CLEWISTON, Fla. – The Major League Fishing Toyota Series is set to visit Lake Okeechobee this week for the first event of 2024. Competition days are Thursday through Saturday.
The event will feature a top prize of up to $100,000 in the pro division and a new Phoenix 518 Pro boat with a 115-horsepower outboard motor.
“This is going to be a great tournament – there is nowhere better to start the season than in Florida,” said Bass Pro Tour angler Bobby Lane of Lakeland, Fla., the REDCREST 2022 Champion with more than $2.5 million in career earnings. “Lake Okeechobee is a fantastic fishery and if the weather stays stable, we are going to see a good one.
“The lake is really high – we’ve had a lot of water this year,” Lane continued. “If I was approaching this tournament, I’d be spending time on the south end, the north end and the shoal. I’d also look around the J&S canal to see if anything was going on, and pretty much cover all four sides of the lake. This tournament could be won from one end of the lake to the other.”
Lane said that he expects the tournament competitors to start the event on popular community holes, but top finishers will need to have a backup plan in place.
“The angler who wins is going to catch them in a community hole on the first day, but the amount of pressure on those schools will only hold up for a day or day and a half,” Lane said. “You’ll need a backup plan for the afternoon of the second and then the third day, and whoever has that will win this tournament.
Lane predicted that with stable weather, fans can expect to see single-day high weights in the 27-to 30-pound range, and he expects the overall winner to weigh in 69 to 70 pounds over three days of competition.
Anglers will launch at 7 a.m. ET each day from Roland & Mary Ann Martin’s Marina & Resort, located at 920 E. Del Monte Avenue in Clewiston. Weigh-ins will also be held at the resort and will begin at 3 p.m. Fans are welcome to attend and encouraged to follow the event online through the “MLF Live” weigh-in broadcasts and daily coverage at MajorLeagueFishing.com.
