The fishing continues to be a little tough as the bass are moving around chasing bait and looking for a new home in the water covered grass we have so much of now on Lake Okeechobee. With so many areas available for the bass to be in now the fishing is a guessing game to locate and then catch them. Some of the bass are hanging out on the outside grass line especially when the wind is pushing bait up against it and others are back in the grass so far you can hardly get to them. There seems to be no rime or reason to why or where you will find bass except for the few we are finding on beds getting ready to spawn on this full moon.
Bass are being caught from Indian Prairie Canal area to Kramer Island and everywhere in between. But I'm not saying that you can go catch bass anywhere I'm just saying that these bass are in these areas scattered out and tough to find. Some of the areas that my clients and I have been catching bass in are Long Point, East Wall, Ritta Island, and the West Wall. These areas depend a lot on how the wind blows as to whether you can fish the outside and the water is not to dirty or if you need to move back in the grass and fish. These fish are scattered everywhere from the rim canal hard line out to the outside grass line, I like to look for larger open water holes back in the grass or where there is something different like maybe a clump of different grass or where different kinds of grass meet. Clean water seems to be another factor to look for, the bass that are back in getting ready to spawn have there beds made back in the clear water. When I talk about bass spawning this time of the year it is not a major spawn by any means it is just a few bass moving into an area to spawn.
One of the key things now seem to be able to fish back in the grass and not run the trolling motor to much as the bass that are back in the grass are spooky and if there are to many boats in one area running trolling motors the bass just disappear. We are now starting to get some trails back in the grass so everyone is not just running around everywhere so it will become easier to fish some of these areas without someone blasting through the grass and spooking these bass. I set my 101 Minn Kota trolling motor on the lowest power setting I can and still get through the grass. I can hear guys all around me fishing with the trolling motor on high just making all kinds of noise and for now these bass can't take this and just move on to new areas. If you do end up making a lot of noise getting back into an area that you want to fish just drink a water or eat a sandwich and give these bass a minute or two to move back in where you are at.
Bait selection the past few weeks has been anything from 10" worms to small topwater lures. I have been throwing a Gambler Flappin Shad a good bit and having pretty good success along with a 10" Lake Fork worm that has a ribbon tail. I have also been catching a few bass on topwater lures when you see them chasing bait around. The 3.25" Rip Roller made by HighRoller Lures(www.highrollerlures.com) has been my choice in bone color, this lure is made of wood and floats and works through the water better than plastic lures. The frog bite has slowed down some but I'm still catching a few and the ones that you do catch on a frog are usually bigger fish. Fishing with wild shiners has also picked up some but this again is in accordance to the wind, if it is calm out and no wind the fishing seems to be slow but as the wind blows harder the shiner fishing picks up.
In tournament news the Xtreme Bass Series held their team championship last weekend out of Clewiston and it took over thirty eight pounds in ten fish over two days to win the tournament. Team Camp Mack, JW Watkins and Wayne Yohn took the first place prize of a Ranger Boat Evinrude motor package valued at $40,000.00. I was really impressed with Xtreme Bass Series tournament (www.xtremefishingseries.com ) it was a very professional run from start to finish, looking forward to fish with them next year.