By BassFan Staff
Randall Tharp was no older than 5 when he caught his first bass from Lake Okeechobee, and he's had a great love for the Big "O" ever since. Today the famed Florida venue became the site of the 42-year-old Alabama resident's first tour-level victory, and the final margin was immense.
"It feels great, especially to do it here," he said after a 23-02 final-day bag under brutal conditions gave him a 101-12 total for 4 days. "I said 2 or 3 years ago that if I could have only one tour-level win, I'd want it to be at Okeechobee.
"I caught my very first bass here, and it's the bass fishing capital of the world."
John Cox finished as a distant runner-up with 78-03 after weighing just 8-06 today. Jeremy York moved up one spot to 3rd with a 13-05 stringer that gave him a 74-02 aggregate.
Art Ferguson III, a Michigan resident who guides in Florida during the wintertime, ended up 4th with 71-05 after sacking 18-04 today. Defending champion Brandon McMillan rounded out the Top 5 with 64-06 after bring in just two fish for 3-04.
Here are the final totals for the remainder of the Top 10:
6. Bryan Thrift: 61-12
7. Roland Martin: 59-06
8. Scott Martin: 56-03
9. Steve Kennedy: 55-08
10. Nick Gainey: 54-05
The final-day conditions were about as tough as they get in Florida as a cold front sent air temperatures plummeting into the 50s. A northwind blistered the lake throughout the day, sometimes exceeding 30 mph.
The Top 4 finishers all caught limits, but Cox's was miniscule. None of the other four finalists managed more than two keepers.
The event was the first of four Opens that'll be held this year – the next is Aug. 23-26 at the Detroit River. The six-event Majors campaign and the Forrest Wood Cup at Lake Lanier will be contested prior to that.
Big Day for Tharp
> Day 4: 5, 23-02 (20, 101-12
The Miami-born Tharp dedicated his wire-to-wire win to good friend Jimmy McMillan (father of Brandon), who was killed during a robbery attempt at the family-owned grocery in Belle Glade last month. The elder McMillan was a renowned Okeechobee ace and won this event in 2009 when it was part of the Eastern FLW Series.
"He was the best fisherman who ever fished Lake Okeechobee, and the best who ever will," he said.
He started the day with a lead of more than 8 1/2 pounds, but had only one small fish at 11 o'clock and then missed 7- and 3-pounders on his next two bites. He managed a couple more run-of-the-mill keepers before boating three brutes between 5 and 8 pounds over the next hour or so to take all doubt out of the equation.
"The first one felt good because it meant the guys behind me were going to have to catch them. The second one meant they were really going to have to catch them, and after the third one I finally felt like I'd won.
Runner-up John Cox caught a limit today, but his bag was about one-third as heavy as Tharp's.
"I wanted to get rid of those two small ones to beat Brandon's record (106-12 set last year), but I didn't get any more big bites."
He punched heavy vegetation on the north end of the lake with a Beaver-type bait throughout the event. Details of his winning pattern, as well as those of the other top finishers, will be published soon.
2nd: Cox Content
> Day 4: 5, 8-06 (20, 78-03)
Cox had no qualms with his runner-up finish in light of Tharp's dominant performance.
"I was happy to get 2nd, especially since I was planning on sight-fishing in this tournament and then ending up having to flip," he said. "Tharp was overdue anyway and I'm glad to see him win."
After flipping reeds near the mouth of the Clewiston Channel for the first 3 days, he abandoned that area today in the face of the violent wind and opted to run to a place in the north end. That locale proved to be unproductive and he resorted to tossing a tiny crankbait on a flipping stick to catch the five small fish he weighed.
"I could only throw it about 20 feet," he said with a laugh. "It's going to be embarrassing when the TV show comes out because I couldn't cast anywhere near what I was aiming for. The casts were so short that it looked like I didn't have any line out.
"Then I netted every one of them and they were all 12-inchers."
3rd: A Good Time for York
> Day 4: 5, 13-05 (20, 74-02)
York made a steady climb up the leaderboard each day, going from 12th to 6th to 4th to 3rd.
"It was a great week," he said. "I had a lot of fun."
Third-place finisher Jeremy York's strategy caused some locals to look upon him in disbelief.
