By Rich McKay |Sentinel Staff Writer

Well, a lot of good thing’s going happening on Lake Okeechobee this past week. Every year the FLW comes to the lake bringing the best fishermen in the world. I am blessed to have fished with these guy’s for a long time, in both the BASS and FLW events.

When fishing is tough on a lake these guys find a way to catch them and open the minds of the local fisherman that sets the trend for the season. Before last week the fishing was tough and it did not take a lot of weight to win any tournament and numbers of fish caught were low. The FLW Pros had a four day practice and the first three days was tough coming out of a cold front, everybody was crying the blues.

But, the water warmed up quickly and on the last day of practice the fish showed up in a lot of places. The sudden change made for a monster of a weight-in, the fishing was great. Most of the fishing were caught using swimbait and frog baits.

This is proof about the migrations of fish in the lake they have about 730 squar miles of lake to hide in. But when it is time to spawn they come to the grassbeds. These last couple of years the water was low and made for a pore spawn. This year the magic is happening there are beds everywhere and the bass are having great success. You can see baby bass everywhere, the fishing this month will be great but you will have to slow down when it is cold. With the cold weather we are still catching some slow worming and on shiners.

Till next time tight lines and good fishing….
From Staff Writer Capt Mark Shepard (marks@bassonline.com)
BassOnline.com / 888-829-BASS

Jimmy McMillan Wins! Jimmy McMillan of Belle Glade, Fla., wins the Walmart FLW Series event on Lake Okeechobee with a four-day total of 74-4. (Photo by Rob Newell)

Local Okeechobee legend closes the deal with first professional win

By Rob Newell - 31.Jan.2009

CLEWISTON, Fla. – Last January, Jimmy McMillan of Belle Glade, Fla., fished the Walmart FLW Series on Lake Okeechobee and finished second.

At the time, the FLW Series event was the biggest tournament he had ever fished. During that tournament he made some bad decisions, and his runner-up finish left him on the edge of what could have been.

After that tournament, he had no intentions of fishing the rest of the 2008 BP Eastern Division tournaments. But at the last minute, he decided to go to the second stop, Lake Wheeler, sight unseen.

A $10,000 check at Wheeler for a 49th-place finish made him push on to Lake Champlain and then to Clarks Hill, where he scored another top-10. At the end of the 2008 FLW Series season, McMillan was crowned BP Eastern Division Angler of the Year after fishing against some of the best names in professional bass fishing.

With that Angler of the Year title, McMillan proved something to himself: He could compete against the best and finish at the top. That confidence carried into the new 2009 Series season, where the opener once again landed on his home lake of Okeechobee.

This time around, however, McMillan exhibited the kind of calmness and focus that only comes with tournament-fishing experience. Over the course of four days, the Okeechobee local never faltered and amassed a dominating weight of 74 pounds, 4 ounces to win his first major title as a professional angler.

“This feels really good,” McMillan said after pocketing $100,000. “After I won the points in the Eastern Division last year, it took a lot of pressure off me. This week I went out there and fished for me. I found an area, developed a game plan and stuck to it.”

That game plan involved targeting spawning bass in an area on the east side of the lake.

“I actually found this area on January 7th, before the cutoff,” McMillan recalled. “I normally fish the south end of the lake, but I went up to the east side and found a beautiful area, full of gin-clear water and a nice hard bottom that had mussel shells. I knew right then that area would be the hot spot for this tournament, and it was. There were a lot of people that found it and caught fish in there this week.”

McMillan’s one-two punch for the area centered on swimming a Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper through the grass and sight-fishing a Sweet Beaver on beds.

The Skinny Dippers were rigged with either a Reaction Innovations Screwed-up locking weight or a 1/32-ounce screw-in weight, punched into the nose of the soft-plastic swimbait with a 6/0 Gamakatsu hook. He used a variety of colors and tied the Dipper to 65-pound-test Suffix braid.

The Sweet Beaver (white) was his sight-fishing weapon, topped with a ¼-ounce weight and tied to 25-pound-test Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon.

“The first day was mostly the Skinny Dipper,” McMillan said. “The next two days I mixed it up with the Dipper and the Beaver, and then with the wind today, I couldn’t sight-fish so I went back to swimming the Skinny Dipper.”

McMillan noted that when he fished the Skinny Dipper, he did not “buzz” the surface, but instead reeled it under the surface.

