Event: 2023 Bassmaster Elite at Lake Okeechobee
Scenario: The season opener visited one of the bass fishing world’s most familiar fisheries, but a then fifth-year pro from Raceland, La., would win his first blue trophy in the most unlikely manner imaginable. It wasn’t the baits or techniques that raised eyebrows, it was the location — something that surprised Rivet as much as anyone.
Like most, Rivet spent most of his practice time in the lake. With South Florida fish starting their spawning cycle as early as November, the Elites arrived to find the fish in all three stages. The lake’s vast vegetation expanses offered something for everyone, but Rivet’s culinary skills would lead him to an incredible opportunity.
“That Tuesday before the tournament, I went sac-a-lait (crappie) fishing for dinner in the Kissimmee River, and I caught a couple of bass on small jerkbaits,” said Rivet, who typically cooks for his roommates. “The first one I caught was a 5 1/2- to 6-pounder. Two minutes later, I caught another big one.”
Not completely surprised by the hefty “bycatch,” Rivet recognized a situation similar to the canals he fishes back home. Calculating the current scenario, he decided to go all-in for the tournament, and the river obliged.
“A cold front had come through, so I (pondered) the scenario, like if I was at the house, they back up into the canals,” Rivet said. “Really, the way I looked at it was like a hurricane had come through and messed up the lake.
“Everything was turned over and you could tell by the bank, it just didn’t look good. I knew the most protected waters would be in the river, and with all the water coming out of the canals, it helped keep that dirty water from going up the river.”
During the event, Rivet worked about 2 miles upstream from the lake and targeted hard-bottom spots just off the bank. He caught fish on the main river, but he expected the offshoot canals would see the least fishing pressure, so he snooped around and located what would become the sweet spot.
The juice was a dead-end canal with a small dam at the back. Some fish were coming and going, likely in spawning activity, while others were sitting on a little hard point extending from the structure.
“With LiveScope, I was watching how they would react, and it was just repetitive presentations,” Rivet said. “Just like any ledge fishing deal, you just had to sit there and hope they would bite.
“They would come in waves. You would see it on LiveScope, they would be sitting there and one or two would get excited and the rest would follow.”
A Berkley Stunna jerkbait did most of the work, but Rivet also caught keepers by punching hyacinth mats and Kissimmee grass with a black/blue and Junebug XCite Baits Sucka Punch. Dragging a Carolina-rigged XCite Baits Hawgalicious added a couple more key fish.
“You’d have to throw in front of them and not behind them,” Rivet said. “If you came from behind them, it would spook them.”
The decision: Rivet admits he discovered his goldmine incidentally, but once he realized what he’d found, he knew it was something special. So much so, that he literally predicted his win at the Day 1 weigh-ins. Three days later, he’d fulfill his prediction by tallying a four-day total of 86 pounds, 15 ounces and sealing the victory by nearly a 4-pound margin.
“It’s hard to find something that’s unpressured like that in Okeechobee, so I was lucky to find that one pattern,” Rivet said. “I would never have thought to catch them like that. I was mainly trying to flip some bushes and catch them right off the bank.
“That was just a prespawn deal and they were sitting up on a little ledge and eating whatever came by.”
Impressive feat, for sure, but as Rivet recalls, overcoming the urge to prematurely pull the plug on a disappointing start literally altered his outcome.
“The first day of the tournament, I went up to the spot and didn’t get many bites. I caught one little 13-incher,” Rivet said. “I just waited, sat there on the spot, went up and down the canal a little bit and nothing. About 8 o’clock, I said, ‘I think I need to go to the lake.’
“I picked up the trolling motor … I was about 300 to 400 yards down the canal and I said, ‘I’m already here; let me go back and hit it one more time.’ Sure enough, when I pulled up, they must have been fired up because I caught a 6, a 5, then a 4 on (consecutive) casts.”
The impression was immediate.
“That right there decided my tournament,” Rivet said. “I said, ‘I’m not leaving.’”
After placing third on Day 1 with 24-5, Rivet gained one spot with a second-round limit of 29-2. With dimmer, colder conditions draping the third day, he managed only 14-11 and slipped back to third. Turning in a Day 4 bag that went 18-13, Rivet sealed the deal and collected the $100,000 top prize.
Game changer: While bass likely roamed throughout the canal in loose numbers, dialing in the concentrating area unquestionably gave Rivet the potential he needed to ride his deal to the finish line. Even then, he worked to figure out “the cast,” as doing so greatly increased his productivity.
“In the one spot, there was an angle where they would set up perfectly,” Rivet said. “Whenever I would hit that angle just right, I’d get a bite.
“The last day, I caught a 6 1/2 pounder on my second cast. That set the tone and gave me a big shot of momentum.”
Takeaway: Rivet admits he had to endure a rash of naysayers who doubted his Kissimmee River game plan. Nevertheless, vast experience in his Southern Louisiana home waters told him the potential was worth the risk.
“I had to tell myself, ‘Don’t think about what everyone else thinks,’” Rivet said. “I know most people thought it would be won in the lake. People said, ‘You can’t win in a canal.’
“I just kept my head down and fished the way I wanted to fish and it worked out.”
