and tow package. Andrews will chronicle his adventure in pro bass fishing during the season, beginning with his experience at Florida’s Lake Okeechobee. After Andrews has submitted his journal following each FLW Series event, segments will be posted every few days or so. (Read Part 1 and Part 2)
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Wal-Mart FLW Series BP Eastern Division
Stop No. 1: Lake Okeechobee
Jan. 23-26, 2008
Official practice, day three (Sunday, Jan. 20)
Fun’s over! A bad cold front had dropped into town over night, bringing with it clouds, rain, rapidly dropping temperatures and, of course, wind. Dave (Guichard, a co-angler from New Hampshire) and I fished together again, and I decided to run up the Caloosahatchee River to check some of the canals and make the best of what the weather would allow us to do. The main lake was definitely out today! I had put on every bit of winter clothing that I had brought and wished I had a ski hat and gloves. Temperatures never made it out of the low 50s, and the 25- to 40-mph winds made it feel much colder.
After locking into the river in Moore Haven, we ran 16 miles to the next lock and ducked into a few small canals. The canals had rows of docks that held huge oceangoing vessels. We flipped around the boats and lily pads and managed to put a few small keepers in the boat, mostly on black and June-bug colored worms fished on spinning tackle and 8-pound Gamma line. There was a small local tournament, and most anglers had only one or two keepers. The area looked promising, but after three or four hours, we decided to abandon ship and head back upriver.
We locked back into the rim canal and fished our way back south to Clewiston. We picked up a few fish in the canal, but nothing very big. There were nearly 100 boats fishing in a 10-mile stretch in the rim canal. They were piled up in some of my best spots. I told myself it was because of the high winds – that they were only hiding in there for protection. Surely they would move out once the tournament started, right? I had an uneasy feeling.
Official practice, day four (Monday, Jan. 21)
Tournament Director Chris Jones arrived late on Sunday night, towing my new Ranger Z520 with Yamaha 250 HPDI, which was wrapped in the “Living the Dream” theme. Wow, what a pretty boat. It is definitely an eye-catcher. The following morning, I spent an hour or so transferring my equipment into the new boat. I planned to spend much of the day running around in the rim ditch, breaking in the new motor.
I was alone again on the morning of the fourth and final practice day. The day would be mostly sunny, but the wind would continue to punish the Okeechobee region. There would be no getting to the main lake today, and it would be another day of checking spots in the rim canal and looking for something obscure that might be needed come tournament time.
I graphed several sections of the canal and attempted to catch fish on different baits than I had been using. I threw a Carolina-rigged lizard for about an hour along the deeper sections of the canal, attempting to establish a backup pattern in case the rapidly increasing pressure in the canal would move the fish off the bank. Nothing took the lizard. I tied on a 1/2-ounce black-and-blue Gambler Swim Blade and worked it off the first breakline. I boated two solid fish on the swim blade and decided to head for the lock and work my way into the river again.
After locking through, I wound my way up one of the oxbows, way off the beaten path, and discovered a narrow ditch that ran for miles back into the sugar cane fields. There were lots of targets to fish, mostly hyacinths and lay-downs, and I worked a black Tufcore frog along the plentiful cover. I boated two decent fish on my way back in, when my cell phone rang. It was my longtime friend and tournament partner Scott Leppanen from Byfield, Mass. He was fishing the co-angler side of the tournament and had just flown into Palm Beach and was driving to Clewiston. I told him to head for Moore Haven, and I would pick him up at the launch there. I zipped back out of the oxbow and found Scott waiting by the launch; he jumped in and we immediately headed back to where I left off in the ditch, throwing worms and frogs. It was getting late in the afternoon, but the ditch was intriguing to me, as it was way off the beaten path and totally fishable due to its high banks that blocked the strong winds.
Working our way back, we discovered a spillway from another ditch that was open. Clear water 
poured out from above. I threw the Giggy Head worm along the current breaks and fallen trees and quickly boated five keepers up to 2 1/2 pounds in size. I pitched in again, and the line swam off. I set the hook, and a big fish came up and jumped. I played the fish for quite a while and finally boated it. It was close to 7 pounds. We left after this, and after dropping Scott off in Moore Haven, I worked my way back to Clewiston, mainly just running the boat at various RPMs to break in the engine. I did stop a few times and throw a crankbait, catching a few along the way.
Registration day (Tuesday, Jan. 22)
Lake Okeechobee was off limits today. A new policy from FLW Outdoors forces anglers off the water for one day prior to the start of the competition. I think the new mandatory off-limits day was put in place to allow anglers time to get their boats worked on at the support trailers and to have the registration and pretournament meeting earlier in the day.
I’m a big fan of the new policy. It was nice to sleep in a little and have some time to think before the tournament started. The heavily pressured fish got a break as well. I used the time in the morning to work on my tackle. I spooled new Gamma line on all my reels, changed out old hooks to fresh Gamakatsu trebles and even spent some time by the pool at the motel tuning my jerkbaits. I took a break at about 9:30 a.m. and headed to the local Beef O’ Brady’s for breakfast with Chad Brauer and Frank Lannom. The restaurant was full of fishermen, and there were many fish stories being told.
Registration began at 2 p.m., and an outdoor barbeque was part of the set-up. I picked up my new “Living the Dream” sponsor jerseys at registration and chatted with a few anglers while grabbing a hamburger. The pretournament meeting and pairings were fairly uneventful. I drew boat 118 in the sixth flight and will be fishing with Jerry Lamb, a co-angler from northern Florida.
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Editor’s note: Stay tuned for Part 4 of Andrews’ adventure on Lake Okeechobee, in which he’ll write about the first day of Wal-Mart FLW Series BP Eastern competition on the Big O.
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