lake okeechobee spoonplugging

[Bink]

Has anyone ever spoonplugged lake okeechobee? I was down there last year a fished out of a bass boat thinking it was a very shallow lake with little structure. Come to find out that there is a rim canal the surrounds the southern part of the lake that has a lot of deep water with good structure. Im thinking of taking my spoonplugging gear down this year and fishing the rim canal. Any recommendations/info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Bink

[Fran Myers]

Buck actually guided there.
And I know Terry O'Malley has a lot of information on it too.

You are right about the channels. I heard Terry talking about them being the best places to fish. Also I know that the state cleaned out the canals you are talking about with heavy machinery to clear out the muck and stuff, which makes the fishing better.

I wish I could go.

[Bink]

Thanks, thats all I needed to hear. My only concern was a lot of people talk how strange the Florida bass act and was just wondering if anyone ever tried. Ill post some pictures when I get back(mid Jan).

Thanks Again,
Bink

[Fran Myers]

Hello,
It only sounds like I am smacking you down, I am not.

But Spoonplugging has RULED in Florida. Many lakes yielded Frightening catches when others didn't catch anything.

Read the books, follow the guidelines and with some time on the water you should have a good time.

I think you are new and that's great, welcome and bathe in the knowledge

I don't know if you're a member but Chicago has one of the largest Spoonplugging clubs in the country and there are MANY people that you can talk to locally.
Fran

[jwt]

Bink,
The club Fran refers to is the Illinois Spoonplugger Club, which meets at 7:15 pm the second Thursday of each month at the Elk Grove Village Public Library; next meeting 8 Jan 2009. Our annual Winter Seminar will be held at the Elk Grove Village Public Library at 9:00 am on Saturday, March 14, 2009. Here's a link where you'll find lots of information. http://spoonplugger.net/

[Bink]

Thanks for the info guys. Im a life long spoonplugger and have attended a couple club meetings, unfortunately the work schedule has not allowed me to attend or fish as much as I would like. I also wanted to attend the winter meeting the past few years but its has been held the same weekend as the opening of one of my favorite lakes. Being on the 14th this year hopefully I will have the boat prepped and ready Prior to the 14th and will be able to attend the 14th & fish the 15th.


Thanks
Bink

[Jeff Loy]

I just found this discussion from a year ago. Forgive my tardiness. I fished Lake Okeechobee back in November of 1975 on my way back from an animal behavior research trip through the keys and the Everglades. I had brought along my spoonplugging equipment and had my 8 h.p. Chrysler outboard stashed in the trunk to use on any rental boats that I might find. I camped for just one night at the campsite right on the rim canal in Belle Glade (was this owned by Roland Martin? I just can't remember!). With only one day to spend mapping I pushed off from the launch with a 500 behind the boat as I worked my way down the south (steeper) side of the canal towards the cut out into the open lake. With more than 30 feet of depth in the canal I was perplexed as to why absolutely no one was fishing the canal proper but instead were roaring off into the main lake. Working quickly through the first four size spoonplugs without a touch (but, with well defined breaklines at 18' and 23' duly noted) I roared out into the mother load of the open lake with its endless 6' flats. With a 400 working behind me I was blazing full throttle (my small engine could not get the big, old wooden rental skiff up on plain) along the phragmites and sawgrass desperately looking for any feature that I could find. After an hour and a half of this I knew I was not going to map this vast ocean of a lake any time soon, so I humbly turned back into the canal and proceeded to catch a satisfying number of bass from 2 to 5 lbs. all on two very small fingers within view of the campgrounds and launch ramp. Mostly at 23' at high speed on the troll. Few on the cast even with the spoonplug ripping over the finger. Lesson learned. Jeff Loy

[spnplgr]

Jeff, you state that the rim canal had water over 30 feet deep. So you remember exactly how deep it was/ Did you look for deeper holes? If so, how deep was the deepest hole and how large was the hole?

