Thread: Anyone Fished North Lake Okeechobee?

I hear the river is hot right now at night, caught this Sunday while crappie fishing south end. Not biting good at south end yet

Went over on February 1st and returned yesterday, fishing was terrible on the North end, to include the times I went to the river. I have never seen it this bad in over 35 years that I have been fishing the lake. Water temp was between 77 and 80 the entire time I was there, little cold front we had didn't do much for it. With the experiences that I have had the last three years I will probably go elsewhere in the future. Occasionally I would talk to people that did well sporadically but they were few. Bait shops also said the bite is back, they are trying to sell bait. Tried jigging also, nothing seemed to work. Good luck!

I just got back home yesterday from a 9 day trip to Buckhead Ridge. It definitely was a tougher bite than the last couple of years but we did manage to catch fish. We fished the river exclusively & never even went out into the lake. Wind was an issue almost every day. Everyone we talked to were having about the same luck. In fact we caught more keepers than most people we talked to. Our best tactic was to find the steeper drop offs & put the back of the boat in 14-15 ft. of water with the front of the boat facing the bank and tightline minnows. The bite every day was very faint. If you weren't paying close attention and scanning poles constantly you wouldn't see it. We fished above & below the bridge on the left bank going up the river. The 1st few days of the trip we caught more after dark but the last few days we had better luck in the daylight. Started most days around 3 or 4 & fished late into the night. The 2 of us managed a 50 fish limit one night & we had 45 another. But most nights we would be in the 20 something range. We did catch some real pigs though with a few over 2lbs. each night. Biggest for the week was a little over 2-1/4 lb. Didn't get a good pic of it though. My uncle who lives there by himself in the Winter is 84 now & I'm not sure how much longer he can mange to do it. So I treasure each day there with him as if it's the last. Here's my 1st fish from yesterday.

Were leaving around 9 in the morning to go there hope we have some luck be there 10 days hope we can fill the small freezer we take with crappie ,bluegills

Headed down March 22-30. Staying at Roland Martin Resort at Clewiston, but hitting Everglades for Oscar, then some Bream and Crappie in the lake.
39 years running for this trip. I'm a newbie to group this being my 6th year.

Originally Posted by slimdaddy

Were leaving around 9 in the morning to go there hope we have some luck be there 10 days hope we can fill the small freezer we take with crappie ,bluegills

If you want to have a blast run down to Holiday Park and drop a cricket in the lily pads in the canals in the Everglades and hold on. Oscars are decent eating when filleted and fight like a 5# Bluegill. Catch as many as you want to clean no limits. Need to spend at least one day doing this. We've been at it for nearly 40 years.

Originally Posted by SeaRay

If you want to have a blast run down to Holiday Park and drop a cricket in the lily pads in the canals in the Everglades and hold on. Oscars are decent eating when filleted and fight like a 5# Bluegill. Catch as many as you want to clean no limits. Need to spend at least one day doing this. We've been at it for nearly 40 years.

Never tried Oscar. They taste similar to specs?

Originally Posted by brentalous

Never tried Oscar. They taste similar to specs?

Closer to bluegill or a small bass. Lordy they fun to catch but you won't get them in the boat with 4# test and limber pole. I use 10' B&M jig pile and 12# braid.

Sent from my LG-H871 using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app