Lake Okeechobee is known as one of the best bass lakes in the world, but it is also a fantastic bream fishery.
Every spring Okeechobee is invaded by thousands of anglers pursuing these great tasting pan fish. Most bream anglers bring cases of live crickets and boxes of red worms. It is true that our Okeechobee bream love these live baits; the life expectancy of a live cricket is not very long out on the Big O.
The bream I like to target are the ones bedding out in the open water and not the ones in and around the heavy grass. The reason I look in the open water is that I like to fish with artificial lures.
Okeechobee bream spawn in big groups. When you find them, you can catch your limit quickly. With the water levels low and the bream bedding in the shallow water just outside the grass lines, they are easily spotted by anglers wearing polarized sunglasses once the sun gets up in the sky at about 9 a.m.
Bass fishing early and bream fishing the rest of the day, it doesn’t get any better than that. Here’s how I approach bream fishing here on the Big O:
- I use medium spinning reels with 6’ medium rods, the same rods I use for bass fishing. I spool up with 4- to 6-pound or fluorocarbon or 6- to 10-poundbraid.
- The only lure I use is a modified black Beetle Spin. I take a 1/32-ounce beetle spin and replace the arm and blade with an Arkie Jig Spinner, which is a slightly larger blade that makes the lure easier to cast and feel. I also like to replace the head with one that weighs 1/16 of an ounce. It is important to use a heavier jig that has the same size hook that comes with the original 1/32-ounce beetle spin. That way you can use the black plastic grub that comes with the Beetle Spin.
- Cast this lure around the beds, and you won’t have any trouble filling your livewell.
- Put a drop of super glue on the hook before adding the grub, and you won’t have to replace the grub as often.
- The limit on Okeechobee is 50 per day. If you’re fishing more than one day you must clean your bream each day to store in your coolers. Don’t end up with more than 100 fish in your cooler that are not cleaned and bagged. Okeechobee is the only lake in the country that allows commercial taking of a game fish. So it’s OK to take as many as you want, just make sure you clean them each day.
An extremely successful professional bass tournament angler, Steve Daniel is a 30-plus-year veteran Okeechobee guide and the voice of Okeechobee fishing on WRVO Radio Network 1’s Hooked up with Steve and Deb. Check out the show at www.renoviolaoutdoors.com. Contact: stevedaniel84@yahoo.com or 239-560-2704.