I don’t know if fishing is getting harder or I’m just getting older, but last Sunday was a true test of endurance for us as well as many of the anglers fishing John Woods first Lake Istokpoga OPEN Bass Tournament.
As you may know, John is the owner of the Lorida General Store, a bait and tackle that’s become a hang-out for Lake Istokpoga fishermen. In the past, he’s run a very successful bass tournament trail known as the Okeechobee/Istokpoga Tournament Trail. This year, he decided to do something different and instead of a team trail, his plans are to hold monthly “open” tournaments.
Most bass fishermen know that fishing can be tough this time of the year, but if you can find em’, you can catch them. Joe Medlock and his son Brandon proved that even under the toughest conditions, bass are there for the “catchin.”
Up and down weather, pushed by cold fronts, falling barometers and high winds leading up to the tournament found many fishermen pre-fishing the big lake with little to show for their efforts.
My partner Joe Kozic and I pre-fished the Friday before the tournament, attempting to unlock the secret as to where the bass could be found and caught only one bass all day. My optimism for Sunday was deeply eroded.
10 teams paid an entry fee of $200, all with the understanding that $120.00 out of each entry fee would go to the winning team, with the balance paid out to second place. Five dollars out of each entry fee would go to the Big Bass pot.
Given the fact that we had pre-fished a number of our prime spots and not done well in practice, we made a last-minute decision to run up one of the many canals feeding into and out of Lake Istokpoga. We weren’t sure what to expect, but our rationale was that “up north” when the weather cools down the baitfish typically move back into the canals, feeder creeks and streams so it seemed to make sense that they would do the same here in Florida, and of course, the bass should follow.
WITHIN THE FIRST 15 MINUTES, I CAUGHT OUR FIRST BASS ON A SPINNERBAIT, TIPPED WITH A RIOT BLUE BLACK PLASTIC WORM.
Within the first 15 minutes, I caught our first bass on a spinnerbait, tipped with a Riot blue black plastic worm. Joe followed suit with another keeper around 8am. Our third bass, a hefty 2 1⁄2 pounder struck my silver phantom Bass Assassin.
With 3 bass in the livewell, we left the canal and began hitting areas where we’ve done well in the past. Flipping and pitching jigs and worms, we didn’t get another hit until 1:00pm when Joe landed a solid 3 pounder on a Yum Dinger, 5” blue/black plastic worm.
With 4 bass, we desperately needed an “anchor” fish to have any chance of winning this tournament. We knew it would be a tough day with few bites and even fewer fish, but one good fish, 5 to 7 pounds would certainly put us in the running for first place.
But, it wasn’t meant to be. Joe’s 3 pounder was the last hit and the last bass of the day. With only 4 bass, we finally packed it in and ran the short distance back to the weigh-in at 2:30pm.
Most of the teams were already in and a few were digging their bass out of the livewell and placing them in large, plastic bags for the weigh- in when I pulled up alongside Joe Medlock.
Joe’s “Medlock” jig is one of my favorite baits, always producing for me in the past, but on this day, I just couldn’t get “bit.”
“Hey Joe,” I said, looking in Joe’s direction, “your jig didn’t work today,” I said jokingly. Joe’s son Brandon, sitting in the driver’s seat of the boat looked up smiled and said, “They worked for us.”
Indeed they did! Joe and Brandon weighed in five fish weighing 16.74 pounds, with a nice 7.24 pound “kicker” bass. They easily won the tournament and collected the $1200.00 first place prize, plus an extra $100.00 for big bass.
Second Place honors went to the team of Peter Wilk and Jeremy Summers with 5 bass weighing 11.68 pounds. They received $500.00 for their efforts.
All told, we had 20 anglers participate and 31 bass were weighed in. I suspect the total number of bass was higher than 31, since some of the teams, like us, knew we didn’t have enough weight to place so we didn’t weigh in our fish. Running out to the lake, I released our catch back into the lake to hopefully grow and provide catching opportunities for another fisherman.
Only two bass weighed in over 22 inches in length, for a total weight of 81.55 pounds.
Even though as a team, we failed to place, it was still a good time on the water and everyone we talked to admitted it had been a tough day finding fish. Even Joe Medlock admitted they only had 6 or 7 “bites”.
