Congrats to our boy Casey Martin, with a 6th place finish at the 2013 Lake Okeechobee FLW Everstart Series. Casey is just off the hook good. Follow him in 2013 on the FLW Tour, he’s gonna crush it: caseymartinfishing.com
And here is Casey at the FLW Tour, where he again took 6th place! Can you imagine a Top 10 in your rookie event as a boater? Sick:
Trevor Fitzgerald is lethal around grass. He is a Florida native and gets it done around grass. He weighed in 25 pounds this day, and gives you some insights into his gear. Trevor and his wife operate Fitzgerald Rods and they are known as a solid, well built, quality rod, that are tested and designed (among other things) to handle heavy braided lines, big fish, and grass.
Keep an eye on Trevor. He finished 2nd place in this event, and actually tied the guy weight wise, but lost the tie breaker. I have the entire weigh in on film (most of it) and plan on sharing some highlights from the guys who were in the Top. Okeechobee is a wonderful fishery, and it’s interesting to hear how guys catch ’em and the gear they use. That Gambler Jig Zillais off the hook. The jig bite on Okeechobee is there, and this just adds another dimension. Adding your own creature/craw bait to a unskirted jig head, in the >1 ounce range.
Nothing makes me feel better than a good bite on a 8″ Huddleston! I finally got a day of fishing where the wind was <20MPH and was able to setup and just fish, and I caught a nice one. A lot of why I decided to come to West Palm Beach is access to Okeechobee. I have a sweet deal going where I store my boat at the lake and have a place to stay on the weekends, so that is just working out beautifully. I have a lot of bigbait sessions ahead of me I hope. The water level is 14.7 or something, so it’s falling out pretty quick. But, I’m looking forward to another couple months of fishing for sure. It was 85 degrees out there this day.
Hard grass and soft grass and black water. 3-4 feet deep.
The 8″ Weedless Huddleston is something I’ve been mentally preparing myself for a while. I just haven’t had many sessions with it, where I could commit and throw it the majority of the day. I really like the way the bait fishes. The line tie on the nose makes it a ‘superior’ bait? I don’t know if that makes sense, but I really like the line tie on the nose. It just swims and fishes and orients right to you. I am fishing it on straight 80 pound Power Pro Spectra, and Calcutta 400 TE and Loomis 966 BBR. I just love that setup and with braid, its like, plus one or plus two more better. I just love braid. The braid is key for snatching and snapping your bait free in the grass. If you muck up, a hard pop or jerk will often clear the bait and you fish thru. At distance, these are things that cannot be done with anything but braid. Couple that, with my experiences with the Grass Minnow, Weedless Shad and 6″ Weedless Trout, I know that braid is the deal with those baits, so to me, this was a no brainer.
Florida fish have an interesting frame. I didn’t weigh this thing. It didn’t cross my mind. Unless they get enormous, I just sorta eye ball them. I think it was about 7-8 pounds. But that is what I’m hunting. I need to figure out how to get 5-7 bites a day on this thing.
Don’t hate because I have that carp/orange trout color on the 8″ Weedless. Really, I have one. I really hope Ken and Dennis come up with colors like this, and make them staples in their lineup. I love the nightstalker color, and I love this color too. I really like the golden shiner color too. I just prefer darker/dark baits that would go good in the Okeechobee water. The Night Stalker color looks fantastic in the Okeechobee water. White has never been a good color of moving bait (save a chatterbait or spinnerbait) for me on Okeechobee with swimbaits/swimming worms. I know other colors of the 8″ Huddleston will work on Okeechobobee too. I’ve caught them on hitch on baby bass, the non-weedless versions.
Halloween Style.
I’m landing the bites I’m getting on the 8″ Weedless, and they tend to be >6 pound fish. They are awesome bites and you’ll have to be patient to see the film. I hope our next DVD might be a bigbait fishing thing in Florida. Grass fishing. Haven’t put it all together by a long shot, and if I’ve learned anything at 35, I know better to than to make claims and predictions, especially if they involve fish or women! You cannot predict the fish. You just don’t know how things will play out with the filming and footage and flow. I sure hope I find a balance of work, social life, fishing Okeechobee and surfing around Jupiter and North! I hope it works out and I make good decisions and have good flow. We shall see. It has been anything but an easy transition back into corporate life, in a new city I’ve never lived. But……8″ Huddleston bites do a man right!
We only have a couple of these, and I imagine they will go quick. This is the “Large” sized Nezumaa Rat, the color is black on top, grey on the sides, into a white bell—-sorta skunk style, but not quite. You get a spare set of bubble gum tails and bubble gum ST-36 Stinger hooks. The bait comes rigged with a stock black tail, #5 Owner Hyper Wire Split Rings, and 1/0 ST-36 Owner Treble hooks (unmasked).
SOLD OUT! In 10 minutes.
***Refunds will be issued for orders that come in after we sell out and before we have a chance to remove the purchase button. We only have a couple of these, and they will go quick….2/25/13 at 7:30pm Eastern***)
From above, the 8″ Weedless Trout in a not so trout kinda color.
Slide slippin’ around some eel grass
This color isn’t generally available yet. Ken sent me one, and since I’m fishing Okeechobee, I have been throwing this color. Thought I’d show the 8″ Huddleston Deluxe Weedless Trout in action around some outside grass on Okeechobee. I have no insights into when Ken will have more 8″ weedless baits for sale, and what color schemes he will go forward with. I am just thankful to have gotten a few of them, and hope to show you some fish catches with them. MP
