Flip, flip, flip. That’s the big word at Lake Okeechobee for the season-opening Bassmaster Southern Open. After two weeks of unseasonable low temperatures and lethargic largemouths, Day 1 kicked things off sunny, bright and warmer than in recent memory.
Still, the fish weren’t feeling it. The water is still cold, and the leaders used that knowledge to their best advantage by slowing down and pitching and flipping to bass that were entrenched in heavy vegetation.
J.T. Kenney of Palm Bay, Fla., took the first day lead with 15 pounds, 13 ounces of Florida largemouths. He caught them flipping a Gambler Ugly Otter to some of the thickest vegetation he could find.
“The grass and vegetation didn’t have to be matted to hold bass,” Kenney said, “but it had to be thick.”
BASS photo
Bassmaster Elite Series pro and 2010 Bassmaster Classic qualifier Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Fla., echoed Kenney’s words.
“It’s tough out there,” Lane said. “I caught my fish (a five-fish limit weighing 12-4 – good enough for a tie for 5th place) flipping a Berkley Crazy Legs Chigger Craw and worked hard all day to catch just six bass.”
Lane admitted to fishing heavy cover and said he pinched the legs off his Chigger Craw so that it would slide through the surface vegetation more easily. Baits with numerous or lengthy appendages are notorious for hanging up near the surface and not reaching the open areas beneath the surface vegetation – where the bass live and feed.
The biggest bass of the day was caught by 21-year-old Kyle Fox. It weighed 10-3 and was caught flipping heavy vegetation. Fox was using a bait of his own design manufactured by Culprit. The “Foxy Craw” lured the lunker out from under matted vegetation that was about 2 1/2 feet deep.
Fox’s giant was one of just three keepers the young pro brought to the scales today. They totaled 15-6 – good enough for second place, but his position seems very tenuous. Being two fish short of a limit and with one of those bass weighing more than two-thirds of his total tally, Fox could trouble duplicating that weight on Day 2.
Other anglers in the top five include Bassmaster Elite Series Pro Alabama’s Russ Lane (14-6) and David Kilgore (13-12) and Florida’s Terry “Big Show” Scroggins, who is tied with Bobby Lane for fifth with 12-4.
Three of the top 10 anglers are Bassmaster Elite Series pros. After Day 2, the field will be cut to the top 30 anglers, who fish the final round on Saturday. Anglers fishing in the pro division can gain entry into the Bassmaster Classic and the Bassmaster Elite Series by virtue of their performance in the three-event series. The entire Open schedule can be found on Bassmaster.com
On the co-angler side, Rodney Glunt of Orlando, Fla., is pacing the field with three bass weighing 7-13. Michael Bradford and Aaron Gengler caught the big bass on the co-angler side in the first round. Each brought 5-11 lunkers to the scales, but nothing else. Their single bass were good enough to put them in a tie for 8th.
Sponsors of the 2009 Bassmaster Opens:Toyota Trucks, Berkley, Evan Williams Bourbon, Mercury, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha Marine.
