LAKE/LOCATION: Lake Okeechobee (out of Clewiston)
WATER TEMP: 67-73
WATER COLOR & VISIBILITY: clean (even in hard bottom areas on the main lake)
WEATHER: partly to mostly cloudy in the morning till 10ish, lighter winds all day 5-10 E, becoming sunny and warm with highs in the low 80’s
ESTIMATED CALENDER PERIOD: pre-spawn, spawn
FISH BEHAVIOR: I had a pretty simple goal today and the weather was fairly conducive for it. Find main lake or main lake oriented pre-spawn and spawning areas within 30 minutes of Clewiston. I started off near Uncle Joe’s cut tossing a Gambler Big EZ in a 3-4’ flat with a mix of Kissimmee Grass, bulrushes, and scattered submergent vegetation. Took a 2lbs fish right away after hearing him pop up I simply tossed the bait in to the area – the grass was too thick to get thru so I simply shook it tangled in the grass and he came up and got it. I pushed out a little further towards the outside grass line still tossing (and pretty much buzzing) a Gambler Big EZ. I ended up whacking a 7-7.5lbs fish off some clumps of thicker Kissimmee Grass in 4’ of water.
I moved into the cut for a bit tossing cranks, traps, and a c-rig to see if there was anything on the bottom of the cut that would hold a school of staging fish. I ended up taking a couple dinks and didn’t find any blatant rock piles or wood on the bottom.
Moved back towards the area I started the day in around the cut and worked the outside grass line with a Gambler Big EZ and a 5” Strike King Swimbait. I took another couple fish and lost a couple not getting a decent hook set on them and decided to leave the area for the upcoming tournament. All the fish came on a consitent retrieve sometimes buzzing it on top and sometimes slightly below the surface of the water.
I moved down to right around Clewiston and fished the area I’ve taken some dinks and a couple 4-5lbs fish off of. Looking for beds I took a few fish on a weightless worm and found some fish under a few select hyacinth matts. Males seemed stacked in pockets near some type of emergent cover (i.e. lily pads, bulrushes, etc). I took one fish ~2.5lbs from under the hyacinth but nothing that would signal to me the females have moved up.
Finally, about 12ish I moved to a large flat just south of Clewiston. The flat was only 2-3’ deep with a hard bottom and a mix of pencil, Kissimmee, and submergent grasses (and an occasional lily pad). I started seeing fish immediately in the cut – a lot of males and small fish with beds everywhere (just nothing pinned to them yet). I took some small fish tossing a Zoom Horny Toad – again just buzzing it. Where the flat thinned out I started working the Toad in the thick stuff focusing on pockets and any change in vegetation I could see. I had a bunch of swirls and blow ups – some of them were gar but mostly fish that just wouldn’t commit. Then, in a pocket near a patch of lily pads I banged out a 5 and change – almost definitlely a bedding fish. Had a few more big swirls working the flat then I moved into some isolated hyacinth matts near the flat and took a few fish up to 2.5lbs pumping the bait and holding it against the ceiling of the matt.
On the way to the matts I noticed a ton of beds – once again nothing pinned on them. They were anywhere from 6” – 1-2’ scattered in what was fairly dense grass. This was sort of a reminder that the fish didn’t need big open pockets. There were a ton of beds I probably missed because they were situated in grass I saw as too dense.
I didn’t juice the spots so hopefully they’ll hold up for the tournament in a few days; if the weather stays consisitent I wouldn’t be surprised to see a ton of bedding fish on this flat.
