Lake Okeechobee Fishing – The Complete Guide

Plan your ultimate Lake Okeechobee fishing trip! This guide covers everything from best spots and techniques to tips for landing trophy bass. Start your adventure now!

Lake Okeechobee is the most “famous big bass body of water” in the fishing capital of the world, Florida, well-known for the quantity and quality of bass the lake produces. The Lake Okeechobee bass fishing reputation has continued for a long time as it creates the largest and best largemouth bass fishing in Florida and, by some standards, the world.

Lake Okeechobee is home to the most prized freshwater game fish and cooler-filling panfish, making it a top freshwater fishing destination to experience.

Why Lake Okeechobee is a Top Fishing Destination

Lake Okeechobee is known for having some of the best fishing and below are some of the reasons this water body is so well-regarded by bass fishermen everywhere, but you need to experience the “Big O” first hand to appreciate it fully. Lake Okeechobee is the biggest freshwater lake in Florida, sometimes called Florida’s inland sea with a surface area of 730 square miles. Its priority is controlling water levels for flood control.

Most of the flow incomes from the Kissimmee River and out down the Caloosahatchee River because the Herbert Hoover Dike surrounds the entire water body. The primary natural tributaries are Taylor Creek, Fisheating Creek, and the Kissimmee River.

Top Targeted Okeechobee Fish Species

How To Fish Lake Okeechobee

When fishing Lake Okeechobee, the two primary methods to fish are artificial baits or live bait, usually with wild shiners. Bass fishing with wild shiners on the “Big O” is the most popular method for many anglers going after their personal best trophy bass. It just happens that it’s the natural food that the local largemouth bass and what they feed on daily in the fishery.

Live bait

Lake Okeechobee bass fishing with wild shiners became popular many years ago when anglers fishing for largemouth bass would see the bass naturally feeding in the habitat.

It has become an increasingly popular choice because once you’ve experienced this style of fishing, you’ll quickly recognize that it’s much more than just sitting and watching bobbers. The strikes on wild shiners made by these strong game fish is an experience like no other.

Like all fishing techniques, the season is essential, and there are particular kinds of tackle and secret ways of hooking and rigging shiners to be more productive. This comprehensive guide will cover the top tips on how to fish Lake Okeechobee successfully. Still, your professional guide will be able to show you even more about the tips and techniques for the specific conditions on the day of your fishing trip.

Artificial

Many avid anglers prefer the method of using artificial lures to target trophy bass when Okeechobee fishing. When bass fishing with artificials, you have the choice of spinning, baitcasting, or fly fishing.

Flipping and pitching on Okeechobee is always really popular. Based on local fishing reports, Lake Okeechobee is still an excellent lake for topwater plugs due to its shallow depths and weedy bottom for big bass.

Tackle Recommendations

The local Lake Okeechobee bass fishing experts agree that you have different options depending on the time of day or year. Plastics baits continue to be number one for Lake Okeechobee bass fishing; they also report, more specifically, Zoom products, the fluke, the speed worm, and Brush hog. In Bass Assassin, look at using the Die Dapper and Shad Assassin. A local favorite WOW Factor shallow crankbaits, rattle traps, Zara Spook for Topwater, or something similar.

Pitching baits into Lake Okeechobee grass is the most productive technique for trophy largemouth bass. You can stock up on all your needs locally at Walmart, Marinas, and local tackle shops around most Florida lakes.

Exploring Lake Okeechobee By Foot

You must consider that if you are exploring a fishing trip to Lake Okeechobee, Florida, for the first time, traveling on foot is concerning. However, if you have naturalized all parties with the terrain, fishing on foot from the shoreline can be a way of identifying the extent of the lake’s serenity.

There are infinite alternative areas for bank fishing, and these are the grassy banks, concrete walkways, fishing piers, and so on, which can be found by searching fishing reports online. Favorably for you, these points are fishable and walkable. However, you should also be aware that fish aren’t the only things that inhabit Okeechobee waters.

Build a Travel Guide for your Trip

The sunshine state is known for its famous Florida gators, and this is why it is advisable to find a destination to fish from piers or local boat ramps with docks. It should be safety first before your next Lake Okeechobee fishing adventure. Given that Lake Okeechobee is home to numerous freshwater game fish species. Anglers can catch mostly bluegill, crappie, speckled perch, and largemouth bass while bank fishing. Bank fishing from anywhere in freshwater requires a Florida fishing license and despite what you read, there are no peacock bass or smallmouth bass in Okeechobee.

About Lake Okeechobee

The Seminole Indian name Lake Okeechobee means “Big Water.” A proper name for the largest freshwater reservoir in the United States, occurring entirely in one state. The Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission state, “there is no place that can compare with Lake Okeechobee, not only for lunker largemouth bass, history, and wildlife but its size.”

History

Lake Okeechobee is about 37 miles long by 30 miles wide, with an average depth of only 10 feet. To fishermen nationwide, it’s renowned for the number of largemouth bass it has per acre. Lake Okeechobee produces more trophy bass over 7 pounds than any lakes in Florida and arguably the entire United States.

Lake Okeechobee is positioned in central southern Florida, north of the Everglades and south of Orlando. It links Florida’s Atlantic and Gulf sides via the Port Mayaca Lock on Okeechobee’s east side and the Moore Haven Lock on Lake Okeechobee’s western side. Drainage canals lower the lake and drain adjacent lands for farming. Agricultural activities in the Central Florida Okeechobee area include cattle ranching, dairy farming, and crop production of sugarcane, winter vegetables, citrus, sod, sweet corn, and rice.

Disaster Strikes

In 1926 and 1928, hurricane waters destroyed the dikes on the lake’s southern edge, which resulted in thousands of deaths. As a result, the Okeechobee waterway was developed as a reservoir with canals and levees built. Today, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Florida Water Management District direct the waters via dikes, canals, and floodgates to protect against flooding, prevent navigation of saltwater intrusion, and give water for agricultural irrigation.

It also supplies drinking water to large urban areas in the State of Florida. Unfortunately, these water management activities have much encumbered the water flow from Okeechobee to the Everglades. Instead of alternating wet and dry seasons, which provided steady sheets of water, the Everglades now receive times of drought or powerful discharges of water.

This body of water sports all types of waterway structures to fish – from open water to narrow canals surrounded by hundreds of different vegetation and grasses.

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