A variety of techniques have come into play at this week’s FLW Tour event on Lake Okeechobee. Anglers can fish most any style they like.

Brett Hite (74 pounds, 3 ounces total weight) has found a style he likes and says he is very comfortable. We’ll find out all about his pattern tomorrow as the tournament concludes but for now Hite isn’t saying much.

Randall Tharp(62 pounds, total) says he is also comfortable. He is 12 pounds, 3 ounces behind Hite heading into the final day, but Tharp actually caught more weigh than Hite today (16-02 to 15-12). That’s the first time it has happened this week. Yesterday the two pretty well established the same pace so the difference has been Hite’s heavy day 1 effort of 34-15 that put him over 11 pounds ahead of Tharp.

“I haven’t caught a 30-pound bag since pratcice began,” said Tharp with a nod to the long odds ahead of him tomorrow. But the lake has produced a sack of nearly 35 pounds, the very reason Hite has had this thing on cruise control for 3 straight days, and Tharp is a big bass specialist so Sunday’s final round will be interesting.

Hate to paint this as a two-man race, but unless Hite – the only angler with a realistic chance to touch the century mark in this event – stumbles tomorrow, it may be a one-man race. Don’t tell that to James Watson, in 3rd with 60-02.

Leon Williams (59-02) and Greg Bohannan (59-01) round out the top 5.

As usual in Florida, it’s all about finding the right area more so than the right pattern. But once in the best neighborhood this week, anglers must also pick the right presentation. While they can catch bass on a variety of techniques, those who use the best approach have separated themselves. Hite would be the extreme example of this. Observers said they weren’t sure what he was doing but that he was doing something different.

Billy DeHart of Burlingame, California won the co-angler title today. With a total weight of 48-11 he surpassed Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Ken Coates by one skinny ounce.

DeHart caught many of his key fish on a white War Eagle spinnerbait with a dash of orange and chartreuse when the wind was blowing.