Kelly Jordon Opens 2006 On a High Note

Jordon finished off the tournament with 24 pounds and 10 ounces of bass after completing the final two days of competition, where weights were zeroed at Thursday evening’s cut to 10.

“It’s great to start off well in a tournament of this caliber,” said Jordon, who won this tournament last year. “I’m looking forward to this year because I’m fishing both the FLW Tour and the Bassmaster Elite Series. It’s great to start out with a good tournament because it gives you some momentum for the rest of the year.”

Jordon looked tough to beat heading into the weekend with 31 pounds and 5 ounces while sitting in second. On Saturday, the Texas resident zoomed back to the same spot in the standings after corralling an impressive 16 pounds and 2 ounces. For Jordon, it became a simple formula.

“I caught them all flipping,” said Jordon, who reacts well to the unpredictable. “It cooled off and got real windy, which naturally set it up for a perfect flipping bite – usually in the heaviest cover I could find. I was really looking for any type of mat in this tournament.

“It was definitely cooler this week compared to the week before,” Jordon continued. “Florida doesn’t have traditional winter patterns, so the fish seem to always be in a pre-spawn or spawning mode from November on. In this particular tournament, there weren’t as many fish spawning because the temperature had dropped pretty hard.”

Lucky Craft pro Takahiro Omori continued his early season success in the state of Florida, earning a 35 th-place finish during the FLW Tour opener on expansive Lake Okeechobee.

Omori won the Bassmaster Tour event on Florida’s Lake Toho to open the 2005 season. So it was no surprise to see this Texas resident’s name in contention again this year, as Omori’s two-day total of exactly 20 pounds earned another solid payday.

California’s Brent Ehrler came into the FLW Outdoors season opener on Florida’s Lake Okeechobee with the big picture in mind – finish in the top 100. So why did his 77 th-place effort leave a bittersweet taste in this Lucky Craft Pro’s mouth?

“All in all, I guess I’m happy,” said Ehrler, who is heading into his second full season as a full-time FLW Tour professional. “At the same time, I’m disappointed because I couldn’t capitalize on my 28 th-place starting point after the first day. I just didn’t catch them that second day.”

Traditionally, Florida’s bass population is among the most fickle on the planet. They were on an upswing that Wednesday, as he reeled in 12 pounds, 10 ounces and pointed towards making the cut. But once the wind and weather shifted, so did Ehrler’s fortunes.

“The fishing changes so quickly there,” said Ehrler, who struggled to discover the limited mats of cover mostly destroyed by last year’s hurricane season. “The water is so shallow and the weather comes up so fast that it’s hard to predict what they are going to do. It’s 80 degrees during the day, but drops to 38 overnight which cools the water by 15 degrees. You just couldn’t predict how they would react.

“Lake Okeechobee was a washing machine,” Ehrler continued. “The wind blew from all different directions. I had a couple of areas that were really, really good and I really thought I could have caught a couple of big ones – but the wind just ripped into them.”

Despite the challenges, Ehrler was able to find success using Lucky Craft’s LVR D-7.

“I was flipping two colors, American Shad and Aurora Black,” said Ehrler, who later admitted that he should have used it even more than he did. “I wish I had not panicked on that first day because I know I would have had bigger fish with more patience.

“One thing I did that was actually key in catching those two big ones was that I also threw a Lucky Craft LV-200,” said Ehrler, who fished in three-foot of water for most of the weekend. “I was able to catch those fish because it was something different. I don’t think I would have caught those fish with any other lure.”