Today he only caught four fish, but they weighed 16 pounds, 14 ounces, the biggest catch of the day despite the high winds.

Kreiger second

Iams pro Koby Kreiger of Okeechobee, Fla., finished second with a four-day total of 61 pounds, 4 ounces worth $50,000.

For most of the week, Kreiger put his sight-fishing skills to work using a white Zoom Superhog to pluck fish off beds.

In fact, during the week, McMillan gave credit to Kreiger for giving him some sight-fishing tips.

Kreiger and McMillan shared the same productive bedding area on the east side of the lake.

Though Kreiger estimated that 80 percent of his fish came sight-fishing, he, too, used the Skinny Dipper to snare a couple of key fish.

Fukae third

The ever-consistent Shin Fukae of Mineola, Texas, was the only pro to catch a five-bass limit Saturday on a blustery day four. His 9-pound, 10-ounce catch gave him a four-day total of 59 pounds, 9 ounces, good enough for $40,000.

Fukae spent most of the week swimming a 5-inch green-pumpkin Swimming Senko on the surface of Kissimmee grass in South Bay.

With the gusty conditions today, he adapted by fishing a ChatterBait around cattails.

His ChatterBait, however, was rather unique.

“I took a ChatterBait blade and put it on an All-Terrain swimming jig,” Fukae explained. “Then I put a 4-inch Swimming Senko on for a trailer.”

Both the skirt and the Swimming Senko were green-pumpkin in color.

Surman fourth

Castrol pro Mike Surman of Boca Raton, Fla., finished fourth with a four-day total of 58 pounds, 3 ounces worth $40,000.

Surman, too, did a lot of his damage on the east side of the lake in the area that McMillan and Kreiger were fishing.

His primary baits were a 5-inch Gambler Paddletail worm, a Gambler 10-inch worm and a Cane Toad.

“I did catch a few fish on the surface with the Cane Toad, but a majority of my fish came on the Paddletail and big ribbontail worms,” Surman said. “I used a 5/16-ounce weight on both and pitched them into holes in the grass.”

Mann fifth

Tom Mann Jr. of Buford, Ga., finished fifth with a four-day total of 57 pounds, 4 ounces worth $20,000.

Mann has one thing on his mind these days: the Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Lanier in 2010, and rightly so. Few fishermen know more about Lanier than Mann, who has fished the lake all his life. But he has to get there first, and he made the first giant step in securing that berth with his fifth-place finish today.

“Make no bones about it: I’m after a Forrest Wood Cup berth,” Mann said. “I even put in extra practice time down here for it.”

Mann spent most of the week fishing between Turner’s Cove and Cochran’s Pass with Yamamoto Senkos, Cut-tail worms and Horny Toads.

On day three he caught 23 pounds, 7 ounces to put him in the top 10.

“There was really nothing special about it,” Mann said of the huge limit. “I went fishing in the same area with the same baits like I did the days before; I just got some really big bites. It was a fun week, but I’m already thinking about the next Series stop on Eufaula – I want to make the Cup in 2010.”

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 pros in the Walmart FLW Series BP Eastern on Lake Okeechobee:

6th: Scott Lunsford of Calhoun, Ga., four-day total of 56-1, $19,000
7th: Shonn Goodwin of Moore, Okla., 53-8, $18,000
8th: Scott Martin of Clewiston, Fla., 53-4, $17,000 (Protested Jimmy McMillan)
9th: Carmen Patti of Davie, Fla., 52-12, $16,000
10th: Glenn Browne of Ocala, Fla., 49-14, $15,000
17th: Mark Shepard of Clewiston, FLa., $12,500
———————————————————————————————

Till next time tight lines and good fishing….

From Staff Writer Capt Todd Kersey (todd@bassonline.com) – BassOnline.com / 888-829-BASS

Bassmaster Open- Southern Florida’s Bryan Hudgins Secures First BASS Victory at Bassmaster Southern Open

(Jan. 31, 2009 – Tavares, FL.)… Helped by a limit weighing more than 30 pounds on the second day of competition, Bryan Hudgins of Orange Park, Fla., scored victory at the Bassmaster Southern Open on Florida’s Harris Chain of Lakes in commanding fashion Saturday. Hudgins’ final day tally was 14 pounds, 9 ounces, which upgraded his three-day total of 68 pounds, 10 ounces, enough to hold off his nearest competitor, Scott Ashmore of Broken Arrow, Okla., by more than 10 pounds.It was a different approach to the Harris Chain that aided Hudgins. The vast majority of the nearly 200-pro field found spots far from the launch site, some up to an hour and a half away, but Hudgins fished within ten minutes of the ramp. He pulled all of his weight from the same area by flipping a Git ’Em Bait Co. craw, in either black and blue or watermelon red, into emergent vegetation.

