Lake Okeechobee Bass Fishing Reports

The lake is doing great now and the fish are getting ready to start there spawn season. Here on Lake Okeechobee we have the longest spawn in the country, our bass will start there spawn in October and will end in May. That is a seven to eight month spawn period.
 The last couple of weeks it has been taking BIG weights to win the local tournaments 25 to 30 lbs. We are catching good numbers of buck bass in the 1.5 to 2.5 lbs range schooled up getting ready to make there move to the spawning areas. The larger females are staging on the outer points of grass and bull-rush heads out side of the spawning areas. The females are active very early in the morning also around noon when the sun gets overhead.  
 During a tournament last week-end, another competitor and I found a school of good size buck bass staging on the out side grass line. I had 5 for 13lbs and the other competitor had 5 for 16.5 lbs. We never moved our boats for 4 hours and together we landed a total of 60- 70 bass out of that one area. Unfortunately I never got those quality bites as the other competitor did.
 Top water bait such as buzzbaits or zara spooks have been a great choice for getting those big bites early and if you have few clouds in the sky don’t be afraid to throw them all day. 1/2oz rattle baits have also been a great choice for finding those buck bass as well as a few large females still cruising the outside grass. When the early bite stops, start throwing worms around the isolated small patches of bull-rush. Then look for any shade that might be around such as hyacinths mats or any kind of floating grass mats that will provide shade. Flip a 1oz. weighted crawdad or favorite worm and hold on!
 The shiner fishing has been fair, but as soon as the water cools down 7-10 degrees the live bait fishing will be awesome.  So plan your trip to the Big ‘O’ as soon as you can. And please feel free to call or e-mail any time if you have any questions about fishing on Lake Okeechobee.

BASS WISHES,
Scott R. Martin