Finally, do you remember what the water color was like in the canal?

Sorry for all the questions, but I am always interested in those Florida waters that are not brown cypress.

[Bink]

Jeff, you state that the rim canal had water over 30 feet deep. So you remember exactly how deep it was/ Did you look for deeper holes? If so, how deep was the deepest hole and how large was the hole?

Finally, do you remember what the water color was like in the canal?

Sorry for all the questions, but I am always interested in those Florida waters that are not brown cypress.

The canal has what I was told were dynamite holes that were over 60 foot deep.
Over the past decade the lake has been hit by a number of hurricanes that caused alot of damage to the canal structure and it has lost a lot of water.
We were fortunate enough to fish during a massive cold front with the water temp dropping close to 30 degrees in 3 days, Needles to say we did not catch a fish. With that being said we mapped a couple deeper holes and bars that I'm suer would produce under decent weather conditions. The water did have a slight drown tint to it.

[spnplgr]

Man, I hate that brown cypress water and would not drive 5 miles to fish it.

Before I learned about Spoonplugging, I fished a lot of brown cypress water with spotty to poor results. Once I read the Green Book, I never once ventured back to any of those waters. If that were the only water color available to me, I would become a night fisherman, if I fished at all.

[floridaboy]

SEEMS LIKE YOU GUYS ARE HAVING A HARD TIME WITH THAT CYPRESS COLORED WATER...99% OF MY FISHING IS DONE IN THIS TYPE WATER HERE IN FLORIDA...THE LIGHT DOESN'T PENETRATE AS FAR AS YOU THINK IT DOES...JUST JUMP IN ONE OF THOSE LAKES AND SEE FOR YOUR SELF...DOWN ABOUT TWO FEET THE SUNLIGHT IS GONE...I WILL ADMIT THAT THESE LAKES ARE HARD TO GET A HANDLE ON BUT, FIRST LIGHT AND LAST LIGHT OF THE DAY CAN BE DYNAMITE...CLOUDY DAYS AND YOU MAKE SURE YOU ARE THERE FROM 10 TILL 2... I HAVE JUST STARTED TO STUDY THE MUCK LINE...MOST OF THESE LAKES HAVE A MUCK LINE...I AM FINDING OUT THAT YES THE FISH DO HUG THE EDGE OF IT...IN SOME OF THE FLAT SAUCER LAKES WE HAVE HERE, THAT IS THE ONLY "STRUCTURE" IN THE LAKE...FRAN CONVINCED ME OF IT AND I AM NOW LEARNING WHY I USED TO CATCH A NICE BASS JUST MOVING ACROSS THE LAKE TROLLING A SPOONPLUG...I AM STARTING TO CHECK SOME OF THOSE "STRAGGLER" SPOTS OUT AND FINDING THAT THERE IS NO DEPTH CHANGE...IT IS A MUCK LINE AND YES IT WILL HOLD FISH...ONLY PROBLEM WITH IT IS THAT IT SEEMS TO MOVE WHEN YOU THINK YOU HAVE FOUND A HOTSPOT...JUST WANTED TO THROW A LITTLE IN THERE TONIGHT...WHEN IN DOUBT, SET THE HOOK.....RAY

[spnplgr]

Ray, you may not be aware that Mr. Perry officially changed the water color chart before he became incapacitated. He declared brown cypress to be the worst water color instead of clear water. He did not do that without a reason.

Although I never did see it in print, I did hear the words from his own mouth when he said he intended to make the change. I have been told that the informatin was published in Fishing Facts magazine before it went out of business. A long time, trusted Spoonplugger told me he saw the notification in the magazine.

If you want to take advantage of the best that Florida has to offer, I advise you to search out some of that yellow green water that exists in a few Florida lakes and give it a shot. You'll be pleasantly surprised. Good water color in Florida is not abundant and you may find it is too far away for you to fish fequently, but you should look for it.

