Lake Okeechobee

Capt. Ron Stevens, Professional Guide
Submitted on December 31, 2008

The lake level is at 14.02 this morning, and falling slowly. The water temperature yesterday was 70.2 degrees, still pretty warm, but we have had some very nice weather. The fish are still somewhat scattered, but when you find them, they are willing to bite.

Most of the past 2 weeks I have been fishing in the "monkey box" area, from what I saw, it has the best looking water to fish. There is a wide variety of vegetation and cover. I was fishing ell grass, hydrilla, and cattail patches. Some of the ell grass was pretty thick, and I found that the thinner areas worked out better for me. The biggest problem I had with the area we were fishing, is that since the low water, the whole area has really changed. It is now wide open, and a north wind made it very difficult to fish comfortably. It got darn rough.

The past couple of days I went back south to the holes I had been fishing, and the fish were still there, which was good news for us. The Producto worm, in "junebug" on a 3/16 sinker is still working very well for me. It is working both up north, as well as down south. Nice to know we can go in either direction and catch fish. As the water cools more, the fishing should pick up even more.

The blue gill are biting very well in the holes behind the "east wall". My customers went out in their own boat and had a really nice catch of over 30 big ones in just a few hours. They were using live crickets.

Capt. Ron Stevens
Sunrise Bass Fishing Charters
http://www.sunrisefishing.com

Fish for a trophy BASS of a lifetime on beautiful Lake Okeechobee in the warm Florida sun. Ron Stevens is an U.S. Coast Guard licensed Captain who has guided for 20+ years. Ron is a full time professional guide and is also a Top 10 qualifier on the FLW Tour. Learn the latest and hottest tips using all new equipment. Click on our link above, or call us at (800) 236-8659

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Professional Fishing Guide Mark King
Submitted on December 12, 2008

December started out as a slow fishing month here on the Big “O” but it has slowly improved. We have had cold front after cold front move through South Florida and it has made the bass fishing a bit tough for all. The outlook for January looks good as the bass should be moving in off the main lake to spawn and as slow as the fishing has been when these bass do start to move in the fishing should be awesome. The water level has dropping slowly as the farmer are pumping water out to water the fields, the water level is at 14.18 feet above sea level. We have a lot of eel grass growing along with some hydrilla and pepper grass. The only bad thing that comes with seeing good vegetation growing everywhere is the airboats out spraying and I did see four of them yesterday and it made to sick to thing that they are out killing everything off that has taken three years to start growing again. It seems like no one can leave this lake alone for a year or two to heal itself, they have to be either taking water out, pumping agricultural water in, or spraying herbicides on everything that grows. We have such a great resource here called Lake Okeechobee but “people” just won’t leave it be.

As I mentioned above the bass fishing has been a little slow but we have been able to catch some bass fishing back in the grass in areas like the Monkey Box, around Ritta Island, and in Bay Bottom. The key is to cover as much water as possible and you will catch some bass. My clients and I have been using lures that can be fished over top the thick grass a can be fished relatively fast. The Gambler Flappin Shad and Gambler Cane Toad have been catching these bass in the thick vegetation. The color doesn’t seem to matter as much as the noise they make coming through the water over top of the vegetation. You will need a good heavy rod and braided line to get the bas out of this heavy cover. I use a Deep South “Frog Rod” that is 7’2” heavy action rod and fifty pound test PowerPro braided line. A lot of this cover and vegetation that I’m fishing is so heavy that I will usually have to go to the fish after we hook it to get it out of the cover. The bass fishing with wild shiners has been tough with they’re not being any holes in the grass that you can fish them and the outside grass line on the main lake has been really muddy from the wind blowing every day. I do know it is a little tough on the lake right now but I believe that once we get more bass moving in to spawn in January the fishing will be back to what everyone knows Lake Okeechobee for and that is world class bass fishing. We have the FLW Series tournament here in Clewiston in January and it is a great family event with lots to do for everyone. Good luck and tight lines to everyone and hope to see you on the water.

Captain Mark King is a full time guide and tournament angler guiding out of the world famous Roland Martin’s Marina and Resort in Clewiston Florida for bass and bluegill. Mark also is a guide for inshore and backcountry saltwater species including tarpon, redfish, trout, and snook. Mark is an IGFA Certified Captain, active member of the Florida Guide Association and the Florida Outdoor Writers Association. Captain Mark is sponsored by Ranger Boats, Evinrude Outboards, Deep South Rods, Power-Pole, Lake Fork Trophy Lures, Minn Kota trolling motors, Gambler Lures, AFTCO clothing, Costa Del Mar sunglasses, Van Staal pliers, Smartshield sun protection products, Northlake Marine and Frigid Rigid coolers.

Mark can be contacted to book a guide trip, seminars, personal appearances, test rides in his Evinrude powered Ranger or to fish a tournament with him at 863-983-9950 or at www.markkingfishing.com and be sure and check out his new bass fishing social website at www.mybassclass.com.

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