With the victory, Hudgins takes home the $45,000 top prize. Ashmore took second with 58 pounds, 6 ounces, while Bassmaster Elite Series pro Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Fla., took third with 54 pounds, 13 ounces. Day 1 leader John Kremer of Sanford, Fla., who finished with 51 pounds, 6 ounces, finished fourth while Elite pro Tim Horton of Muscle Shoals, Ala., brought in 51 pounds, 2 ounces, good enough for fifth.

With the launch temperature hanging around 40 degrees, Hudgins decided to stick to his plan of fishing close where there was little boat traffic.

“Most of the guys ran way far away, so the water was all muddied from the boats passing through there all day for the past week,” said Hudgins. “Those fish took a pounding so I thought the bite would slow, and it did. I didn’t burn a quarter tank of gas the whole time.”

Hudgins said the bite was good for him early in the day, then died off after noon.

“It all came together yesterday, and continued into today,” he said.

Ashmore, who had a shot at victory if he performed better on the final day, blamed two of his weighed fish for his light total of 12-1 Saturday.

“I had two fish get off, I think they were about three and four pounds, and while I don’t know if I would’ve won with that, it would’ve made it close,” he said. “The fish I was on today had been hit hard all week, there was a couple other guys fishing that same area, so they tightened up today for sure.”

In the co-angler division, Donnie Dodd, of Guntersville, Ala., took top honors with 32 pounds, 7 ounces. Dodd zeroed on the first day, but rocketed up the chart with five fish weighing 19 pounds, 2 ounces on Friday. Dodd won a Skeeter/Yamaha rig valued at over $32,000 with his amazing comeback win.

Dodd took the lead from Marlon Crowder of Tampa, Fla, who held top position for the first two days. Crowder’s three-day total of 30 pounds, 10 ounces, was good for second while Ben Potaracke of La Crosse, Wisc., was third with 26 pounds, 15 ounces.

Greg Vinson’s 10-pound, 2-ounce largemouth he caught on Day One held up as big bass of the tournament. The Wetumpka, Ala., native and Elite Series pro finished 6th on the pro side with 45-pounds, 11-ounces. Pam Martin-Wells, a pro on the Women’s Bassmaster Tour presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors, finished 23rd with 31 pounds, 0 ounces.

Next up for pros in the three-tournament Southern Open division is the April 30-May 2 event on Wheeler Lake out of Decatur, Ala.

About BASS

For more than 40 years, BASS has served as the authority on bass fishing. With its considerable multi-media platforms and expansive tournament trail, BASS is guided by its mission to serve all fishing fans. Through its industry-leading publications Bassmaster Magazine, BASS Times and Fishing Tackle Retailer and comprehensive Web properties in the Bassmaster and ESPNOutdoors websites, the organization is committed to delivering content true to the lifestyle. Additionally, television programming on ESPN2 continues to provide relevant content ? from tips and techniques to in-depth tournament coverage ? to passionate audiences.

The organization oversees the prestigious Bassmaster tournament trail, which includes the Bassmaster Elite Series, Bassmaster Opens, Women’s Bassmaster Tour and the Bassmaster Classic, the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing. Through its grassroots network, the BASS Federation Nation, BASS sanctions more than 20,000 events annually.

BASS also offers an array of services to its more than 500,000 members while spearheading progressive, positive change on issues related to conservation and water access. The organization is headquartered in Celebration, Fla.

Totals

Till next time tight lines and good fishing….

From Staff Writer Capt Todd Kersey (todd@bassonline.com) – BassOnline.com / 888-829-BASS

By Bob Wattendorf, Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
Saturday January 31st, 2009

If you are like me, you’ve probably heard, “You should have been here yesterday; the fishing was great,” more times than you can count. And if like me, you’re tired of that phrase, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) has come to the rescue.

FWC biologists continue to give anglers the best advice on the location of some of the sweetest honey holes to cast a line in Florida. That means you might be the next one bragging about a whopper of a day spent fishing.

