Lake Okeechobee

[TOXIC]

Grab your favorite beverage, sit back and let me give you a recap of our week on Okeechobee.

 

We left with dreams of monster bass and were willing to do whatever it took short of throwing shiners.   Left Virginia 4am and stayed the first night in Palm Coast, Florida.  Side note, I stayed in Palm Coast for 3 months when I was in Florida for work for 2 years and found a house to rent in JAX.  Woke up the next morning to pretty stiff winds and decided to meet our local fisherman who was going to fish with us for the week, at C Scott Driver ramp on the north end of the lake since the south end was blown out and muddy.  First day was a total bust.  Zero fish.  I attributed it to a couple of things including recalibrating to a totally different style of fishing, 16 hours of driving and the wind was howling.  We couldn’t find clean water.  Called it a day and checked in to Roland’s in Clewiston.  2nd day we hit South Bay and the water was trash from the winds but now the winds have shifted and were  out of the south so we decided to put the boats on the trailers and head north again to try and beat the mud back further north and we put in at Harney Pond.  Caught a few fish but the water quality was down.  3rd day we went south again and let me tell you the wind was just absolutely a killer.  It shifted and changed directions multiple times during the day.  We caught some fish in the reed beds outside of Boy Scout cut from the Rim Canal and some in Buckhead.  By now we’ve got them figured out as far as baits but the challenge was finding clean water.  We had caught some nice fish.  Day 4 we decided to run the rim canal north and we fished Moonshine Bay.  Tons of beds but no fish on them.  Because of the winds, the lake was fishing really small and all of the clean water was picked over pretty good.  5th day we went back to our reed beds on the south end and did well.  
 

Overview:  Overall we did really well considering we talked to a lot of locals and guides and they were not doing as well as we were.  We took a poll on whether we would go back, our group had guys from Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, West Virginia and Georgia and the only one who said he wouldn’t make the trip was from Mass and he was the least experienced of the group.  Roland’s was a good place to stay, the tiki bar was convenient for food.  We stayed in the motel and not the condos rooms were clean and had a mini fridge .  If I went back, I would definitely book a condo and cook my own food.  My only complaint was that boat/trailer parking is a little sketchy.  There’s plenty of electrical outlets but no real rhyme or reason on how/where to park.  Combination of open field with plug ins like an rv park and spaces outside rooms with plug ins.  You could always find a spot, it just might not be as convenient as it could be.  

 

Baits that worked:

5 and 6 inch Senkos in red/green or blue/black colors.  Weightless on 4 or 5.0 ewg hooks or with a 1/8th oz screw in nose weight for beds and vertical reed fishing and pitching pads.

Swim Jig in bluegill colors and small paddle tail trailer in green pumpkin.

Chatterbait in blue/black with a Zako trailer of the same color or a chatterbait in white chartreuse with a paddle tail Zako in Golden shiner.

Yamamoto heart tail Swimbaits in various colors from golden shiner to darker rigged on a gamakatsu screw lock 1/8th weighted hook 4.0 or 5.0.

SPRO Aruku Shad in Nasty Shad color.

Frogs, both hollow body SPRO Popping frog and Solid body, Yamamoto Yamafrog.

1/4 oz Ned with. Yamamoto Kuttail worm, 5 inch.

 

Now some fish pics.  I have some vids of us running some trails and cuts that were sketchy at best.  High pucker factors for sure.

 

[A-Jay]

Nice report ~

Thank you for sharing your trip.

A-Jay

[Mike L]

Great report!

Yeah it’s been like that for about a month down here. 
Seems like a cold front hits us every Thurs or Fri with 20-25 mph winds which makes it tough to find clear water for 3 days. 
 

Hopefully the next time you come on down it’ll be a lot more stable. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

[skekoam]

I thought that lake was every cast

 

Good read and glad you got some nice ones

[TOXIC]

20 hours ago, Mike L said:

Great report!

Yeah it’s been like that for about a month down here. 
Seems like a cold front hits us every Thurs or Fri with 20-25 mph winds which makes it tough to find clear water for 3 days. 
 

Hopefully the next time you come on down it’ll be a lot more stable. 
 

 

 

 

Mike

I have never been so frustrated with the wind as I was last week.  It wasn’t that the wind was blowing.  It was that it was constantly changing direction to the point there was no clean water anywhere.  As you know those bass hate dirty water and it was tough getting them to bite.  Also, they were in pods.  If you found a pod you could catch a bunch in the same area.  They were also relating to vertical cover and were not in the pads or eel grass.  You can bet I’ll be back.  ??

[GaryH]

Thanks for sharing.. Great pics. ?

[MarkG52]

Nice report!

[Miabucman]

Brings back memories.  Thanks for sharing!

[Mike L]

3 hours ago, TOXIC said:

I have never been so frustrated with the wind as I was last week.  It wasn’t that the wind was blowing.  It was that it was constantly changing direction to the point there was no clean water anywhere.  As you know those bass hate dirty water and it was tough getting them to bite.  Also, they were in pods.  If you found a pod you could catch a bunch in the same area.  They were also relating to vertical cover and were not in the pads or eel grass.  You can bet I’ll be back.  ??

In another month or so it’ll start settling down....

When you make it down again let me know. Lunch is on me

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Alex from GA]

Thanks for the detailed report, not many as good as yours.  What, where and how.

[TOXIC]

Had a buddy from here in Virginia choose to go to Headwaters instead of Okeechobee a week after we got back and he had a tough go of it.  They caught fish but the dirt road to the lake and the accommodations they stayed in were terrible.  Lake was fishing tough for them.  

[crypt]

Headwaters has been rough lately. wind has been swirling like crazy. still catch fish but been having to work harder for them. still worth going.few more weeks and it should start to settle down. great report on Okeechobee,great writing,thanks.