Lake Okeechobee Big Bags | Kyle Welcher Top 15

What's going on? We just got back from back-to-back tournaments. We had Lake Okeechobee and Lake Seminole back-to-back. It's raining now. I'm going to take this as a day to unload the boat, get the rods out that I'm not going to need for a while, unload some stuff out of the truck, try to get everything back organized. We've got a long break though, and then we can get back on the road in April to go start back up at Lake Murray. So, for right now, just trying to get stuff back in order, back in the flow of things at home. First day, not been fishing in a month. And we might go. Like today? Nah. If this rain slacks up though, maybe. But, you know, these last two tournaments were pretty similar. The fish bit similarly on both lakes. For me especially. Kept it pretty simple, decided to go down there with 15 or 20 rods, you know, 3 or 4 flipping rods, a couple frog rods, 3 or 4 swim jig rods, and then, you know, some spinning rods. Obviously, you've got to have those all the time. And then a couple jerk bait stuff, a four-faced sonar. Use those on both of those places, but for the most part, kept it pretty simple. You know, shallow water, grinding, flipping a lot, frogging a lot, swim jigging a lot, that kind of stuff. The Apex got a workout. If y'all watched day one of live coverage, y'all saw me catch quite a few of them on the Apex swim jig in black and blue smoke, which is my absolute favorite color, especially in the pre-spawn. But anyways, we're going to kind of go through and do a vlog-style video for Lake Okeechobee. That's where we're going to show more of the behind-the-scenes stuff. Not as much of the actual fishing in the boat because, you know, the camera quality that we have. We have it on a tattoo pole. It gets really, really good actual focus on the camera. It doesn't shake a lot. It doesn't move a lot. It's actually a really good angle. But that quality of content is just not quite as good. So we're going to try to do it a little bit different, do more behind-the-scenes stuff, a couple of fish catches maybe, but for the most part, it's going to be primarily a vlog-style video. So this video is sponsored by Shop Carl's. If y'all have not got a Carl's Club membership already, go over there and get one. Check it out. They give y'all lots of discounts, lots of new colors on baits when they come out, early access to baits before other people can get them, and you save a lot of money on your tackle. So it's the time of year now to really be stocking up on tackle. Whenever the fishing season kicks off for a lot of people, it's just a really good time to go ahead and stock up. But anyway... Stryker's also having a lot of good sales right now going on their trail. Stryker also is having some sales, some close-out type sales. They just got a new rain suit. It's called the Vortex Rain Suit. Super lightweight, but it's going to be very affordable. I think it's like $199 a piece. What is it? We should just cut to you standing in the rain in the suit doing like a weatherman thing. Like John Cruz did. Just lay on the ground and get rained on in the new Stryker Vortex suit. We're not going to do that quite yet, but we might be fishing in it very soon. It's a lot more of an affordable style rain suit. You know, it's not going to be $1,000. I think it's somewhere around $400 for the pant, for the bibs, and the jacket. So a lot more affordable for most people. So the Vortex Rain Suit is really, really good. I got one in, wore it some. Luckily we haven't had to fish in the rain too much, but you know, I'll be ready now. Anyways, so kind of getting stuff ready. I stayed shallow on both those last two lakes. I had a school of fish found deep on Seminole with a forward-faced sonar. Never went to them. I thought the fish were coming to me and what I was doing. A lot of guys in my area were catching them really, really well around me. So I thought that I was going to be able to have actually a little bit better tournament than I ended up having, fishing the way that I was fishing. And I had some key bites that I didn't land, but that's how it's going to go whenever you're fishing for three days straight. But anyways, like I said, lots of flipping, lots of frogging, lots of swim-jigging, that kind of stuff. Made for a couple really fun tournaments. On Okeechobee, I think I weighed in every single fish throwing a frog, and then on Seminole I weighed in most of the fish throwing a swim-jig, so you know, that's just kind of standard how I want to fish. But we're just kind of organized right now. Organizing today. You said these two tournaments were some of your most fun to lead. Okeechobee was for sure. I went to Okeechobee. I wasn't that scared, but I was just embracing the grind. You know, like I was embracing the suck. You know, you kind of got to embrace it when you go down there because it's not a very good place to fish in my opinion. You know, like it's a good lake whenever it's fishing well, it's just not fishing well right now. There's not much clear water. Very, very tough. You got to get around a lot of boats. You got to hope you're one of the boats that just happens to catch a big one amongst a sea of boats. So, it's kind of a unique way to fish, but I just kind of went down there ready to embrace the grind and just flip all day, frog all day, swim-jig all day, whatever it took to actually get those bites and catch them, you know, and it actually turned out to be a lot better tournament than I was expecting. Went to a little place where I thought I was going to catch a limit, ended up catching a big one early, caught another big one, decided to stay in that area all day, and then caught another big one right before weigh-in on day one, gave me 18-something. And that kind of clued me in to how many big fish were actually pulling up in that area. So, I committed to it for the rest of the tournament, caught 20 