Fun in Florida

Since I started fishing FLW Tour events back in 2012 I have spent a lot of time fishing down in Florida.  Most years, our first event of the season takes place in the Sunshine State so I usually head down a little bit early to get a little warm up and break in my new equipment.  I am finally learning how to consistently catch bass in Florida and am already looking forward to getting back next year!  Here is some action from the first trip of the year for FLW Tour stop #1 at Lake Okeechobee.

My pal Jamie Bruce made the trip down with me - which was a huge help and we had a blast fishing for a few days!  Here is a video documenting our trip south! 

We spent the first day fishing the Harris Chain and took a little ride around.  We caught a few, including this giant, which would be a sign of things to come at this place about six weeks later!

After a day on Harris we started hitting a few of the smaller lakes that I have fished over the years and had a blast...as you can see by all of the warm clothes, we timed our trip perfectly with a cold front so that kind of made things tougher but we caught some good ones every day!

Jamie's big fish of the trip, a 7 pounder he caught flipping a heavy mat...he boat flipped it like a boss!

My pal Mike Richards and his girlfriend spent a few weeks in Florida while we were there so they put us up for a few days and Richie caught the big bass one of the days that we went!

My practice at Okeechobee was not great until the last day when I found an area that I was getting bit every other cast, it was pretty awesome.  This was one big one that I set the hook on...I had several others that I shook off as well.  I was excited for the tournament to start. 
Unfortunately, I did not execute very well in the event and ended up with an 87th place finish.  It was disappointing because I was fishing beside Tim Fredericks, who eventually ended up winning the tournament.  I was in the right area, doing to right thing but I made some mistakes.  I usually learn everything the hard way, so on to the next one!

After the tournament I stuck around for a few days to fish with some sponsor folks from International Comfort Products and we crushed them...that is a pair of 7 pounders!  We fished much slower and the weather improved a little bit but I learned a lot...won't make the same mistakes the next time I'm fishing at the Big O!