This is Artificial Lure with your Lake Okeechobee fishing report.
Big O is waking up nice for a winter pattern. Cool mornings in the upper 50s, afternoons pushing upper 70s with a light northeast breeze and mostly clear skies. Local forecasts around Clewiston and Okeechobee City are calling for stable high pressure, so expect bright sun and a slow warmup as the day goes on. Sunrise is right around 7:00 a.m., sunset close to 5:30 p.m., giving you a tight mid‑day feeding window once that shallow grass warms.
Being a lake, Okeechobee doesn’t run true tides, but if you watch the Palm Beach tide and solunar charts, we’re in a decent activity phase late morning through mid‑afternoon as the moon and sun lines overlap. That’s been matching what we’re seeing: slow at first light, then a solid push of bites late morning when the pads and hayfields warm up.
Bass fishing has been good, not crazy. Most local guides are reporting 15–30 fish mornings with a few big girls each trip, best fish in the 6–8 pound class, plus plenty of 2–4 pounders. Live wild shiners around outside reed lines are still king for numbers and size. Artificial guys are catching them on moving baits early and slowing down mid‑day.
According to recent Major League Fishing coverage from the Toyota Series stop on Okeechobee, the staples right now are Gambler Fat Aces, Boxer Craws, and walking frogs fished in and around cattails, round reeds, and joint grass, with a ChatterBait JackHammer as a cleanup bait when the wind gets up. They also highlighted flipping buggy whips on the shoal and cranking shellbeds off the river with shad‑style crankbaits and Carolina rigs, so those offshore spots are absolutely in play.
For lures, think classic Florida:
- **Morning:** lipless crank or ChatterBait in gold/black or shad, slow‑rolled over submerged grass; black walking frog in the thicker stuff.
- **Late morning to afternoon:** flipping a black‑and‑blue creature or Bruiser‑style worm with a 3/8–3/4 oz weight into holes in the cattails and joint grass.
- **Finesse backup:** weightless or lightly‑weighted stick worm in watermelon red or junebug around the outside edges when they get picky.
Best bait for trophy hunters remains a frisky wild shiner under a float, 2–3 feet down, slow‑trolled along grass lines and reed points.
Crappie (specks) are chewing too. Locals are putting nice slabs in the box long‑lining jigs and minnows in the Kissimmee River and along the north end grass, with limits coming on bright jigs tipped with minnows just off the bottom. Bluegill are more of a by‑catch right now, but crickets and red worms around bullrush clumps will still get you a mess.
Couple of hot spots to circle:
- **Monkey Box / West Wall:** protected water, mix of pads, joint grass, and cattails; good for frog and flipping fish with a chance at a true giant.
- **South Bay:** still a community hole, but those slightly deeper inside cuts keep reloading. Work the cleaner water pockets with a swim jig early, then flip the thicker stuff once the sun’s high.
Focus on cleaner water, subtle outside points, and any mix of cattail with that stringy joint grass. If you see bait flicking and birds working, slow down; the bass aren’t far.
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