pounds and some ounces on day two, and then on day three had a bad day on the way to the end, like 15 and a half or 16 pounds. I can't remember exactly, but I think it was a little bit less than 16 pounds. And that was kind of the day where I had the best opportunities. I had the chance then to have the most quality bites, and I just didn't land them, so that's how it goes sometimes. But that ended up being one of my most fun tournaments I've had on the Elites. First day I had to catch 25 or 30 on a frog, just, I mean just tremendous, like super fun. They were just biting that thing. On day two the numbers kind of went down, but I caught one that was a little bit bigger than what I had caught previously, so probably caught 20 or 25 on day two. But I had a five and a half pounder, and two fours, so that helps. And then on day three I caught, you know, two good ones, three more two and a half pounders, so it ended up being a pretty good tournament, a fun tournament. But anyway, we're going to jump right into the Okeechobee vlog, vlog style video. Let's go. I'm going to skip that frog out of the bushes, it's going to go ch-ch-ch, hit the bank, then I'm going to go bloop, bloop, six pounder, that's how it's going to go. But exactly like that, we're about to bust them on a frog. So what do you think you'll be good for today? I don't know, I'm planning on catching me about 14 pounds early, 14 pounds in about two or three hours, then run out until late. But, like all I can do is catch what bites, I just feel like you can do it in there. Potential's there for a big bag too I believe, just got to, you know, get the bites and land them. Game time, can't believe it. Can. Not. Believe. It. Should I bust the J's out? Those are the shoes that I wore for like three years when I qualified. I made like five top tens out of these shoes, so I figured I might as well bust them out. They might be lucky. I always called them my lucky shoes, but I never really believed in it. Figured I might as well bust them out and start seizing them. Busted up old Jordans to start seizing them. The goal for today is to catch everything that bites. I think I can get some bites today. Hopefully I can get 12 or 15 bites. If I get 12 or 15 bites fishing the way that I fish, I should get a big one at some point. So, that's the goal. Fish for the baits that I know catch big ones. Try to get over 10 bites. If you catch, you know, 12 or 15 and you don't catch a big one, there's nothing you can do. That's all you can, you know, do is fish for baits that you know catch big ones in areas where you know big ones live. And then good things usually happen. So, that's the plan. What up? Did you have a good first day? Yeah, it was good. Did you have fun? Yeah, it was fun. Alright. Nah, I didn't want to interrupt you. Yeah, it's all good. I'd say we had a fun day. We're not going to be that great in the standing, but we had a lot of fun out there. From Alabama, get loud ladies and gentlemen for Kyle Welcher. Five fish here today for Kyle Welcher. Great to have you back on the Bassmaster Elite Series. Missed you in the off season. Five fish for 18 pounds, 8 ounces and a good start for Stone Cold Kyle Welcher. 18 pounds, 8 ounces and you're sitting in 13th place. That's more like it. Yeah, I really feel like I was fishing better this week. Had an off year kind of last year, but I'm glad to be back. You know, we had a lot of fun out there today. Actually caught a lot more fish than I anticipated and got some lucky bites. So, I mean, I'm actually kind of happy that we're on Okeechobee right now and you're around those kind of big ones. Because whenever they decide to bite, they're extremely aggressive and we had a lot of fun out there catching some today. Keep it going. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Oh, this is copyrighted material. You can't do that. You can do it again. It don't matter. What did you text me? It may have been a different question. Well, you texted me and said... Something about patterns? No, not patterns. It was about the mentality of the classic and the pressure stuff, I think. Yeah, this stuff totally did. Okay, all right. Got you. This is more classic. So, it's kind of the same place as the classic last year. You come in with a lot of momentum. Different place this time. We're kind of talking about classic patterns that may occur in Fort Lowndes and the Telecope. Knowing what you know, having been there two years ago, I think maybe some of the classic patterns have been coming to play. So, whenever you're fishing there, you have to, in my opinion, fish in an area where you can catch both. Big smallmouth and big largemouth. And they, at some point, get on the same type of stuff. And in March, when they're pre-spawning, you can catch them on some of those shallow rocks, shallow docks, and you have a chance at an 18-inch smallmouth and a chance at a big largemouth. I think you'll see somebody commit to try to fish for largemouth, and they'll probably catch a big bag. But I don't think they're going to be able to consistently catch that 15-pound mark that it's probably going to take. So, I think if you're not mixing in some smallmouth, I don't think you're going to be able to, after two or three days, sustain the weight it's going to take to win. So, a sustainable pattern has to be a mixed bag, you think, for three days? I think you should lean more on the smallmouth than anything. But, yes, a sustainable pattern would definitely be both. And it's going to be definitely those pre-spawn places where they're moving to before they spawn. Like, somebody's going to find an area that the fish are coming to every single day, and that's going to be the person that wins that tournament. Gotcha. And typical pre-spawn type of presentation, some moving baits, some dragging stuff? Yeah, you'll see jigs play pretty big, flipping the jig on rocks, wood, docks, all that type of