Lake Okeechobee Elite Series Event 2012

[Dan]

Finally got all my pictures uploaded and my blog done on my http://teardropbass.com/ site.
Had a great time in Florida! It always seems there are a bunch of great guys that attend these events and I met a number of them. I got to ride with Justin Wilks, Jason Williamson, and Brent Broderick.
They changed how they sign up to fish on the fourth day. They do a blind draw of all those Marshals who would like to fish on Sunday. I was lucky. They use to have a list and it was first come first serve. I would get there very early and got a number of Sunday rides. Sunday is the big TV day and they bring in the helicopter etc.
I put some info up on the blog about areas where we fished. One popular spot was called the Monkey Box. I missed the Bassmaster TV airing of the event yesterday, drats. Just forgot to turn the channel. Had company and fixed breakfast and it just slipped my mind. It will be on again though.
Looking forward to Marshaling the Elite Series Mystery Lake event in June.

[rangerfan]

Awesome read....that video of getting up on plane and going through that air boat lane was great!! A must see.

[djkimmel]

Took me a while to find the monkey box the first time I fished there. I was looking for actual monkeys! Then, someone played the new guy monkey island trick on me. I mostly didn't fall for that. I also... apparently... went down a channel that 'only air boats' are allowed in according the 'airboat captain' who chewed me out, mentioning some sign that I never did find or see. Neither did my fishing partner. I'm thinking it was one of those 'unwritten' rules?? That maybe only applies to redheads that look like they're not from around here??

[djkimmel]

Back when I had my hydraulic jackplate in my 'wild' youth, I did more fun stuff like running down narrow, shallow channels. The thing that always worried me was, 'what if someone is coming the other way?' Normal boat horns aren't enough. You can't hear them over a motor. I was thinking about installing a truck horn at one point. Never got around to it.

It was fun running around inside the islands down there. I made a couple wrongs turns but got away without too much trouble. I remember one boat ran full speed through some reeds and grounded himself on top of giant mass of hyacinth! He was there for a while. Someone claimed he did it twice!?!

I think might have hit an alligator once in the rim canal. I was fairly anxious about avoiding manatees. I didn't want that on my conscience!

Lots of adventure running around down there.

[TheFishinPollock]

I hit one on the rim canal down by Uncle Joe's. that was my 3rd LU I had to put on down there. 

The first time out there  the guide I took , Boyd,  was 3rd in line to get outa a cut onto the main lake that had to chew their way through a mat that had slid infront of the channel mouth.  Man a rooster tail of mud that was  20 foot back.    Was a tad tense.

[djkimmel]

Those giant floating mats are a learning experience of their own. One of my bad wrong turns down there was because my carefully choreographed practice path into the middle of one of the islands changed overnight! I rounded a sharp turn barely on the edge of my pad (it was also shallow in spots!) only to find the cut I expected no longer there! So, in my 1/3 a second time to decide, I assumed my memory - which was already going downhill back then - was wrong and I took the 'other' opening! Wrong...

I should have shut down since no one was hot on my tail. A common challenge down there you have to watch out for ALL THE TIME! I don't know if I could have made it straight through those hyacinths anyways. Like said earlier, some people didn't make it when they tried. There was some tow business that week!

Once I recovered enough to realize I was going to make a bad mistake much, much worse - to not be high and dry on mud, I made a turn I didn't know my ole Ranger 492VS could make and stopped back in the one deep hole. I then pushed the edge of the weeds with my boat and outboard until I opened up enough of a path to get back on plane and head for the next set of sharp turns and playing 'pick the right opening!'

It really was a lot of fun! Well... maybe not for the duck hunters!! "Wait! Are those decoys?!? Oh... suuuugggaarrr!!" Trim up some more, lay the hammer down as far as she goes and maybe keep the head low! Those guys are always armed!!!

Ever get those decoy anchor strings wrapped around your prop?!?