1/05/05

Lake Okeechobee is one of the most intimidating lakes that tour anglers must figure out.  First you must have a degree in botany, as the lake is the host to many different types of aquatic vegetation, which of course, the bass respond to differently depending on their attitudes.  Second, the lake is one giant bowl, with few really deep water areas or other obvious structures.  Today, FLW Tour winner of the Okeechobee stop in 2004, Ray Sheide will shed some light on how to unlock Okeechobee's secrets.  Note-this same approach will work anywhere you have spawn and pre spawn fish.

"I guess this lake just seems to make sense to me.  The first thing that I am concerned about is the fact that Okeechobee's bass are Florida strain.  Florida strain bass, I have found, are very finicky and will always seek the clearest water available.  We had some storms come through last year, and fish that were in areas that clouded up, simply left those areas.  So finding the clear water, to me, is the first step."

"The next thing to consider is the phase the fish are in.  We fish Okeechobee in January.  There is a five or six month spawning season in Florida, so the fish will certainly be looking to spawn.  Knowing that, I am going to look for clear water, where the fish will be spawning."

"The last factor, and really, the key to my victory last year was knowing where the fish will move to if the weather breaks down.  It's a good bet that during a tournament week, the weather will get nasty at some point.  Often when the water temperature drops, the fish are going to be put off by that and they will leave the spawning areas, until the water returns to a temperature that they want.  In last year's tournament, I decided during pre fish that I would find these areas."

"Every lake has cover or structure like this.  In some lakes, the fish will move to deeper water to find comfort, at Okeechobee, there isn't much of that, so when fish back off, they move up under the thickest cover they can find.  When the weather turned bad last year, I knew the fish had moved up under the floating matts of vegetation.  Getting to those fish is sometimes a challenge, especially when the wind is blowing into your area.  A trick the Florida pros use and something I went to, is the use of tiny little baits and heavy weights. The last couple of days in last year's event, I used a one ounce bullet weight, and a tiny, little, Gambler B.B. Cricket, which is about a three inch crawdad.  The heavy weight allows the bait to fall through the cover, the small bait, doesn't get hung up on weeds and branches.  The bottom line is you have to get the bait through the cover."

"As I said, the lake just seems to make sense  to me.  I was able to find a good group of fish, which is always critical, and I was able to figure out where they would go, if the weather changed."