“I can’t tell you what I am doing, but I will say I am doing something different than most of the fishermen,” said Villegas who finished 16^th in the first Gator Division tournament Jan. 3, but posted a 3^rd place finish Jan. 31 to take over first place in the points.

Villegas grew up in New York and his first taste of bass fishing came when he was stationed in Texas in the Air Force.

“I did not catch a fish,” he said, “but throwing lures and casting intrigued me.”

He’s had plenty of opportunity to cast for bass since moving to Florida in 1985 and he made sure his five daughters were exposed to fishing from an early age.

“I love my girls and all my girls fish,” said the proud father. “My oldest likes saltwater, but my 3-year-old just won her first kid’s tournament and one of my daughters recently caught a 6-pound, 9-ounce bass. I’ve got girls that love to fish – and that makes me happy.”

Villegas said the Gator Division tournament Saturday is going to be a tough one because of the weather, and because the series is loaded with some top-notch anglers.

“There are some really good fishermen in this division, quite a few ex pros, FLW and B.A.S.S. guys,” he said.

“The weather is nice, but it is going to get a little cold. There is a front coming in and that will start driving the temperature down. The temperature Friday should be about 29 degrees. I’ve been on other lakes up north when it was that cold, but not on Okeechobee. It is going to be interesting, very interesting.”

While the cold front is probably going to make fishing tough this weekend, it could set the stage for better fishing, Villegas said.

“The cold weather encourages some of the bigger fish to come in, but we have not seen those 30-pound strings yet. Some of the bigger fish have come in and done their thing and left, but on the average we have not seen the massive weights.”

He believes the cold front will stir more of the bigger fish to start their move to the banks, but that migration probably won’t occur until next week sometime.

“I am thinking that when the weather stabilizes there should be some awesome fishing,” he said.

So far the weather has kept the bass off their normal schedule and the flippers off their game, he said.

“The flippers are not finding what they like to find. I’m fishing around everybody and doing something different,” he said. “Somebody could find the right mat and some big females could move under them, but what I have been doing is the opposite of what the other guys are doing – and it’s been working.”

Consistency has been the key for his fishing success in the two tournaments so far, he said.

“I always want to win, but I try to always be consistent. I am on a pretty good swing right now.”

And he’s got a pretty good group of cheerleaders urging him on, too – five fishing daughters.

 

Walmart BFL Gator Division

Sat, Feb 21, 2015

Lake Okeechobee

Scott Driver Recreation Area

www.flwoutdoors.com