He spent the entire tournament in Uncle Joe's Cut, which he described as a 6-mile-long ditch that's only about 20 yards wide. He literally had to wrestle many of his fish out of the gnarly gator grass.
"I told about 10 or 15 locals what I was doing and they all looked at me like I'd been smoking crack," he said. "The name of that grass says it all – it's just a viney, lumpy grass with a lot of V-points. Whether you've got a fish on or not, it's hard to get your bait in or out."
He said today's stringer would've been heavier had he not lost two 5-pounders and a 3.
4th: Ferguson Pleased
> Day 4: 5, 18-04 (20, 71-05)
Ferguson delivered a stellar showing despite not employing the predominant mat-punching pattern. He exploited a group of big fish that he happened to see blowing up on the surface during practice, then went to the rim canal today to negate some of the effects of the powerful wind.
"It was incredible," he said. "All I know is I made the right calls in the right places at the right times. This should be a good year if I can keep my head straight and keep focused."
He's done a lot of guiding in Florida and said days like today are rare.
"That wind was crazy," he said. "It was one of the toughest fishing days I've ever had down here. Normally you just don't go fishing when you get a day like this."
5th: McMillan Apprehensive
> Day 4: 2, 3-04 (16, 64-06)
McMillan said that in one respect he's happy that this emotion-laden event is over, but he's not sure how he's going to feel when he wakes up tomorrow morning.
Art Ferguson III made a lot of good adjustments en route to a 4th-place finish.
"I don't know ... "I'll have to see how it goes," he said. "This had been keeping my mind busy and keeping it off everything that's happened.
"As far as my finish, anytime you make a Top 10 against these guys, it's pretty good – you can't expect to win them all. Even though I struggled the last few days, I had a blast and I couldn't ask for much more."
He relied on the same mat-punching tactics as Tharp and shared some water with his off-season team-tournament partner.
"My best area, I think me and Randall and some other guys milked it dry. I got hard-headed and didn't move like I should have."
Notable
> Day 4 stats – 10 anglers, 4 limits, 2 twos, 3 ones, 1 zero.
Final Standings
1. Randall Tharp -- Gardendale, Al -- 33-09 (5) -- 30-04 (5) -- 63-13 (10) -- 14-13 (5) -- 23-02 (5) -- 101-12 (20) -- $100,000 + $25,000 Ranger bonus
2. John Cox -- Debary, Fl -- 27-10 (5) -- 25-04 (5) -- 52-14 (10) -- 16-15 (5) -- 8-06 (5) -- 78-03 (20) -- $35,000
3. Jeremy York -- Monroe, Ga -- 20-06 (5) -- 22-15 (5) -- 43-05 (10) -- 17-08 (5) -- 13-05 (5) -- 74-02 (20) -- $30,000
4. Art Ferguson III -- St. Clair Shores, Mi -- 26-12 (5) -- 20-04 (5) -- 47-00 (10) -- 6-01 (5) -- 18-04 (5) -- 71-05 (20) -- $25,000
5. Brandon McMillan -- Clewiston, Fl -- 33-07 (5) -- 14-05 (5) -- 47-12 (10) -- 13-06 (4) -- 3-04 (2) -- 64-06 (16) -- $20,000
6. Bryan Thrift -- Shelby, NC -- 15-13 (5) -- 24-01 (5) -- 39-14 (10) -- 18-02 (5) -- 3-12 (1) -- 61-12 (16) -- $17,000
7. Roland Martin -- Naples, Fl -- 26-04 (5) -- 11-10 (5) -- 37-14 (10) -- 17-12 (4) -- 3-12 (1) -- 59-06 (15) -- $16,000
8. Scott Martin -- Clewiston, Fl -- 19-04 (5) -- 20-05 (5) -- 39-09 (10) -- 15-10 (4) -- 1-00 (1) -- 56-03 (15) -- $15,000
9. Steve Kennedy -- Auburn, Al -- 26-01 (5) -- 18-03 (5) -- 44-04 (10) -- 8-05 (4) -- 2-15 (2) -- 55-08 (16) -- $14,000
10. Nick Gainey -- Charleston, SC -- 14-06 (5) -- 24-06 (5) -- 38-12 (10) -- 15-09 (5) -- 0-00 (0) -- 54-05 (15) -- $13,000
