Well, a lot of good thing’s going happening on Lake Okeechobee this past week. Every year the FLW comes to the lake bringing the best fishermen in the world. I am blessed to have fished with these guy’s for a long time, in both the BASS and FLW events.

When fishing is tough on a lake these guys find a way to catch them and open the minds of the local fisherman that sets the trend for the season. Before last week the fishing was tough and it did not take a lot of weight to win any tournament and numbers of fish caught were low. The FLW Pros had a four day practice and the first three days was tough coming out of a cold front, everybody was crying the blues.

But, the water warmed up quickly and on the last day of practice the fish showed up in a lot of places. The sudden change made for a monster of a weight-in, the fishing was great. Most of the fishing were caught using swimbait and frog baits.

This is proof about the migrations of fish in the lake they have about 730 squar miles of lake to hide in. But when it is time to spawn they come to the grassbeds. These last couple of years the water was low and made for a pore spawn. This year the magic is happening there are beds everywhere and the bass are having great success. You can see baby bass everywhere, the fishing this month will be great but you will have to slow down when it is cold. With the cold weather we are still catching some slow worming and on shiners.

Till next time tight lines and good fishing….
From Staff Writer Capt Mark Shepard (marks@bassonline.com)
BassOnline.com / 888-829-BASS

Lake Okeechobee

Today Capt Mark Shepard and I took the day to prefish and reflect on what has changed on the world famous lake over the years.

To reflect, you first have to phantom the size of this lake. It’s second largest body of freshwater in the United States, but only second to the great lakes that covers three states. The lake is an incredible average 9ft deep, the shallow depth we are fishing today on Lake Okeechobee are 2 to 4 feet. Okeechobee known for it’s vast region of spectacular freshwater bass fishing for a variety of reasons and species of fish. The lake unfortunately supports commercial use, which always has a way of being politically attached to most conversations when discussing the life of Okeechobee. While both of us agree, commercial interest have been a part of the long term present conditions of the lake. We both could not argue the point, that the hurricanes changed the lake more then man or industry could do so. The beauty that we both see in front of us today, was clearly created be a power larger and more powerful then we could imagine.

The sport fishing or tournament industry has help this lake become worldly renowned as one of the best fishing lakes in the world. Lake Okeechobee is nationally recognized for not only the quality but the quantity of its large mouth bass. In this outing you could not proved that to us, we both a well aware of the history on Okeechobee. That as famous as it is, fishing is still pure and not all days on the water are about the fish you catch. While we were out fishing today, we tried several patterns, flipping, top-water, plastic worm and Senko style baits of coarse. In the heavy grass, we covered lots of water with spoons, buzz-baits and spinner baits in the grass flats.

We could list many areas where we fished on Lake Okeechobee today, but as any true fisherman knows the big bass live in the water. While bass are comfortably in the there domain they only know of the true good fishing areas. Lake Okeechobee has been talked about a lot in the past few years, and rightfully so. Between Everglades restoration, Big Sugar buy outs and let’s not forget about low water conditions over the years. The media, as Sara Palin found out, does not always write things with there eye’s open. It seems to become a shaded deception of the truth or a partial denial of the facts. In some cases, it’s just a political benefit of someone or something.

Directly from our eyes today, there differently not seeing what we see. To understand the condition, the beauty and character of this lake you must first understand what diversity it has faced, the comebacks it has make and relate to the millions of happy fisherman it has entertained!

Till next time tight lines and good fishing….

From Staff Writer Capt Todd Kersey (todd@bassonline.com) – BassOnline.com / 888-829-BASS

 A mere rainstorm isn’t enough to discourage FWC fisheries biologist Don Fox from working in Lake Okeechobee to ensure the lake’s good health. Fox was excited to find this clump of coontail growing on its own in the lake. Coontail is important to nurturing the bottom of the food chain that makes the lake a world-class fishery.

OKEECHOBEE — It used to be nasty, worthless muck inhibiting plants and wildlife at the bottom of the lake; now, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, that same muck is supporting turkeys, turtles, several types of mammals and even a covey of quail.

Don Fox, a commission biologist, said muck dredged from the bottom of Lake Okeechobee to help re-establish the plant life that nurtures the lake’s world-class fishery has been used to build islands, and a variety of plants thriving on the dried-out muck provide food and cover for the animals.

Lawson Snyder, the commission’s deputy director of habitat and species conservation, said the dredging began in 2001 when drought lowered the lake level, was postponed when hurricanes in 2004 and 2005 filled the lake and restarted this summer when the lake was at a record low.

“I won’t say a drought is ever a good thing,” Snyder said, “but it did give us the opportunity to get in and get this work done.”

Since then, Tropical Storm Fay has raised the lake to about 15 feet; but Snyder said the man-made islands in the marshy northwest still rise above the water.

“Even at 16 feet, you can pull up to the islands,” he said.

Snyder said the islands do not contain any of the arsenic-contaminated muck that was scraped from southern Lake Okeechobee and hauled away.

“All of the muck is tested before it’s used,” he said, “and everything in the area of the lake where the islands were made had either no contaminates or levels that were low enough to be acceptable for use.”

From Staff and Wire Reports
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Lake Okeechobee is back up and looking better then it has in many years. With over 14ft of water the fishing is getting better then it has in years. The growth of vegetation is endless, and the sightseeing is better then I have ever seen it.

This 10lb-4oz bass was caught yesterday, an example of what is the foreseeable future for Lake Okeechobee fishing. We are so excited for this season to come, if these type of fish are being caught in the middle of the summer there’s no telling how good it could get come the winter during the spawn.

Got to go now, lots of new water to research!

If you are visiting South or Central Florida for work or vacation and want to experience the best fishing that there is to offer then please give me a call. We can be reached @ (888) 629-BASS or email us fishing@bassonline.com

Good fishing,

Capt Mark Shepard
marks@bassonline.com
(863) 673-4966 cell
(888) 629-BASS
www.bassonline.com
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