OKEECHOBEE, Fla. — One glance at the standings reveals the top four anglers have a reasonable shot at winning among the 10 that qualified for Championship Sunday at the SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Lake Okeechobee. Steve Kennedy, Brandon Cobb, Tyler Rivet and Clark Wendlandt, respectively, are bunched within three pounds at the top of the leaderboard.
You can make a case for each of those four winning the tournament. Steve Kennedy leads after three days with a total of 70 pounds, 2 ounces. No one has been more consistent than the Auburn, Ala., pro, who has posted totals of 23-8, 23-9 and 23-1 the first three days. Kennedy has relied almost exclusively on a Spro Popping Frog. He noted that he’s had fewer bites each day, but he also caught his biggest bass of the tournament Saturday, 8 pounds, 4 ounces.
“It’s incredible how many big fish are in this general area,” Kennedy said of his spot. “There were 31 boats in there (Friday). I don’t know how many there were today, probably a few less. And everybody is catching them. Four guys who made the (top 10) cut were in there.”
The other three are 6th place Jake Whitaker, 8th place Brandon Card and 10th place Marc Frazier. Whitaker is 8 ½ pounds behind Kennedy.
Second place Brandon Cobb, the Greenwood, S.C., resident, is only 6 ounces behind Kennedy. After weighing the big bag of the tournament so far on Friday – 32-15, Cobb managed only 14-4 Saturday.
“I don’t know that the area I’m in has a ton of fish until a wave moves in,” said Cobb, who has relied primarily on a 3/8ths ounce Chatterbait. “And with no sun and cloudy conditions, it wasn’t a moving day for Florida fish.
“If new fish show up, it should be better. If new fish don’t show up, it will be tough again.”
Third place Tyler Rivet of Raceland, La., is one pound behind Kennedy. Like Cobb, he struggled with 14-11 Saturday after weighing the second-biggest bag of the tournament – 29-2, on Friday. Rivet is doing something completely different from the other finalists. He’s fishing deeper water with a jerkbait and a Carolina rig in the Kissimmee River.
“I really thought with the wind and the clouds they would really get going,” Rivet said. “I caught a 3-8 right off the bat and said, ‘Alright, they’re here. We’re going to win.’ But they just never fired up. They would chase and chase but they would never commit.
“It made me want to throw up all day because I knew what I could have had.”
The fish are still there. Rivet is looking at them on his forward-facing sonar. But even the crappie he’s been catching didn’t fire. He said he caught only three Saturday.
“The first day when I caught ‘em (bass and crappie) it was slick calm,” said Rivet, hoping for sunshine and light wind Sunday.
Then there’s Wendlandt, the Leander, Texas, veteran who won the Bassmaster Angler of the Year title in 2020. No one has weighed more fish than Wendlandt the past two days with limits 25-5 Friday and 23-4 Saturday for a two-day total of 48-9. He’s only three pounds behind Kennedy.
Wendlandt has relied primarily on a Strike King Cutter 6-inch worm and a Strike King Thunder Cricket vibrating jig this week. The vibrating jig produced better in the wind and clouds Saturday.
“I’m just taking my time,” he said. “I’m not fishing fast, being very thorough. I caught a lot more fish the first two days, probably 35 the first day, 25 the second and only 17 Saturday. I’m a little worried we’re wearing out that area.
“I’ve got a better chance of catching a 7-pounder than I do a 3-pounder. I’ve not caught a bass between 3 and 4 ½ pounds. Not one. They’re either 1 ¾ to 2 pounds or they’re 6 to 8 pounds. It’s interesting.”
Bernie Schultz led the first day of this tournament with a bag of 28-11. Schultz finished 34th in this event where inconsistency was the rule from day-to-day. Cobb led the second day. Now Kennedy stands atop the standings. In a tournament that has had a different leader the previous three days, who will take the top spot Sunday?
