Osinski grew up fishing the south end of the lake, but as he noted it can be hit or miss depending on the time of the year. "Coming into the tournament, the two time I'd fished south I caught a 28-pound bag and a 24-pound bag in two club events," he said. After spending 3 1/2 days of practice up north, he opted to shift his focus to the southern portion of the lake. "By lunch time on Tuesday, I'd made the decision to not fish north," he said. "I figured the best I could do up there was 16 or 17 pounds. I was getting any big bites and I was even struggling to get bites." He trailered his boat and re-launched on the lower end and immediately started getting more and better bites. "My practice partner even said, This is easy," he recalled. He figured out 2-pounders were easy to come by just flipping to holes in the grass with a Gambler Ace, but he knew ne needed to tap into the bigger fish. "I went to some heads nearby and started flipping to them," he said. "On Tuesday afternoon, I got four or five bites doing that and two that felt like good ones. On Wednesday, I only looked at different areas trying to find heads that were clean and near spawning areas. "I drew a rectangle down south and said, This is where it's going to happen. Someone would win it in there. I was that convinced, especially after fishing north for 3 1/2 days. There were so many more bites to be had."
Competition:
Osinski started the tournament thinking the fish were on the move toward their spawning habitat, but that notion was swiftly squashed early on day 1. "I had one area that was more of a transition area and I didn't get a bite there," he said. "So I started thinking maybe the fish had moved in. I went through a spawning area and didn't get any bites." He moved out a good ways - he estimates a mile - toward the main lake to a set of reed heads and started to get bit. He boated 13 pounds in the matter of 30 minutes. "That clued me in so I ran some more heads where I'd gotten bites before and on my first pitch, I caught a 7-pounder," he said, adding he caught all of his day-1 fish flipping and punching a Gambler Why Not. "Within 45 minutes, I culled everything out. "A lot of fish were out further than I had anticipated," he added. "I thought there'd be more fish in. On the last day of practice, I went inside the staging area and had some bites and Joe said he was seeing beds everywhere. On day 1, I went back in there thinking they'd be there and even went into the spawning areas and couldn't get a bite." He wound up with 26-00 and held the lead after the opening day on which 247 of 250 pros weighed in at least one fish. To start day 2, he returned to the area that produced so well the previous day. He knew other boats had seen him there and there was an uptick in traffic in the area. "The fishing was horrible," he said. "I only had a couple 12-inchers in there." Joe Holland, a business associate with Gambler and close friend also fishing the tournament, was also fishing in the area and had caught a 6-pounder so the good fish were still in there, but d. "I figured we needed to leave because if people saw us leave they'd leave, too," Osinski said.
He went to another area and caught a quick limit, then came back into an area within sight of where he started his day. He combed a couple sets of heads and caught a 4-pounder that keyed him into how he needed to be presenting the bait. "Everybody thinks flipping on Okeechobee is you find some grass and get a heavyweight and you go flip, but there's a more to it than that," he said. "When I caught that fish, I was actually ripping the bait out of the mat almost out of frustration and was getting ready to make another flip. That fish just crushed it when I ripped it off the bottom. "Most times, we slow down when we're not getting bites, but I had to do the other way. I'd soak it and let it sit, but when I moved it really quick out of frustration, that fish just destroyed it. That told me I was maybe fishing too slow." He went to a heavier weight and put a new, unreleased Gambler bait on (the burner craw) and got so momentum going. He went back to his key area and caught a 7-pounder and two more upgrades that took him from 10 pounds to 19 within an hour. His lead entering the final day was nearly 6 pounds over Medlock, who caught a tournament-best 26-15 on day 2. "It was exciting," he said of taking off with the lead on the final day. "I know a lot of people around here being local and the only thing I wanted to make sure of was if I didn't win, I wanted to make someone catch a good bag to beat me. That was my focus." A 6-pounder early on the final day put his nerves as ease, but a shift in the wind forced him to change up his strategy. "As soon as the wind switched to the north, I saw the muddy water started coming in," he said. "When that happened, it moved the bait fish around and pushed them back toward the grass." He switched to a Gambler EZ Swimmer rigged with a punch skirt (he wanted to mimic a swim jig) and had immediate success. "I got to 16 or 17 pounds pretty quick," he said. "At that point, I knew Medlock would need a big bag to beat me, but I also knew he could catch 30." He moved to a row of heads near some spawning areas along the south end and caught a 9 1/2-pounder to seal the deal.
Winning Gear:
Flipping gear: 7'10" heavy-action Fitzgerald Rods Titan HD flipping/pitching rod, Daiwa Tatula casting reel (7.3:1 gear ratio), 65-pound Sufix 832 Advanced Superline, 1- and 1 1/4-oz. Reins Tungsten slip sinkers, Gambler KO punch skirt (silver shadow), 5/0 Strike King Hack Attack heavy cover flipping hook, Gambler Why Not (Junebug shadow blue). When not using a punch skirt, Osinski flipped a Why Not in the gold rush pattern.
Swim jig gear: 7'3" extra-heavy Powell casting rod, Daiwa Tatula Type R casting reel (8.1:1 gear ratio), same line, 3/16-oz. Reins Tungsten slip sinker, Gambler KO punch skirt, 6/0 Gamakatsu EWG worm hook, Gambler EZ Swimmer (white lightning). Osinski also flipped the Burner Craw, a new bait from Gambler that's not yet on the market. He described it as having the body of the Why Not with the shrunken tail of a Burner Worm as claws. Only he and Holland had them. "Sometimes, it helps in your head knowing you're the only one with a certain bait," he said.
Main factor: "Just being able to make subtle adjustments every day and realizing the fish didn't leave. I just had to figure something out every day. On day 2, it was changing the weight and style of bait. On day 3 it was adjusting to the wind."
Performance edge: "Trevor's new flipping rod. It's super sensitive and light. I could flip all day with it. It's balanced really well. Just like a lot of people say Gambler baits are made for fishing in Florida, Trevor makes a good rod for flipping and punching down here."
Lake Okeechobee Winning Pattern Bassfan 1/27/15 (Todd Ceisner)