Following the conclusion of the Costa FLW Series tournament on Okeechobee we were able to describe how most of the top finishers had fished. Here are more details about winner Jason Lambert, his tactics, location and lures:

The recent Costa FLW Series tournament on Lake Okeechobee was featured a cold front during practice which lingered into the first competition day and was followed by a nonstop torrent and high winds on Day 2. Day 3 didn’t produce anything near Peter Cherkas’ opening round effort of 20 pounds. It was a tight finish.

Such conditions favor the flippers. Indeed, most of the finalists employed the long rod and short line for much, if not all of their weight.

Jason Lambert took a different approach.

The pro from Tennessee is noted for his prowess on offshore ledges. He said he really loves to fish grass, though, and enjoyed having the opportunity to visit Florida and do so. While the terrain was different from say, Lake Pickwick, Lambert simply power-fished just as he does back home.

“I’m just more comfortable throwing a moving bait,” says Lambert. “I’m a power fisherman. That’s what I do out on the ledges and that’s what I love to do around grass. I just feel like when I can get bit on a moving bait I’ll eventually connect with a big bite.

“I found an area that had some good grass in it where it seemed like the fish were staging to go spawn. I could get at least 12 to 15 keepers a day but only one big bite. The weather definitely didn’t help things this week.”

Tour veteran and Florida ace Glenn Browne actually counted on the weather to position fish tight into flippable cover. He conjured 43 pounds, 4 ounces, but Lambert’s horizontal techniques put him over the top with 44-12.

A 500-yard stretch along North Shore held hydrilla which kept the water clean. That, along with a little extra depth made Lambert’s spot a winning location.

“I wanted to find deeper hydrilla where it didn’t come all the way to the surface,” Lambert explains. “Once I found that I was able to use the new Garmin side imaging transducer on my trolling motor which reads at speeds down to .1 mile per hour. That way I could see the grass line on my Garmin and stay off the edge without disturbing it. It’s a pretty cool deal.”

As for lures Lambert used a Zoom Ultravibe Speed Worm, a spinnerbait, and a Strike King bladed jig with a Strike King Swimming Caffeine Shad trailer.

Lambert fished all three lures on the same set up:  a 7-foot, 3-inch medium-heavy Duckett Micro Magic rod, a 6.3:1 gear ratio Duckett RB360 reel and 20-pound Vicious fluorocarbon line.