Good fishing

[John Bales]

Mr. Perry has always said that cyprus water was a worse condition than the clearer waters. The real problem in the Florida lakes is that they are not deep enough to offset a bad weather condition. The fish have no choice but to bury their heads in the muck and get extremely dormant. If there were a 35 or 40 foot hole in the lake you and I(if we were good enough) could use wire line and fish deeper and we could catch these fish because they would be ok with those depths available.
Without the deep water you will have to wait a few days for those fish to recouperate from that condition. Thats just the way it is. John PS....... And yes the yellow green water is what you need to be looking for.

[floridaboy]

OH, I AGREE TOTALLY ABOUT THE WATER COLOR...THE PROBLEM DOWN HERE IS WE HAVE TEA COLORED AND THEN WE HAVE CRYSTAL CLEAR...I HAVE FOUND A FEW YELLOW GREEN LAKES BUT THEY ARE ALWAYS WAY OUT OF THE WAY FOR ME...I FOUND A BARROW PIT THAT HAD THE WATER COLOR YOU TALK ABOUT ONE TIME AND FISHED IT OVER AND OVER...NEVER GOT A STRIKE...THEN I REALIZED THAT I REALLY DIDN'T SEE ANY SIGNS OF LIFE ANYWHERE...GOT TO TALKING A ROUND AND FOUND OUT THAT THEY HAD POISONED THE LAKE OUT AND THERE WASN'T SO MUCH AS A TADPOLE IN IT...HAVEN'T BEEN BACK SINCE...WE HAVE JUST LEARNED TO DEAL WITH THE TEA COLORED WATER...YES IT'S TRUE YOU SOMETIMES HAVE TO JUST WAIT FOR THE CONDITIONS TO BE RIGHT...AT MY LAKE THE WATER LOOKS JUST LIKE A CUP OF FRESH BREWED TEA...WHEN THE CONDITIONS ARE BAD IT IS REAL BAD...I DECIDED NOT TO GO TODAY AND BOY I THINK I MADE A MISTAKE...THE WIND FINALLY LET UP, IT'S OVERCAST AND THE PRESSURE IS DROPPING...SHOULD BE ON THE LAKE I GUESS...I AM OPEN FOR ALL SUGGESTIONS ON MASTERING THIS BIG CUP OF TEA WE SEEM TO HAVE DOWN HERE IN FLORIDA...MOST OF OUR POPULAR LAKES ARE SPILLOVERS FROM THE ST. JOHNS RIVER...AND EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT COLOR IT IS...MAYBE SOMEDAY I CAN HOOK UP WITH SOMEONE DOWN HERE THAT IS A SEASONED SPOONPLUGGER AND GET ME ON THE RIGHT TRACK... I AM JUST DYING TO GET INTO ONE OF THOSE SITUATIONS WHERE YOU NAIL A 4 POUNDER ON EVERY PASS...MY SON DID JUST THAT CASTING ONE SPOT AT OUR LAKE ABOUT THREE YEARS AGO...IT IS A POINT WITH A CANAL THAT DRAINS THERE AFTER BIG RAINS...HE CAUGHT 35 BASS 3,4, AND FIVE POUNDS AND NEVER MOVED AN INCH...THAT IS THE FISH I AM LOOKING FOR BECAUSE I KNOW THEY ARE THERE BECAUSE HE TURNED THEM LOOSE....I KNOW MOST OF YOU GUYS ARE UP NORTH, SO, STAY WARM....RAY

[david powell]

You state that you son got into a school of big bass.I have to wonder why this has not been productive since that time.Once a good structure situation has been found,it should produce for again at certain times and conditions. Unless nature has done somthing to it,so as the bass no longer use it.But this, you should be able to look it over good and make that decision. I'm in n.c. and my structure situations produce year after year.Usually how many and how big the bass I catch, is totally dependent on the water and weather conditions at the time I'm on the lake.