By: Capt. Mark King
It’s been a pretty typical summer here on Okeechobee fishing for bass. Get out early, catch some bass, enjoy the sunrise, and get off the lake when it gets hot and the bass stop biting.
Numbers have been good, and some pretty nice bass have been caught on both live bait [wild shiners] and artificial lures. The outside grass line seems to be the place you want to set up to fish with live bait and if you want to throw a frog or soft plastics just move in from the outside into a little heavier vegetation. Some of the areas that I have been fishing are from Clewiston north to above Cochran’s Pass, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t other areas that are producing as well. With the daily storms this time of the year I try to not go too far so that I can’t beat the storm back to the boat ramp. The water has been fairly clean so no need to make long runs if you don’t want to, areas like the West Wall, and above Uncle Joe’s Cut have had some good bass.
I had a pretty amazing day recently with some clients from Indiana. The bite was a little slow but we did put a nice bass just shy of seven pounds in the boat and then caught a tarpon that put up a good fight for my thirteen-year-old client. I have seen Tarpon during the summer months here on Okeechobee for years and have had a few clients have one on for seconds and then get off, but we got this one to the boat. My guess is around forty inches and somewhere between twelve to fifteen pounds, but what a great catch of a tarpon here on Okeechobee.
The lake condition is pretty good right now and we pray it stays that way even as they continue to spray and kill our vegetation. With the summer catches being pretty good I believe it should be a good season here on Okeechobee when the water cools and hopefully no hurricanes make their way toward Florida. It’s not too early to start planning and booking those winter trips to Okeechobee where the bass fishing is good, and the weather is even better.
