Val Osinski, owner of Gambler Lures, leads Day 1 of the Rayovac FLW Series season-opener on Lake Okeechobee.

Fishing has been described as ‘tough’ today, but Osinski made the most of a late morning bite and piled-up 26 pounds by pitching a Gambler Why Not to isolated reeds.

The best action came on his third stop of the morning and he culled everything in his livewell in about 45 minutes on “one good stretch with fish coming in.”

There are 250 pros in this derby, a Rayovac record, and Osinski said a bunch of them saw where he caught his best fish. He’s concerned about a crowd forming in his area and noted that he only one competitor near him today – Joe Holland, currently in 3^rd place.

Trevor Fitzgerald, fresh off a Top 12 in last week’s Bassmaster Open up the turnpike on Lake Toho, got this tourney started off right. With 24-1, the owner of Fitzgerald Rods in in 2^nd place.

Fitzgerald is on an afternoon bite. “I’m flipping mats and stuff like that. When the sun gets up in the middle of the day it positions them where I need them. They’re just too scattered in the morning.”

The aforementioned Holland of Jefferson, Maine is 3^rd with 22-3. He is looking for less-pressured stuff to fish. “A lot of the weeds look like they have been in a barbershop because of how many trolling motors have been over them, and I’m just looking for places that don’t have that effect.”

Holland is not only fishing near Osinski, he’s using one of the same lures – the Why Not, along with a Gambler Lures Burner Craw.

Mike Surman used to be an owner of Gambler Lures. He won the first FLW tournament on Okeechobee 20 years ago. Today he put himself in 4^th place with 20 pounds, 12 ounces.

Surman was surprised at just how tough the fishing was. He feels good about tomorrow but wouldn’t say much about how he fished today. He did mention that he caught his four biggest fish around 10 o’clock this morning.

Okeechobee is a famous lake, so it figures that an angler as famous Roland Martin, himself, would do well fishing out of his namesake marina, the launch site each morning of this 3-day event.

Martin is currently 5^th with 20-10. He is less than a pound ahead of his son, Scott Martin, who is one spot behind in 6^th.

The elder Martin is on schooling fish but flipped to upgrade his weight. He has some lonesome water which is unusual any time on Okeechobee, especially during a 250-boat tournament.

Daniel Beebe leads all co-anglers with 22-5, good enough for a 5-pound lead.