It seemed that he was off to the races with time finally available to practice for Gator Division tournaments. The previous year was cut short when his ice business in Boynton Beach, Fla., had to deal with a huge order and he was forced to work seven days a week to keep up with his business. That left little time to fish.

Townend thought he had finally stabilized his business last year, but he was swamped again, able to fish only though the third Gator Division tournament. Then he sold his boat, so he was unable to get on the water. Now he has a new – and bigger and faster – boat and he said he thinks he can deal with his business issues and still have time to fish this year.

But, he noted, fishing on Okeechobee is turning out to be a lot different than it was last January when he boated that monster bass.

“We’ve had sunny conditions and southeastern winds and the last few weeks the outside grass line bite has been pretty solid. But Saturday things started shifting and a lot of the stuff we’ve been fishing is getting a little dirty,” he said.

“The fish are not setting up like they did last year. We have not had any winter down here so the fish are in a true fall pattern. We usually have a summer pattern and then a winter pattern, but this year we’ve pretty much had a fall pattern with the fish schooling on the outside grass lines.”

That said, some nice stringers of fish have been caught recently which bodes well for the Gator Division opener Saturday. It took right at 25 pounds to win a local tournament on the upper end of Okeechobee Saturday and Townend said a bunch of anglers have been posting pictures of big fish recently.

“I don’t know if the fish up there are spawning a little quicker or if they’ve just found a big group of fish,” he said. “It’s been taking around 23 to 25 ponds to win a tournament so it will probably take about 25 pounds to win Saturday.”

Townend said the water temperature has been hovering around the high 70s to the low 80s, but a cold front is coming through which should lower the water temperature down into the lower 70s.

“That should make the fish more active and maybe bring in that wave of big females we’ve been looking for,” he said.

Townend is itching for the season to get started. He had been fishing out of an 18 ½-foot bass boat, but the boat he bought is a 20-footer.

“I ended up getting twice the boat for not much more money. I am not limited on what I want to do now,” he said.

And, hopefully, not by his business either.

“Last year was super busy. Hopefully, this year will be super busy, too, but now I’ve got some help,” he said.

 

Walmart Bass Fishing League – Gator Division

Sat, Jan 9, 2016

Lake Okeechobee

C. Scott Driver Park

www.flwfishing.com