Thread: Oscarpaloosa

I know you guys had a great time.I've been down there couple times just wish somewhere closer to holiday park to stay.If you can go,go its unbelievable!

Hey Ray,
I've been wanting to do a trip like this for years. My brother and I plan to head down the last weekend in March. I'm open to any advice or suggestions.

Thanks,
Shane

My group is coming Mar 27-April 4. I'm dealing with health issues and not sure I'll be there. Let me know what unit you are in.

Best advice is buy a ton of crickets, go to Holiday Park (hour drive down hwy 27).
Head up the canal past the airboats and run 2-4 miles to escape the tourist traffic. Turn into one of the side canals and drop a cricket in the pads.
Important!! Look for places where the bank has been cut away. These are small feeder creeks and the Oscar hang back in them to ambush prey.
Look carefully the cuts will be overgrown with canes etc, but they are obvious. 90% of our fish come out of those cuts

By the way, we started hiring a local to clean our fish. He does an outstanding job and it cost us about $10 each day as opposed to cleaning fish for 3-4 hours after being on the water all day. Best money I've spent in a long time.

Searay, do you need a shallow metal boat to fish these canals or would a boat like mine do it?

Yours is fine. I see BIG bass boats all the time. The canals are probably 40-50' wide and are 15-25 feet deep in middle.
They gradually taper to each shore and the lilly pads pop up at around 4-5 feet so you are perfectly fine in your boat.
One of our guys just bought a new 18' CC Carolina Skiff and he's been going for 40 years.
Youll want to fish Okeechobee as well and your boat is much better for that than a small jon boat.
PS. Brandon was there with us 2 years ago and he used his guide boat.

Thanks Ray. I aint ready to go yet but I'm getting closer.