Fisheries biologists used a variety of clues, including the recent fishing history of various lakes and rivers based on creel surveys, Big Catch angler-recognition records and electrofishing results. They also evaluated habitat conditions, water flow and young-of-the-year survival from the previous year to suggest the top destinations for 2009. Lists of the best places to go for bass, crappie, bream, catfish and stripers are posted at MyFWC.com/Fishing/Forecast. In addition, regional biologists check with local fishing guides and bait-and-tackle shops quarterly (January, April, July, October) to get insights into how major fisheries are producing and what anglers are using successfully on a variety of lakes and rivers throughout the year. The same Web site will give you access to that information, along with local contact numbers for up-to-minute updates.

Here’s a brief overview of the sites FWC biologists are recommending to the angling public for 2009, but remember at any day the bite can be on in a different time and place – from a small community pond to 470,000-acre Lake Okeechobee. With over 7,700 named lakes in Florida and 12,000 miles of fishable rivers, streams and canals, you’re never far from an opportunity to relax and wet a line – time that is always well spent communing with nature.

Site
Size and Counties
Featured species
Apalachicola River/Lake Seminole
106 miles, 37,500 acres; Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Jackson, Liberty
striped bass, channel, flathead and blue catfish

Blackwater/Yellow rivers
58 miles; Okaloosa, Santa Rosa
striped bass

Choctawhatchee River
96 miles; Bay, Holmes, Walton, Washington
striped bass, bream, channel and flathead catfish

Clermont Chain of Lakes
11 lakes totaling 8,692 acres, Lake
channel and white catfish

Crescent Lake
15,960 acres; Flagler, Putnam
crappie

Deer Point Lake
5,000 acres, Bay
bass

Eagle Lake
541 acres, Polk
sunshine bass

Escambia River
231 miles, Escambia
striped bass, channel, flathead and blue catfish

Everglades conservation areas 2 and 3
210 square miles; Broward, Dade, Palm Beach
bass

Haines (Haynes) Creek
6 miles, Lake
channel and white catfish, bullheads

Lake George
46,000 acres; Putnam, Volusia
bass

Lake Harris
13,800 acres, Lake
bream

Lake Istokpoga
28,000 acres, Highlands
bass, crappie, bream

Lake Kissimmee
35,000 acres, Osceola
bass, crappie, bream, channel and white catfish, bullheads

Lake Marian
5,700 acres, Osceola
crappie, bream

Lake Marion
2,990 acres, Polk
crappie

Lake Monroe
9,400 acres; Seminole, Volusia
bass

Ochlockonee River
300 miles; Franklin, Gadsden, Leon, Liberty, Wakulla
channel, flathead and white catfish, bullheads

Orange Lake/Lochloosa Lake
12,550/5,700 acres, Alachua
crappie, bream

Lake Osborne/Ida Chain of Lakes
356 acres, Palm Beach
sunshine bass

Lake Panasoffkee
4,460 acres, Sumter
bream

Lake Talquin
8,800 acres; Gadsden, Leon
striped bass, crappie, bream

Lake Trafford
1,500 acres, Collier
crappie

Lake Tarpon
2-500 acres, Pinellas
bass

Lake Weir
5,685 acres, Marion
crappie

Lake Weohyakapka
7,500 acres, Polk
bass

Mosaic Fish Management Area
1,000 acres, Polk
bass, bream

Rodman Reservoir
9,500 acres, Putnam
bass

St. Johns River
310 miles; Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Orange, Putnam, Seminole, St. Johns, Volusia
striped bass, channel and white catfish, bullheads

St. Mary’s/Nassau River
90 miles; Baker, Nassau
striped bass

Suwannee River
213 miles, Suwannee
bass, bream

Tenoroc Fish Management Area
7,300 acres, Polk
bass, crappie, bream

West Lake Tohopekaliga
18,810 acres, Osceola
bass, crappie, bream

Grab a friend or relative and try out one of these sites, or investigate a local water hole to create your own list of top fishing destinations. Then pass it on to whoever will listen and let them know the fishing was great – yesterday. Always remember: A bad day fishing beats a great day at work.

Till next time tight lines and good fishing….

From Staff Writer Capt Todd Kersey (todd@bassonline.com) – BassOnline.com / 888-829-BASS