Lake Okeechobee Bass Fishing Reports

Clewiston-----I have a lot of good news to report on the conditions of Lake Okeechobee at Clewiston, first we have been getting enough rain almost everyday that they are not pumping much water out of the lake for the surrounding agriculture. The lake level is at 8.96 feet above sea level and has been staying close to this level on a daily basis the next good news is that the city of Clewiston has dumped some stone on the ramp that is on the inside of the dike and have made it good to use for now and the South Florida Water Management District has dredged the channel from the main ramps in Clewiston out to the locks to a depth of five or six feet. Now everyone should be able to get there boats in the water to take advantage of some of the great fishing that the few of us that have been able to get our boats in the water have been enjoying. I know I have said some things in the past about South Florida Water Management but my hat is off to them for getting in here and taking care of this channel that was in desperate need of some dredging.

The wind has finally let up and the areas that we were fishing a month ago are starting to clean up great, another week of little to no wind and the water will be back to being clear again. Some areas to concentrate on are the main channel from Clewiston out to the water tank, the rim canal south to South Bay and north up to Moorehaven. When fishing the rim canal some of the key areas that I look for are rocks and where the rocks end and it turns to sand, this change in structure will usually hold bass. These areas are great areas to throw a crankbait, some of the ones that have been working for me and my clients are a Bomber 7A in firetiger color and a Spro Aruka Shad lipless crankbait in gold shiner color. A couple other places that have been good are the football field and the dynamite holes south of Clewiston, these have been great areas to get out the wind and still catch good sized bass all day long on both wild shiners and artificial lures. A few other baits that I have been using are Zoom Super Flukes in watermelon-red color and the Gambler Ace in bluegrass and watermelon-red color. I have been fishing both of these lure weightless with a 4/0 wide gap hook and the key is to fish them as slow as you can stand it. I do have another lure that I want to mention and that is a new custom crankbait by Gambler lures, I have been catching some nice bass since I received a few of these baits from Val Osinski owner of Gambler Lures and was very impressed with the fact that they are hand made and hand painted from balsa wood with a bill made from circuit board material. You need to get a couple of these crankbaits and give them a try. The bluegill fishing has been still going strong both here on the lake and down at Holiday Park in the Everglades. The Bare Beach channel and the rim canal around the cut that goes out the Bare Beach channel are the areas that I am hearing that have been pretty good and don’t forget to take lots of cricket for bait.

Bass Busters will hold it’s Silver and Gold Series team bass tournaments on June 16 and 17 with the Super Bucks tournament being held on June 30 and July 1 and this tournament has a guaranteed $5000.00 1st place. You can contact Chris Fickey for more info at (941) 232-9539.
Bass Wishes
Capt. Scott Martin / Capt. Mark King