Lake Okeechobee Bass Fishing Reports

Sorry for the very long delay on a fishing report I have had a very busy
over the last few months. The F.L.W. Tour has started and I have been traveling around the country fishing tournaments and guiding every day in between.
The fishing in January was pretty good but it would have been better if the water temperature would have been a little warmer. The temp. on the lake never got out of the 50's and that is cold for Florida. The big fish bite was still very good it was just the numbers where off.
The flipping pattern was the dominating way to catch big fish in January We have been using a 1ounce sinker with a June bug craw worm. I like to try to concentrate on the thickest cover ( hyacinth mats) around the spawn areas.
January had all the big tournaments on the lake like F.L.W. ,Everstart and Bassmasters and there was some huge stringers weighed in. Okeechobee continues to produce five fish limits that weigh in the 27-30 lbs range in all the tournaments. That is the best in country by far!!

FEBRUARY
The one good thing about the cold weather that we had in January was that the fish didn't spawn and didn't feed that well. So now the water temp. is in the high 60's and the fish are feeding like crazy. We are catching between 30-40 fish a day and even up to 60 or 70 when the conditions are perfect. There has been a good number of 7-9lbs fish being caught and a lot of 4-6 lbs fish.
Artificial lures have been the best way to catch the fish now. We have been catching fish on Zara Spooks and Spitting baits. Spinner baits and buzzbaits have also been consistent, but the best bait has been senko's or flukes in the grass holes.
The live bait fishing or shiner fishing has been the best way to catch the really big fish and especially when the weather has been a little off. I look for the month of February to be a great month. While the rest of the country is snowed in, we are having great weather now 75-80 degrees.

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