By BassFan Staff
Randall Tharp's victory at the Okeechobee FLW Tour Open surprised absolutely nobody. He almost won the event last year, and then spent his second straight winter hanging around the lake and fishing it an average of 5 days a week.
His recent experience there and his lifelong love affair with the Big "O" have made him as much of an expert on the place as just about anybody. He'd have naturally taken a tour-level win anyplace, but he wanted one at that venue more than anywhere else, and now that wish is a reality.
The Alabamian by way of Florida (he was born in Miami) had been keeping tabs on Okeechobee's big females for months, and he caught a lot more of them during the event than any of the 159 other anglers. He led wire-to-wire, and only on day 1 was the margin even close.
His 101-12 total for 4 days topped runner-up John Cox by a hefty 23 1/2 pounds and earned him a $125,000 paycheck. Here's how he did it.
Practice
Tharp had punched mats en route to a 2nd-place finish at the Okeechobee Southeastern EverStart in January and knew that might be a viable pattern for the Tour Open as well. He wasn't entirely locked into that tactic when the official practice period began, though.
"I spent 3 days going around and seeing if other stuff worked," he said. "I looked for fish on beds because I thought sight-fishing might be a factor and I (casted and wound) a lot of different baits. All of that just reaffirmed that what I was doing was the right thing."
Many competitors went to Okeechobee with the idea that looking would dominate, but very few fish moved up during last week's full moon. He's convinced that a good number of Big "O" pigs have yet to perform the reproduction ritual, but the schedule has been thrown off this year.
"There's still a lot of fish that are pre-spawn – they bed all the way into April and May. We're just getting it a little bit at a time, though. Because it's been so warm all winter, they haven't been coming in waves.
"Also, for some reason, they're bedding real deep. You'd think they'd go way back with the water higher this year, but they're not – most of them are bedding outside."
Sight-fishing proved to be no factor whatsoever in the derby, so knowing where the bruisers lurked became paramount. That played right into the hands of Tharp, defending champion Brandon McMillan, the father-son tandem of Roland and Scott Martin and other "locals" who fared well.
Competition
> Day 1: 5, 33-09
> Day 2: 5, 30-04
> Day 3: 5, 14-13
> Day 4: 5, 23-02
> Total = 20, 101-12
Tharp didn't get bit for the first hour and a half on day 1. But when he finally enticed a fish, it was a beauty – a 9 1/2-pounder that was the biggest of the event. It propelled him to a 2-ounce lead over good buddy and off-season team-tournament partner McMillan.
He extended his advantage to more than 11 pounds on day 2 by weighing another 30-pound sack while McMillan faltered. He caught all of it in a span of about 30 minutes, culling out a limit he'd boxed at his first stop.
He encountered his only stumbling block on day 3, when the north wind picked up considerably and compressed the mats to the point that they were difficult to penetrate even with a 1 1/2-ounce weight. He even resorted to a swimjig to catch three ordinary keepers – all of which went to the scale.
His light bag cost him only about 2 1/2 pounds of his lead, though, and he went into the final day with a bulge nearly as big as the giant fish he'd caught on day 1.
Tharp said his new Halo flipping sticks played a big role in his victory.
Day 4, which was bitterly cold by Florida standards and featured a wind that gusted to more than 30 mph, began ominously. He had just one average keeper at 11:00 when he missed 10 pounds worth of fish on two bites that wouldn't stay hooked up. He boxed 5-, 6- and 7-plus-pounders shortly thereafter, however, and knew that he was pretty much uncatchable.
As it turned out, he didn't need to weigh a single fish that day, as Cox managed just 8 1/2 pounds and came up 7 ounces shy of the total Tharp had begun the day with. But his strong sack put him over the century mark and within 5 pounds of the 4-day Tour weight record set by McMillan last year.
Pattern Notes
Tharp (as well as most of the other top finishers) fished the northeastern side of the lake, focusing on the Monkey Box, North Shore and Horse Island. He had about 15 spots that he exploited within that general area.
"When I got here (in November), the lake was just covered in hydrilla," he said. "When it starts to get colder the hydrilla dies and the fish get concentrated in what's left over.
"The mats were mainly hyacinths, but there's so many different kinds of vegetation in there – you can have five different kinds in one mat. All of the mats are hung up in the hydrilla."
He said knowing the location of a few good ones that were off the beaten path was critical.
"I think one thing that separated me from everyone else was having a few little isolated mats that I could run to and get some bites. I'd run to a spot just to make 10 flips."
Winning Gear Notes
> Flipping gear: 7'11" extra-heavy Halo Twilight flipping stick, prototype Halo casting reel (7.2:1 ratio), 70-pound Daiwa Samurai braided line, 1 1/2-ounce River2Sea tungsten weight (black), 4/0 straight-shank Cobra flipping hook, Bitter's B.F.M. (black/blue flake).
> Swimjig gear: 7'6" medium-heavy Halo Twilight rod, same reel, 65-pound PowerPro Slick braid, 3/8-ounce 4x4 jig (black/blue flake), Strike King Rage Craw trailer (black/blue flake).
The Bottom Line
> Main factor in his success – "I'd definitely say that my preparation was a huge factor."
> Performance edge – "J.T. Kenney helped design those Halo flipping sticks and I think only me, him and Koby Kreiger had them. I'd never used a 7'11" before this tournament because they'd always felt so big and cumbersome and awkward, but when I put a reel on that one I couldn't believe it could be so light and yet still be that strong."
