Arey accomplished that in 2012 in solid, if not spectacular, fashion, earning a check in all but one of the six qualifying tournaments, including three top 25s, and capped it off with a 23^rd place finish in the Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Lanier last August.

So, it is that he begins the 2013 year with high hopes and great expectations. First up for the Shelby, N.C., pro is Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, the first Major of 2013 on Feb. 7-10.

“I have not been in a tournament on Okeechobee since 2007 and it is a different lake now from then,” said Arey who finished 30^th in an EverStart Division Southeast Division there in January that year. “The lake is slightly higher now. It was 2 1/2 feet above full pool, but the last time I checked it had dropped about a foot, so it is still about a foot and a half high.”

That means, he said, that the rising water has expanded the huge lake into myriad stands of various types of vegetation which will make it harder to locate the fish.

“When the water comes up like that on Okeechobee you are not able to access a lot of the fish because they are so far back in that stuff,” he said.

He practiced on Okeechobee before the cutoff with some of the anglers fishing the EverStart tournament and found the fishing “kind of tough.”

“We caught some good fish on a variety of baits, but they were scattered, so I think whoever wins this event will have to cover a lot of water,” he said.

Unless some of the fish are up spawning and can be pinpointed.

“We have a full moon and we should be about on the new moon by the end of this week. If the weather is right we are liable to see some fish on the bed. Last year or the year before about 20 guys brought in 20 pounds the first day of the tournament But I still think that with all this high water the fish will be scattered so we will have to cover a lot of water.”

And, of course, there is that old standby on Okeechobee – flipping.

“A bunch of tournaments are won punching hydrilla mats and flipping,” Arey said. “It would not surprise me to see this one won that way either.”

Arey leaves Friday for the practice period before the tournament begins next week, but he will be fishing in a borrowed boat while he awaits delivery on his new tournament boat.

“Practice starts Super Bowl Sunday. I will be picking up a boat from a buddy in South Carolina. I hope to get down there about lunchtime Saturday and get settled in and ready to go practice on Sunday.”

FLW Tour Major

Feb 7-10, 2013

Lake Okeechobee

Roland Martin Marina & Resort

www.flwoutdoors.com