Lake Istokpoga

[Tyler Schmidt]

Whats the run down on the lake? What's the vegetation like?  I've never been, I suck at finding water on Okeechobee that has anything but 14inchers in it. Thinking Istokpoga being smaller might be easier to locate quality fish..

[Al Wolbach]

I'm not an expert on Istakpoga by any means however I did fish it twice last week. The first day we loaded the boat including two over 6lb and many in the 3-4lb range, all were caught fishing around bull rushes that surround the islands, primarily the big island. The second day the water was not clear and we struggled to catch fish. I assume the wind direction the day or two before you are fishing is very important but I do not know the code. Maybe someone with more experience can advise on the wind. I ran out a lot of gas looking for good water and could not find any the second day. Nearly all of our fish the first day came in areas that had bull rushes and lilly pads together or very near. We did not see the varied vegatation on Istakpoga or big o compared to years past.

 

The few days we spend on Okeechobee were spent in the Moonshine Bay area primarily so judge accordingly. Although a lot of fish were caught the quality was nearly as good as Istakpoga. Not sure this is a good/fair comparison, but the only one I can make with my limited experience. 

 

BTW Airboats were spraying weed control at Istakpoga last Thursday around the islands. We were also shiner fishing so not sure what difference it may make to compared to artificial.