Lake Okeechobee

There are a couple reports... please make sure you read them all.

Capt. Ron Stevens, Professional Guide
Submitted Mid August 2010

The lake level is at 13.85 this morning. The water temperature at this time yesterday was 89, and going up as the day went on. The fishing was fantastic! We had non stop action almost from the first 5 minutes we got to where we were fishing, and the fish were big. They were feeding, and hit almost anything we threw at them. The biggest fish was right at 9 pounds. We were up on the shoal, and never really had to move. This has been a fantastic August, it's hot, that's for sure, but when you can catch the type and quality of the fish we are catching, you can put up with it for a 4-6 hour trip. Any longer might be a bit long, and the captain might get a bit grumpy......

Come on down, and get in on some of the action.

Capt. Ron Stevens
Sunrise Bass Fishing Charters
http://www.sunrisefishing.com

Fish for a trophy BASS of a lifetime on beautiful Lake Okeechobee in the warm Florida sun. Ron Stevens is an U.S. Coast Guard licensed Captain who has guided for 20+ years. Ron is a full time professional guide and is also a Top 10 qualifier on the FLW Tour. Learn the latest and hottest tips using all new equipment. Click on our link above, or call us at (800) 236-8659

*********************************************************************

Report submitted by Captain Mark King
July 5, 2010

Here we are into July already and the fishing here on Lake Okeechobee continues to be awesome. On most days it is no problem to go out and catch thirty bass and fifty a day is not uncommon now. The bass have been smaller in the two to four pound range but there are still a few big ones being caught, last week a nine pound bass was caught in a tournament out of Clewiston. And fun thing about fishing this time of the year is that the bass bite all day long as long as you can stand the sun and heat. T he water level is down to 14.23 feet above sea level which is still a little high for this time of the year. They are letting water out of the lake at a pretty good rate but the rains that we have been getting are putting the water right back in the lake as fast as it goes out. The lake is in great shape now with just a little algae bloom and fish almost everywhere.

I have been catching most of the bass on the outside grass line from Pelican Bay to Bird Island as long as the wind will allow me to fish it. The wind does really play a big part this time of the year as it will blow bait in toward the grass line and that is where the bass are waiting to ambush it. But that doesn’t mean if the wind don’t blow that you can’t catch fish because right now the bass are pretty easy to catch. The shoal islands out the Clewiston channel and out Uncle Joe’s have been holding bass in good numbers just not any really good ones. Some of the baits that have been working great are a Carolina rigged Gambler Super Stud and a Spro Aruka Shad lipless crank bait. The Carolina rig works best when the wind isn’t blowing hard and the Aruka Shad on a fast retrieve reel like my U.S. Reel’s Pro 1000 SuperCast will keep the bait moving fast enough to stay on top of the eel grass on your retrieve. And these reels will allow you to make extra long casts to those schooling bass when they come up just out of reach with traditional bait casting reels with a standard levelwind, try one of these new state of the art reels and I think you will like them as well as I do. There is one other lure that has been working for bigger bass and that is a Gambler 10” worm, you won’t catch as many bass but most of the bass caught on the 10” worm will be better quality bass.

The fishing this time of the year on Lake Okeechobee is great and will keep you busy catching fish all day long but remember by afternoon the storms will start moving in so keep an eye to the sky and check the weather report before you go out fishing. Drink plenty of water, use a good quality sunscreen and enjoy the summer on the world famous Lake Okeechobee. Tight lines and hope to see you on the water soon.

Mark can be contacted to book a guide trip, seminars, personal appearances, test rides in his Evinrude powered Ranger or to fish a tournament with him at 863-983-9950 or at markkingfishing.com

*********************************************************************************************