By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor


Tennessee FLW Tour pro Jason Lambert was determined to avoid fishing in the heavy slop at the Lake Okeechobee Southeastern FLW Costa Series event last week, focusing instead on the outside edges of hydrilla.

Not so for runner-up Glenn Browne and 3rd-place finisher Joseph Kremer. They went straight to the matted vegetation, where many of the bass had gone to take refuge from a cold front that was severe by Florida standards, and they stayed there throughout the derby.

Following are some of the details on how Browne and Kremer achieved their high finishes.

2nd: Glenn Browne

> Day 1: 5, 16-04
> Day 2: 5, 14-11
> Day 3: 5, 12-05
> Total = 15, 43-04

Although he lives in Florida, Browne hadn't competed on Okeechobee in nearly 3 years. He spent a couple of days riding around the lake with fellow Tour pro Tony Davis about 10 days prior to the start of the event, then had to leave for Wisconsin for a Team Evinrude meeting. He resumed practice on the Sunday prior to day 1.

"That day the weather was decent and I went way south," he said. "I don't want to say I wasted the day, but I knew what was going to happen with the weather that was coming.

"I wanted to wait for the cool weather to come before I fished the stuff where I knew I was going to need to be."

He stayed around the North Shore for the most part, but also plied a few places farther north near the take-off. He focused on thick mats, some of which were mixed in with hydrilla.

His best bag came on day 1, when he caught a solid limit at his first spot and then made a big upgrade with a 5-pounder at his second locale. The same starting spot was productive again on day 2 before a storm arrived in the early afternoon and shut things down – he boated just a couple of keepers during the remainder of the day and was unable to cull anything.

Like most of the field, he assumed that the action would pick up on the final day after the wind had settled down and the sun made an appearance. That wasn't the case, though.

"I struggled until late in the day," he said. "At my primary spot I caught two little ones and then I ran to some hydrilla, but the wind from the day before had torn it up. After that I moved around a lot."

He had a flurry in the final 90 minutes during which he said he got the bites he needed to win the event, but two of the six fish he enticed never made it to the boat. He got a good look at one and estimated it at 3 1/2 pounds.

"It's been a long time since I remember the lake being that tough. On the second day I was leading until Lambert weighed in, and what I had was about what I thought I'd need to even crack the Top 10."

> Flipping gear: 7'11" extra-heavy Lew's Custom Lite Speed Stick Series rod, Team Lew's Pro Magnesium Speed Spool casting reel, 65-pound Lew's APT-8 braided line, 1 1/2-ounce Reins Tungsten Punch Shot weight, Warrior Baits EZ Change skirt (black/blue), 5/0 Gamakatsu Super Heavy Cover hook, 4 1/4" Warrior Baits Quiver Bug (various black/blue shades).

Main factor in his success – "Having pretty good knowledge of the lake. I went down there with the attitude that I'd catch them flipping a big weight somewhere, somehow, and that's pretty much what I did for all of my practice."

Performance edge – "The new Evinrude G2 motor will go through just about anything and not overheat with the way they've redesigned the gear case. And it gets superior fuel mileage – I was running all over the lake and only burning like 15 gallons a day."



FLW
Photo: FLW

Joseph Kremer fished the same spots in the Costa event that had produced in a BFL the previous weekend.

3rd: Joseph Kremer

> Day 1: 5, 17-03
> Day 2: 5, 10-14
> Day 3: 5, 12-13
> Total = 15, 40-14

Kremer, a long-time Southeastern Division competitor and a five-time qualifier for the series championship event, finished 18th in the Gator Division BFL the previous weekend with an 18-04 stringer. He fished a stretch of mats in Eagle Bay in that derby and it was also his primary area for the Costa event.

He caught his BFL fish on a swimjig and a vibrating jig, but the cold front that arrived the following day stymied that action as it pushed the fish into the thick vegetation.

"I tried to keep catching them on the (moving baits), but I wasn't getting real good results," he said. "I ended up pretty much just punching mats.

"I fished the inside and out in the middle (of the mats) as far back as I could get. There were a lot of boats on the first day hitting the edges, but I wanted to get father in than they were."

The morning of day 1 was slow for him and his first four keepers barely exceeded the minimum-length requirement. His fifth, however, was a 5-pounder, and he culled several times thereafter to achieve his biggest bag of the event.

His weight fell off by more than 6 pounds on day 2.

"I had the bites that day, too, but I didn't execute right," he said. "I lost two 5-pounders that cost me big-time. I had them both out of the junk and coming toward me when I lost them.

Like Browne, he figured that day 3 would produce the biggest sacks of the event, but he managed only eight bites. He landed all of them, but none were the size of the two that had gotten away the previous day.

> Flipping gear: 7'6" heavy-action All Star flipping stick, Abu Garcia Revo SX (7.1:1 ratio), 60-pound Buddha Braid line, 1 1/2-ounce Strike King tungsten weight, 4/0 Gamakatsu Superline 2X strong hook, Bitter's Muskrat (junebug).

Main factor in his success – "In 2014 I made a Top 10 in the Rayovac on that exact same stretch, and when I went in there and found them I knew what to do. It's one of the spots that's been very good to me for several years and I was glad to see them there. I knew it was game on."

Performance edge – "My Ranger/Mercury was real important for getting me to those spots and back, especially on that rough second day."

Much of the tackle referenced above is available at the BassFan Store. To browse the selection, click here..