Did You Know? Morgan’s Okeechobee History, “Cowtown” and the Florida Skunk Ape

OKEECHOBEE, Fla. – Lake Okeechobee has been well-known around the world for years as one of the most famous trophy bass lakes in the country. But in addition to its fishing pedigree, did you know…

Morgan’s Career Kick-Starter Memories

MLF pro and 2019 Stage Four Champion Andy Morgan has had an impressive career with numerous titles, but the Tennessee pro says that it all started to become a reality in 2003 when he won an FLW Series event on Lake Okeechobee.

“It gave me the shot to go ahead and pull the trigger on being a professional bass fisherman for a living,” Morgan said.

Morgan had competed in FLW tournaments since the mid-1990s but hadn’t fully committed to being a full-time pro. He remembers there was a pretty hefty entry fee for the Series event on Okeechobee, but the payout was around $50,000.

“The last day is when I really started to catch them and started to think I could actually have a chance to win, and that I’m going to have some jingle in my pocket when I get done with this one,” laughed Morgan.

After the tournament, Morgan was faced with the decision to either be conservative and still work when he could to supplement his income, or to attack this new profession head-on. But there was a lot to consider.

“Keylee (Morgan’s daughter) was a newborn, and my wife, Missy, was a nurse,” Morgan says. “We didn’t have money really, and we were just making it day-to-day. So it was a pretty big deal for us and for me to just go ‘Okay, this is it, this is my shot and I have to make it work.’”

Anyone who knows anything about bass fishing is aware that Morgan “made it work.” He’s a three-time FLW Angler of the Year and is tied for most-ever Top 10s in FLW history. Morgan took the inaugural season of the Bass Pro Tour by storm by winning Stage Four on his home lake, Lake Chickamauga.

Now, headed back to the lake that helped solidify his career, Morgan is grateful and excited to get back onto Okeechobee

“It seems a little tastier to get to go down here now, when I’m at the level I am now fishing in MLF, I get to go back to where it really started,” Morgan said.

Welcome to “Cowtown”

As you drive through Okeechobee County, you’ll notice that agriculture plays a big part in this area as well.

“The area is very based in agriculture and that’s a lot of the roots, even though fishing has always been a huge part of our history,” Sharie Turgeon, the Okeechobee County Tourism Coordinator, explained.

Okeechobee was originally formed for commercial fishing, but the land surrounding the water made it ideal for raising cattle: there was plenty of healthy grass and Okeechobee County is one of the least populated areas in Florida.

In fact, Okeechobee is the highest-producing county in Florida for cattle and even holds the nickname “Cowtown” because the number of cattle cars outnumber the number of people.

“In the 2012 USDA Agriculture Census, there were 185,000 head of cattle and only 39,000 people,” Turgeon said.

Myth or Legend?

From the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland to “Champ,” Lake Champlain’s version of Nessie, tales of mythical creatures and legendary monsters exist in lakes around the world. Lake Okeechobee is no different.

As MLF pros practice for the Bass Pro Tour Favorite Fishing Stage Two Presented by Bass Cat, they should know that Lake Okeechobee has a legend of its own called “The Okeechobee Ogre” (also known as “The Florida Skunk Ape”).

Over several decades, Floridians have reported sightings of this large hairy creature roughly 7 to 8 feet tall that carries an awful stench. Said to be a relative of Bigfoot, the Skunk Ape has been sighted both on land and in the water at various places in the Everglades, including around Okeechobee.

Sightings and stories of the creature became such a hit in the late 1990s that it was given the nickname “Okeechobee Ogre.” Locals sold memorabilia, guides took visitors on Skunk Ape tours, and someone even set up an Ogre webcam.

Turgeon says she has heard all different kinds of stories surrounding the subject.

“It’s definitely a myth,” Turgeon laughed. “There are no unknowns in the lake other than some interesting hybrid-types of fish.”