Stumped on Okeechobee

I fished a tournament on Okeechobee today and for the first time in a long time, I didn't catch them non-stop all day and didn't cash a check.  My buddy Russ called me this week and asked me if I wanted to fish and since I never turn down a chance to fish the Big O, we entered the event. It was held out of Belle Glade, the south end of the lake and the field was full of the good Okeechobee locals.  The water is getting really low again and is a foot lower than it was last month when I fished in a club tournament.  On a shallow lake like this, that can mean trouble.  Just getting around is dangerous, and the grass is mostly less than a foot deep or high and dry.  We had a great plan and had some offshore fish located that were schooling on shad.  It was the perfect situation to fish offshore; low water, post-spawn and warm temperatures.

We started off great and caught fish right away.  I was using a Norman Flat Broke Crankbait in a shad pattern and was catching them pretty easily.  It was pretty rough out there so it ruined my plan of throwing topwater, but the fish were still there.  Russ even caught two fish on the same cast at one point.  They were in there thick, but were just small fish.  We gambled with the offshore schooling fish and never caught a big one to make it worth it.  The bite died down and we ran to a bunch of known spots, and it was the same story; small fish after small fish.  Once the bite slowed down, I was using a shaky head with a Dinero by Get Five Lures in the black out color.  I ended up catching quite a few on this bait, but didn't get one over two pounds today.  We had a limit and culled several times, but weren't even close.  The winners had 31 pounds and there were several 20+lb bags.  What did we do wrong?

Even now, hours later, we are both trying to figure out what we would have done differently.  I did learn some things and had a great time.  Russ schooled me with a cool new bait I have never used before.  I'll talk about that later this week.  Fishing can be a humbling sport and it's sometimes good to look back and see what you would have done differently. 

The Best Bed Fishing Bait Ever

If you ask ten fishermen what they like to use for bedding bass you will probably get ten different answers.  Some go for the gaudy bright baits, some prefer the natural baits, and others want something very lifelike.  All of these will catch fish.  In a tournament situation, it comes down to catching them quickly. My new favorite bed fish bait is the Dinero by Get Five Lures.

I have always preferred to use Texas-rigged plastics on beds.  Tubes, craws, beavers, worms, and brush hogs all work.  This past weekend I was able to catch a few fish on beds and the Dinero did the job in no time. One particular fish was within casting distance of both myself and my partner for the day.  We both cast at it several times with different baits.  Once I thought about it, I tied the Dinero on and the fish was in the boat.  Sure, we had spent a few minutes getting the fish riled up, but I think the Dinero is a great tool for many reasons.

The first thing about the bait that I like is the type of plastic that is used.  It's very soft, but also floats.  This allowed the weight to rest on the bottom and the tail to float up right in front of the fish. The second part of the design that makes it great for bed fishing is the action.  The tail of the Dinero has some great movement when you shake your line.  When you start to reel it in, the tail looks like the tail of a fish trying to get away.  

As far as colors are concerned, I judge that based on the color of the water.  If it's dirty or windy out and the bed is hard to see, White Rose is my choice.  If it's crystal clear, I like a natural color like Green Pumkin or Sludge.

Check out this video and imagine that action on a bed in front of a bedding bass.