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I was there a couple months ago. I'm busy right now but I'll send you a pm with everything I learned. The catfish in the avatar my daughter is holding was caught down there on a plastic worm.
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[cool][#0000ff]Bass spawn in February on Big O. Bluegills about the same time. Great sport for both.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]After spawning the bass move under the weed beds and most of the bigguns are taken fishing live shiners under a bobber. Still a lot of fish out in the open, and the lake is never very deep. Good for all kinds of plastics, spinner baits and cranks. Fish in the cuts between reed beds and off reed points.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are lots of guides around the lake. Roland Martin has a big marina and guide operation on the lake at Clewiston. You should be able to find a lot of info on the fishing and available guides on the web.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I just watched a program a couple of weeks ago by Roland Martin. In between commercials and product endorsements (most of the program) he pointed out that although the hurricanes of the past two years just about destroyed their operation, they have completely rebuilt and the fishing is as good as it has ever been.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]PS...don't go float tubing down there. If the gators don't get you the water moccasins will. Those suckers try to climb in the boat with you.[/#0000ff]
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Water moccasins? Ummmmm... no thanks. [unimpressed]
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Thanks, Fish4. Nice catfish. I talked with a few guides just to price things out. Looks like early spring will be a good time to bass fish from all accounts.
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Thanks, TD. I called Roland Martin's operation as well as Hawghunters. They are both large outfits. My dad once lived in the South and I used to visit him now and then. One thing I'll never forget is helping him clean a four foot cotton mouth snake out of a wood duck nesting box he had built and placed on top of a pole on the bank of a local lake. I was climbing up the ladder headed to the duck box when he stopped me and pointed out the smell of rotten eggs. He called me down and then he went up with a garden rake and fished the snake out of the box, threw it as far back in the woods as he could. It was not happy but it quickly disappeared when I threatened it. The whole thing rattled me pretty good and ever since I've been wary of any kind of platform near a lake in the South.
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[cool][#0000ff]I did some tubing in the marshes and canals down below New Orleans one winter. I only launched my donut during periods of cold weather, when the local "slithergoodies" were dormant. I always knew it was time to put the tube away for awhile when I saw them moccasins sitting up in the bushes along the bank, catching some rays.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Quite a few gators in Big O. too. Not uncommon to have your bobber go under and find that a siz foot gator has munched the big 10" shiner you were soaking for bass. Word of advice, don't "lip" one if you bring it to the boat.[/#0000ff]
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Don't lip the Gator or the Bass??[laugh]
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[cool][#0000ff]I guess I wasn't too clear on that one. Of course I meant the gators. Might apply to water moccasins too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Come to think of it, you should be careful with the "sabre-toothed bass" too. That's what some of the locals down there call the piranas and other "exotics" that have found their way into some of the warm waters of south Florida.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]A bit off the subject, but fishing in the canals down there is like fishing in a tropical aquarium where all the little fishies are on steroids. Lots of giant oscars, Jack Dempseys and different kinds of cichlids that reach several pounds and munch the heck out of all kinds of lures. And, if you find some of those peacock bass...yeeeee hawwww. You can walk some of those canals, chuckin' and windin', and end up catching 10 to 15 different species you have never seen before. Just watch out for the snakes and gators.[/#0000ff]
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I saw the same show. It's too bad that Roland doesn't spend as much time passing on his fishing knowledge as he does pointing out ever single brand named item on his boat, how it works, and why you need to go buy one.
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hey all from florida, just checking in to see how the fishin was in southern utah lately, seems you guys havent had the snow other places in the west have . .
turned the AC on again this morning, hot and humid here in tampa
live 6-10 inch shiners and plastics are favored in okeechobee, just about everywhere else down here too, there always seems to be a new 'hot' color
we camp on a canal next to okeechobee couple times a year, usually dont go to the big lake cause 2-5 lbers tear into your shiners almost all day long, just gotta get em outta the lily pads and green stuff!
save up and get a guide, your almost guaranteed a helluva day on the water . .
sm
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[cool][#0000ff]Hey Tony, good to hear from you again. I thought maybe a gator got ya.[/#0000ff]
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