on the set
6
The Second Cup of Season 2 begins ...
even in the middle of a hurricane!
In a state chock full of great bass
fishing waters, Lake Istokpoga might
be Florida’s aquatic version of Rodney
Dangerfield, getting little to no respect
at all.
Lying south of the Toho and Kissimmee
chain of lakes and to the northwest
of giant Lake Okeechobee, lesser
known Istokpoga often gets lost in the
conversation about hallowed Sunshine
State bass waters.
But this shallow fishing gem in
Highlands County near the quaint
hamlet of Lake Placid is every bit as
good as its more famous cousins,
giving up good numbers of bass and
perhaps the state’s best supply of hefty
lunkers weighing 10 pounds or better.
Even during the middle of a hurricane.
If there’s ever proof of how much
amateur anglers can learn from the 24
Jack Link’s Major League Fishing pros,
it will be during the airing of the 2013
Geico Challenge Cup at Istokpoga
when some of the worst conditions
ever experienced during a professional
bass event took place.
And yet the Major League Fishing pros
still caught good numbers of quality fish
despite the fact that historic Hurricane
Sandy lashed Florida with tropical
storm force winds, rolling waves, and
blinding downpours on its destructive
journey up the eastern seaboard.
Was the number of fish – and their
high quality – a surprise to the pros?
Perhaps, thanks partly to the weather
but also partly to the locale.
“
Florida to me has always been a
completely different bass fishing
environment than the rest of the
country,” said Alabama’s Boyd Duckett,
the 2007 Bassmaster Classic champ
who co-founded Major League Fishing
along with Texan Gary Klein.
“
You’ve got 48 states with bass and
then you’ve got Florida.”
For anyone who has ever tangled
with the often moody Florida strain
largemouth, no further explanation
is needed.
Add in the innovative Major League
Fishing format of no practice time, no
Internet study, no local help, and not
even knowing which zone is being
fished until the night before, and hitting
28,000-
acres of virtually unknown
Florida water is a real test.
And that’s part of the fun in this
piscatorial chess game that is played
out between the fish and the other
competitors – all as Outdoor Channel’s
cameras look on.
“(
That’s) all part of the process (we go
through out there),” grinned the likable
Klein. “I’ll be chunking-and-winding,
pitching-and-flipping, and trying to
figure out the deal.”
Along with the rest of the best of the
best, even as a hurricane named Sandy
blows right on by.
by Lynn Burkhead
majorleaguefishing.com
“
You’ve got 48 states with bass and
then you’ve got Florida”
