Clewiston, Fla. (PRWEB) February 12, 2012

Link to photo of pro winner Randall Tharp

EverStart pro Randall Tharp of Gardendale, Ala., had endured three days of tough weather and wind and managed to lead the first three days of competition at the Walmart FLW Tour on Lake Okeechobee presented by Evinrude. All he needed was one more solid days weight to claim his first FLW Tour title.

Tharp caught a five-bass limit weighing 23 pounds, 2 ounces Sunday to win $ 125,000 with a four-day catch of 20 bass weighing 101-12. The catch gave him the win by a massive 23-pound, 9-ounce margin over John Cox of Debary, Fla., who caught a total of 20 bass weighing 78-3 and earned $ 35,000. Tharps margin of victory broke the FLW Tour record set by National Guard pro Brett Hite (20-4, Lake Toho, 2008).

I felt like I could catch 30 pounds a day if I fished perfect, said Tharp, who adds an FLW title to his four BFL wins and one EverStart Series victory. I would have liked to have caught more, but Im pretty tickled with the way things turned out.

When I caught the first big one today and it put me at 19 (pounds) and I caught the second big one I didnt say anything, but when I caught the third one I knew it was over, Tharp added.

Tharp said the one constant during the tournament was the wind. High winds wreaked havoc on anglers plans as water clarity went south. Many anglers struggled to adapt and catch fish.

It was not what you want in south Florida, Tharp said. We had a wind chill of 27 degrees this morning. The winds were sustained 20 (miles per hour) with gusts to 40. The style I was fishing is what you need to do under those conditions.

And Tharps style of fishing just happened to be what he loves to do use a big rod, heavy line and big weights to flip grass. Tharp fished the north end of the lake and threw a black with blue flake Bitters Baits B.F.M. paired with a 1