stuff. You'll see vibrating jigs, a lot of cranking. I think a crankbait will be a big player there this time. And you'll also see some swimbaits, whether it be small little ones or big ones, you'll probably see some swimbaits too. The one bait that could catch a big pre-spawn smallmouth or largemouth, what would that one bait be? Flat side crankbait. That's my opinion. Nice. Why do you think that particularly? I just think that it's the most efficient way to fish that for that 3 to 6 foot depth rock where those largemouth and smallmouth are going to be pre-spawn. I think it's the most efficient way to catch them. And the flat side, that time of year, is something particular about that action that you like? Yeah, so pre-spawn, those fish seem to not want something extremely violent as far as the vibration goes, so I think that little bit more subtle action, smaller profile is going to be the one that triggers some bigger fish. Nice. So you think if the guy gets 15 pounds a day, 15 pounds a day, do you think that could be a winning average or a top 10 average? It'll definitely be a top 10 average, but I would not be surprised at all. I would say 15 pounds a day would win. Okay. It may take like 47, but it's going to be close to that. Awesome. Good deal. Thanks, man. Appreciate it. Thank you. Big job. What up? It's day 2. Day 2. Lake Okeechobee. Set in pretty good position, actually. Had 18.8 yesterday on day 1. What was I doing? Oh, that was eating a frog yesterday. Big time. So, throw that frog up there. That happened about 25 times yesterday. Probably caught 25 on a frog yesterday, which is unbelievable. But, that's fun. Very fun. The thing about this week is we just got to keep the pace. 18 pounds is not a great bag for one day, but if you do it for two days, it's really good. If you do it for three days, it's exceptionally good. So, you know, just kind of trying to steady Eddie this week. Catch me another 17.5 plus today. Another 17.5 plus tomorrow. See if we can't make the top 10. So, that's kind of what we're trying to do this week. You know, you're not going to win this tournament without catching some of those huge key fish. 7 pounders, 6 pounders. You need two or three of them in one day to really win this tournament. And, you know, you can't really control that. You know, it either happens or it don't. Like, I don't know this lake good enough to know exactly where I need to be fishing every single time. So, for me, if a couple 6 pounders jumps on my dang thing, I'll probably have a really big bag. If not, I'm just going to try to minimize the negative possibilities by catching as many 2.5 pounders as possible. So, catching a lot of 2.25, just got to catch some 6 pounders. Two 6 pounders today. That'll do it. About to launch. Need to catch one today. Had a lot of fun yesterday. Hope we do it again. Alright, let's get it started right. Grab my trolling motor first, though. Oh, that's what he likes too? Had one come up today, about 3.5 pounder. Came up, frog went this way, and 3.5 pounder went this way. Right back in the water. It may not have been 3.5, but it was a good one. He's one of the main pounders. Good job. Going into semifinals Saturday. 38 pounds, 14 ounces. It's got to feel good to get the season off to a great start. It definitely feels good. I came to Florida this time with a different outlook. Last year, I came to Florida and tried to do Florida things. It seems like every time I come in here and just fish my streaks and go fast and fish stuff that looks good, I always seem to have a good tournament. I've had a ton of fun these past two days. I'm throwing my absolute favorite bait to throw, favorite rod, favorite reel, everything. This is exactly how I want to catch them. I'm just glad we're going to do it again tomorrow. We'll get ready. We'll see you back here tomorrow morning. I don't think it's going to be, but I hope to. First Bass Smash Loose Series tournament of the year. We made cut number one. The goal is to make nine of these this year. We're only just over a pound out of the top ten. Today, another really solid, consistent day gives us a shot of making that top ten. We had to catch one of those giant bags today to have a chance to get back in this and win it. If I catch something in that 20 to 21 pound range, I think we really got a shot to actually make the top ten. That's the goal right now. Go out there, be consistent, catch this 20, rise up a little bit, try to make this top ten, and then head out of here and go to Seminole with some good momentum. Pretty excited about today. Been catching them, doing exactly what I want to do. My absolute favorite way to fish. It's pretty fun whenever it all works out like that in a big tournament like this. Need a big one today. Need a six pounder today. 16. You're right, 15.3. He's a Bassmaster Classic Qualifier from Alabama. Get loud for Stone Cold Kyle Welcher. 38 pounds, 14 ounces coming into today. Five fish here today. 15 pounds and an ounce inside the top ten right now in seventh place with 53 pounds and 15 ounces. Get loud for Kyle Welcher. 53 pounds, 15 ounces inside the top ten for now, but regardless, you're going to roll out of town with a great start to the season. Yeah, no doubt. To be honest with you, whenever I came down here, I was a little bit scared of this lake. You hear that from a lot of guys. This lake's very overwhelming. It's very big. It can be fickle. I actually had probably one of the most fun tournaments I've ever fished. I threw a frog literally the entire time of this tournament. I probably caught, I don't know, 70 fish over the course of this tournament on a frog. That's always a good week. Like you said, just glad to have some good momentum going into Seminole because that's another one that's big and overwhelming and hard to run around on. Some momentum going into that one will definitely help. Keep it rolling. Looking forward to a great season with you.