With round 3 in the books, we made up 20 spots and are now sitting in 30th spot out of over 200 anglers heading into my back yard (Everglades) for rounds 4 and 5. My day started great, traveling to the north side of Lake Okeechobee and landing a 5 pounder 5 minutes into the day on my new Pro Qualifier reel I recently bought at Bass Pro. Rookie mistake almost cost me that fish. I spooled the reel, dialed it in, but forgot to adjust the drag. Upon hook set, I felt the drag run and the line ran out of the reel so I knew I didn't drive a good hook set. When I saw that big girl come up and realized the size, I was waiting for her to get loose but luckily, she stuck and it was a great start to the day. The Okeechobee grass and pads got the best of me on another whopper since I was using another rod that didn't have as much backbone. This bas was another good 4-5 pounder, came up and made a run down to the grassy area where there were some Lilly pads and I couldn't turn its head to keep it from diving. Needless to say, the bass got under the pads and grass and by the time we tried getting her off, she spit the hook. Okeechobee lesson.... Come with heavy equipment or you will probably lose the battle. That one that got away probably cost me a top 15 finish for the day.....
On to round 4 we go!
On to round 4 we go!