OKEECHOBEE, Fla. – Lake Okeechobee has been a frequent stop on the professional bass trails for years, and 80 anglers practicing Wednesday and Thursday for the Favorite Fishing Stage Two Presented by Bass Cat have some history here. Many have decades of experience on the lake, and several have cashed six-figure checks here in previous competitions.
But it’s been a few years since most of the anglers have competed on Okeechobee, and as they work their way through their two practice days before the Feb. 21 start of the event, they’ll likely notice some changes on the lake.
Donny Bass (besides having one of the best names in bass fishing), has a wealth of experience on Lake Okeechobee. Bass won the FLW Phoenix Bass Fishing League event in September 2019 on the lake with 40 pounds, 9 ounces on 10 fish, and fishes Okeechobee throughout the year.
Bass offered a preview of the event and what Bass Pro Tour anglers and Major League Fishing fans can expect this week.
According to Bass, the 30- and 40-fish days of Okeechobee lore are now rare, but if things line up with the weather, numerous big bass will still be weighed.
“Most of the tournaments (five-fish formats) are won with weights in the low 20’s,” Bass says, which is low for Okeechobee’s historical standards. “But, if (the Bass Pro Tour anglers) time it right in some areas, they’ll still catch them.”
One factor that may help the fishing for Stage Two is the spawn. Florida bass spawn in parts of several months, and Bass says the most significant wave of Okeechobee spawners has yet to arrive.
“This is the first stable weather we’ve had in months after a winter that had a cold front just about every week,” Bass says. “I saw more beds in November and December than I ever had, but generally, our best spawns are March and April. I think the best spawn is still to come.”
The biggest issue affecting Okeechobee, according to Bass, is the loss of aquatic vegetation.
Bass says that a large percentage of the famed fields of hydrilla and other fish-holding submerged vegetation are gone. Over the past few years, Okeechobee was hit with Hurricane Irma in 2017, and an abundance of vegetation has been removed by water/fisheries managers.
“We haven’t had much hydrilla since 2016, and the peppergrass is gone – the eelgrass is just starting to come back in some areas,” Bass says. “We also lost what I’d estimate to be about 50 percent of the cattails, and the ones that are left seem to be weakened – if you hang up on one with your bait, most just pull right out.”
Not all of the grass is gone, though. Bass reports that the Kissimmee grass is still a player, and the areas on Okeechobee that have eelgrass still hold fish.
Okeechobee has many traditional areas that always draw congregations of both bass and anglers, and Bass says that the broad “North Shore” area will be a popular stretch on the massive lake.
“From Harney Pond to King’s Bar will be a factor,” he predicts. “That’s where the eelgrass is and where I’ve seen most of the bass beds this year. The south end of the lake gets trashed with any north or east wind now, since there’s no submerged vegetation (to break up the waves).”
Bass believes that typical Florida lures like swim jigs, swimming worms, and soft stickbaits will be the best bet to catch fish.
“A swimming worm like the Gambler Burner Worm with a 1/4-ounce weight will be the best for numbers. And, a Senko-style bait is always a player in Florida,” he says.