Lake Okeechobee Bass Fishing Reports

The fishing has been improving as the month of September flies on by, and with October just around the corner better fishing and cooler weather is on the way. The lake level has been staying steady at around 9.5 feet above sea level in spite of the rain and water that has been flowing in from the Kissimmee river. The bass have been starting to school up and the water continues to get cleaner farther out into the lake, with some areas as far out as three and four miles and you can still see the bottom. Some of the better areas to fish for bass are the Bear Beach channel, around the islands out the Clewiston channel, the Airport Hole, Norman’s channel, and the rim canal both north and south of Clewiston. The Bear Beach channel has been pretty good now for a couple weeks, the key is to go out far enough that the water is still clear and not run the trolling motor to much as to spook these fish. I have been throwing a Gambler Ace in watermelon-red and bluegrass color, rigged weightless with an Owner 4/0 wide gap hook. I have also been using a Yamamoto Swimming Senko rigged the same way, this seems to work better when there is no wind and you need to get a little more action out of your bait. If you happen to be close when these bass come up schooling in this area you need to have a swim bait, spinner bait, or a top water lure ready on the deck of the boat to cast to them. A Carolina rigged Ace has also caught a few good bass in this area the past week, try to use as light of weight sinker as possible. Fluorocarbon line is also a must in this shallow clear water, it is almost invisible in the water to the fish and most have good abrasion resistance that is needed fishing in these areas. Around the islands out the main channel from Clewiston the same baits have been working, but the 3 ? inch swim bait made by Lake Fork Trophy Tackle has been accounting for the most of my client’s fish. Another lure you might want to try in this area is a big worm at least 10” in length, I have been getting reports from other anglers that the bigger worms have been producing the best for them.

The Pahokee side of the lake and you will want to be very carefully in this area as there are a lot of big rocks in some pretty shallow water. There are some big bass that hold this time of the year in this area, try fishing a crankbait or a jerk bait and if that doesn’t work than you will need to throw a worm or Senko. If you get a good map it will show these areas and it will also show you where the deeper water that is safe to be running a boat, please be careful in this area there is a lot of underwater hazards.

When fishing the rim canal I would try to fish along the rocks and would start out with a jerk bait or crankbait and if that doesn’t work try using a Giggy Head and a Big Stick worm both made by Gambler, June bug and watermelon-red would be my colors of choice. Most of the bass that I have been catching in the rim canal have been around two pounds with an occasional larger one. The bite here seems to last most of the day even on those days when it is real hot and the wind doesn’t blow.

Resent results for a Bass Busters tournament held on Lake Okeechobee out of Clewiston on Sunday September 16th netted a first place win for the team of Terry Garrels and Steve Lake of Clewiston who brought a five bass limit of 22.76 pounds to the scale with an 8.73 and 7.14 pound bass to anchor there limit. Second place went to Asa Godsey and Mark Lee both of Clewiston with a five bass limit of 17.07 pounds. Most of the bass were caught on plastic worms, spinner baits, and crankbaits.