Scott Martin's April 2026 RMMC tournament on Lake Okeechobee finished where his pre-fish suggested it might — short of the dirty 30 he had set as a target, but with 22.85 pounds on the scale alongside teammate Donnie Bass and a check in his pocket.
The Florida pro fished the back end of a falling lake, where shrinking water was concentrating fishing pressure into a handful of accessible flats. "It's going to be one of these deals that we're going to have to find something a little away from everybody, because the lake's getting lower and lower," Martin said in the practice opener. "And when the lake gets low, people get pretty confined in some areas."
Practice produced two patterns. The first was a shad-spawn bite under birds in three quarters of a mile of fishable cover Martin had mapped during a guide trip the day before. The second was a clear-water sight bite around isolated reed points, where Martin watched 4 lb-plus largemouth cruising shallow alongside tilapia and gar. "I just think they're laying in here getting ready for the bluegill to spawn," he said. "I think they're just waiting on the bluegill."
He shook off two five-pounders during practice, including one fish he estimated at "an eight or nine-pounder, like for real," before saving the bigger bites for tournament day. "You got to let it all hang out," he said. "The dirty 30 is always the goal."
Tournament morning lined up. "All that east wind is perfect. It's blowing right in on there," Martin said. "I think it's going to activate them." He and Donnie Bass leaned on a frog and a small Zoom Fluke on a light hook through the gaps in the reeds, with the swimjig and a wacky rig closing the day.
The schoolers Martin had relied on for big bites in practice never quite fired in competition. "The schooling fish didn't happen," he said in the post-mortem. "We should have had 20 pounds on schooling fish. That being said, I like what we did. I wish we could have caught just two more big ones. Two more big ones is all we needed."
Mid-day a forgotten landing net almost cost him a fish. The lock-side intervention came from a familiar face — Bassmaster Elite veteran Mike Iaconelli, who lent the team a net from his own boat. "My boat clean dude — and the guy took everything out of my boat and we literally going through the lock," Martin laughed. "Not responsible if it falls through the net, you know."
The weigh-in produced 22.85 lb. "This thing's going in the right direction," Martin said as the bag hit the scale. "We might squeeze a check out, but they're catching them. I mean that — it's awesome for the lake." Other teams were registering 20 lb bags routinely, with the day's heaviest believed to be in the mid-30s.
Martin's broader read on Lake Okeechobee is the part out-of-state anglers will care about. The clear-water frog bite is on, the shad spawn is firing in the mornings and the bluegill are just beginning to bed up. "Lake's on fire. Lake is on fire," he said. "Topwater, swim jigs, schooling fish in the mornings — crazy, right?"