An early start on Okeechobee

The sun top the clouds and spread golden light over a choppy Lake Okeechobee for the first day of the Elite Series event.

After practice, anglers predicted the lake would fish very small, saying there were only a handful of places that had vegetation. But when you find it, it’s thick and the water is crystal clear.

Anglers began runing past, and then defending Angler of the Year Brandon Palaniuk popped around the corner of flooded reeds.

Then Jamie Hartman came off plane to fish the same cove.

Darold Gleason snuck past us somehow, but was soon visible among the flooded reeds farther into the cove.

The Elite anglers were not alone: There were recreational anglers already fishing when the pros arrived.

Local anglers were thick on the famed fishery in some laces.

As if four anglers in 150 yards wasn’t enough, Josh Stracner eased into the mix …

… and was soon flipping mats.

Next in was Kenta Kimura, who put his trolling motor down just off the running lane and began working his way back into the cove.

Pros contined to run by as Stracner worked the mats near the running lane.

Many of the local boats were crappie anglers, but the pros still had to work around them.

Covering the pile of pros was difficult, as an angler could easily land a bass while I was looking in another direction. That’s exactly what happened when Hartman landedthis bass: I turned around from watching Kimura to see Hartman putting the fish in the livewell.