ON TOUR
COSTA FLW SERIES
COSTA FLW SERIES | LAKE OKEECHOBEE
OKEECHOBEE, FLA.
By Rob Newell
WINNING ANGLER
terry tucker
Gadsden, Ala.
Winning Weight:
21-03 (5 fish)
details:
Jan. 4, 2018
Presented by Power-Pole
Due to hurricanes, high
water and a sudden loss of
vegetation in the months
before the tournament, the
Big O was in bad shape for
the FLW Series event. Muddy
water had crept into a lot of
Okeechobee’s best spawning
grounds, making clear, stable
water scarce. To add to the
challenging conditions, a
severe cold front was bear-
ing down on central Florida.
“I practiced specifically for
the approaching front,”
Tucker says. “I kept my efforts
focused in the north end of
the lake where the water
would be most protected.”
Tucker located a small
bay where buck bushes and
clumps of Kissimmee grass
had collected floating vege-
tation and debris, creating
small mats.
“The water was a little more
stained than I’m comfortable
with in Florida, but it was fish-
able,” he says. “The fish had
moved in there to spawn with
the growing moon.”
Tucker began the tourna-
ment punching small mats
and quickly found success
with two 6- to 7-pound fish.
A few minutes later he
caught another big fish on a
ChatterBait, then headed to
a new area and filled his limit
with two small fish.
Tucker took the day one
lead, but shortly after weigh-in
the horrific news regarding
Kayler began to circulate.
When the remainder of the
tournament was canceled and
the day-one standings became
the official results, Tucker was
declared the winner.
“I hate that I won under
these circumstances – it’s a
horrible tragedy,” Tucker
says. “I’ve thought about it a
lot. I’m saddened about the
whole thing, but there is
nothing I could have done
that would have changed
what happened that day.”
Tucker used two different
lures at Lake Okeechobee:
He punched a Zoom Z Hog
Jr. (black and blue) with a 3/4-
or 1-ounce tungsten weight
tied to 40-pound-test braid,
and wound a 1/2-ounce
ChatterBait (green pumpkin)
trailed with a Zoom Ultravibe
Speed Worm.
Southeastern Divison
WINNING CO-ANGLER
James lehman
Oviedo, Fla.
Winning Weight:
17-08 (5 fish)
Winning Program:
Lehman fished with
boater Jessie Mizell of
Sarasota, Fla., in some
protected areas where
the water was deeper,
clearer and warmer
than the main lake.
Lehman’s primary
lure was a Gambler Fat
Ace in black and blue
glitter fished on a
3/8-ounce Gambler Big
Giggy Head.
flWfIshIng.com I february-march 2018
76
t
erry Tucker of
Gadsden, Ala., has
been fishing FLW
events for the better part of
25 years. During that time,
he has learned a thing or
two about the dicey relation-
ship between Florida-strain
largemouth bass and cold
fronts.
“Once the fish move into
an area and start spawning,
they’re committed; they’re
going to stay there,” Tucker
says. “If a cold front hits,
they’re going to stay in the
area and hunker down under
something – a mat, a reed
head – something that forms
a canopy on the surface.”
Tucker took those les-
sons to heart on Lake
Okeechobee, weighing in a
21-pound, 3-ounce day-one
limit on Jan. 4 to win the
Costa FLW Series event pre-
sented by Power-Pole. The
tournament was ended after
the first round when it was
learned that co-angler Nik
Kayler had been thrown
from a boat and was miss-
ing. Kayler’s body was recov-
ered the following week.
Hosted by Okeechobee
County Tourism
Development Council