As southern Florida continues to thaw out following a wicked cold snap earlier in the week, waves of big Okeechobee bass continue moving up shallow. The anglers who found themselves atop the leaderboard on Day 1 of the Lake Okeechobee Southern Toyota Series event typically stayed ahead of those fish and mined areas where they knew the bass would be coming to.
Count Lance Pemble (pictured) among them. The Leesburg, Florida, angler spent most of his practice days poking around the shallows of the Big O in areas he thought bass should be coming to. For his efforts, Pemble put together a solid 20-pound, 9-ounce bag to pace the 271-boat field and grab a 2-ounce lead over Christian Greico after the first day of competition.
“Yesterday (in practice) I was still looking for clean water,” he said of his strategy. “I did very little fishing. I finally found some clean water, and like they’re supposed to do, the bass showed up. They weren’t there (initially), though.”
The key to his plan, Pemble said, was finding the right bottom composition and sticking close to those areas.
“We tried to stay on good bottom for them to bed in and spawn on,” he explained. “Bottom composition is the biggest thing on this lake. There’s a lot of soft bottom, and you’ll waste all your time on that if you’re not careful. I found the right bottom and found the right fish.”
That might be an understatement considering the fact that Pemble only had five bites all day. Those bites just happened to be the size he needed to grab the lead on a stingy Okeechobee, and they all happened to come late in the day.
Fortunately, Pemble thinks he can go to his same areas in the south end of the lake on day 2 and reproduce his efforts. On the other hand, 271 boats can blow up a secret spot in a hurry.
“I feel like the area could do it again, but then again, there’s no secrets on this lake,” he said. “Somebody may get them before I do.”
Like the majority of the field, Pemble is “just flipping” in what he believes are high-percentage areas, though he chose to remain quiet about the details of his presentation.
Here's a look at the Top 10:
1. Lance Premble: 20-02
2. Christian Greico: 20-07
3. DJ Timms: 20-01
3. Lee Stalvey: 20-01
5. Willy Dennison: 19-00
6. Brandon Medlock: 18-05
7. Kyle Weisenburger: 17-14
8. Laker Howell: 17-13
9. Wendell Causey Jr.: 16-04
10. Reid Heard: 15-02
