piscicidal

#65lb is a MUST for flipping/punching. Not that you necessarily need 65lb tensile strength on a 5lb fish....but it does two things. 1.) gives you margin against breakage for when your line gets knicked up (and it will). 2.) the larger diameter of the #65 keeps the punch stops in place much better than the smaller diameter braids. It's a royal pain to be sliding that punch stop down to the weight all day long.

Rest in peace, Billy Bob. He was a nice man...always had an encouraging word for my kids when we saw him at BPS. Gave my daughter some pink senkos which she still has. He made sure to tell my son that they were bubblegum (not pink) and he should try them as well.

Rob, Yeah, definately. My boat is a small white Hewes with the poling platform removed. I'm always wearing a long sleeve blue or green SPF shirt/floppy hat. The lake is going to be on fire very soon I think. The south end is a little messed up, but when those fish come in it's going to be lights out I think. Might be time for another BR get together, soon....

Not too excited about going back to Holiday....I haven't seen a fish bigger than 2.5lbs out of there in months. I updated my blog to include the KOTG tournament and related pre-fishing. https://www.hawgtech.com/blog

I hear you...we needed a couple miracles.

I talked to Mikey a little bit yesterday. He only caught four, but obviously they were good sized (19.07lbs total). He missed big fish on Saturday by 1/100th of a pound... Good job Mikey! That was an impressive field at the BFL.

Gar Tracker, I think I saw you yesterday. I saw a guy in a Big O fishing the north side of Clewiston channel right before weigh in. If that was you, we were in the Yellow Maverick on the opposite side of the channel flipping the hyacynth mats.

Matt, Your wife's Uncle(??) Farmer/Sommer won the KOTG yesterday. They caught 25.5lbs with a 8.5. Mike Surman (FLW touring pro) finished 2nd, a couple ounces behind. Funny thing was, I was fishing by Surman on Saturday (I was there first ) and EASILY had the fish to finish in the money in the BFL...maybe even top 5. 12 pounds finished in the money and I had that in 15minutes. I left those fish alone but went back yesterday and the place was a ghost town.

I fished the KOTG with Jack (shallow thinker). We struggled also...weighed five small fish to finish in the middle of the pack. I was actually pretty confident Sunday morning, as we had two areas that had good sized fish (+4lbs). However, both areas muddied up by 10:00 Sunday and we really struggled after that to upgrade. I prefished Saturday. I caught 12lbs in like 15minutes at spot B (3 fish in the 3 - 4.5lb range) and left it alone. Can't tell you how disappointed I was to make the long run to that spot yesterday to find it all muddied up. It is such a tough lake for the newcomer because it is constantly changing...water levels, water clarity, current changes, etc... The lake changes day-to-day and even minute-to-minute. I fished down south and my primary areas went from crystal clear to chocolate milk in like an hour...and this happened after the wind stopped blowing! I would have never guessed that the wind STOPPING would have muddied up my area, but now that I've had some time to think about the mechanics of why it happened it makes sense (North wind on Saturday pushed water south and created a current pulling clear water out of marsh area/dynomite holes. When that wind stopped, muddy water from the main lake filtered into the area). I have a lot of respect for the guys who continually finish in the money at Okeechobee. I've been fishing it for 2.5 years and I have a lot to learn to learn about the ol lake. I did lose a beast of a fish at about 9:00 in spot A. Hooked her flipping and she bulldozed me around under a mat before coming unbuttoned. Still wouldn't have finished in the money, but would have moved up a good number of points.

Lee, Glad you were able to hook up with Rob/Dave. I'm no help...I've been on the lake once in the past six weeks and it was two hours on the north side. I'm hoping to get up there this weekend.

When you choose your vehicle service station because it has a nice pond on it full of bass... And the service advisor of said station says you are the only one he has ever seen fish it because his other less brave (read: more sane) customers won't walk out in the waist deep grass for fear of water moccasins and alligators.... And you are standing out in waist deep weeds two days after Christmas in 52degree weather, staring at a 15mph wind casting pointers (with alligators/snakes surely at your feet) knowing you have virtually zero chance of getting a bite from cold intolerant florida bass in this weather.

Merry Christmas everybody!

David, I was at Lox yesterday afternoon from about 2:00 - 5:00. Did a little scouting trip for my trip this morning with my son. We did just ok this morning...found one area that had a little bit of a moving bait bite...my son was able to catch two bass. When the bluebird skies came out, that was done, though. Caught about a dozen each day...mostly flipping.

Look up Danny Barker....he writes free lance articles for several bass publications (i.e. Mike Long Outdoors, etc..) and is a really great guy. I'm sure he will give you some straight advice which will help you with your decision. If this is what you really wanna do...go for it! But go in with your eyes wide open.

My weakness is 20% off sales...and Dobyns rods....and Curado reels...and Rage Tail plastics...and crankbaits on sale...and...

Love the song. Mind blowing fact: the lead singer is "Wakko" from the Animaniacs cartoon series.

Is a guided road trip in your budget? Maybe do a round-a-bout tour of some of the better bass fisheries in Florida...Toho (Capt Jackson/Capt Leech)...Stick Marsh (George Welcome)...Okeechobee (Steve Daniel)...South Florida (Capt Shane)...etc...

That thing's made to be fished not stared at... Come on down to Okeechobee. Robert and I will hook you up.

Space Monkey Sweet Beaver Rage Hawg D-Bomb Ugly Otter BB cricket Pit boss Why Not

I use 50lb power pro for pitching heavy grass jigs (1/2 - 1oz) and 16lb sunline shooter flouro for open water jigging.

David, I called into Steve/Deb's show Saturday morning...was on the air from about 6:15-6:30 while Robert and I were driving to the lake.

I actually got to fish Okeechobee Saturday morning for a couple hours with Robert....my first time on the lake in over a month. We were up around the north end...water very muddy from the rain the night before, but we found a couple spots that had fish. Probably had ~11-12lbs fishing from 8:00-10:00 (we had to leave, go to Garrard's Grand Opening)...not too bad for a couple hours fishing, given the recent reports and the water quality. Anyone get out there this weekend?

It's on my to-do list, Lee. I haven't fished Okeechobee in over a month...it's freaking killing me. That lake is ready to pop. Hope to get out there this weekend, or for sure next week.

bigfruits, Pretty shallow inside whitewater...usually end up hopping that bait off the bottom. re; the gulp shrimp. You'll want to get one of those big cans of gulf shrimp with the screw-on lid and the gulp juice inside. That can will last you hundreds of fish...the little legs will get bit off the shrimp, and the end of the tail...don't worry about it. You will keep catching even with a little stub of bait on there. Inside whitewater, you'll have a good chance at some redfish/snook and snapper. maybe a tarpon in the early AM. You will almost certainly catch jacks/ladyfish/sea trout. Very good chance at a shark using cut bait, if you're bold enough to do it in a kayak. Some big bull sharks in there, so use caution.

very nice video!