The water in Lake Okeechobee is cooling nearly 10 degrees in the past month, as the water level has steadily risen to 15.6 ft. The hours of daylight for fishing are getting shorter each day as we approach fall. A percentage of Okeechobee's bass relate heavily to the open lake once they are done spawning, while others never leave the littoral zones and the generous cover they provide. All of the above are factors in the movement of Okeechobee's huge bass population as they move toward the shallow shoreline cover, where they are in pre-spawn mode, feeding voraciously. Once the bass contact shoreline cover they will follow it until they find a food source such as shiner or shad. Many times an area where 3 to 5 different kinds of native vegetation merge will create a hotspot, where wave after wave of bass will move in and feed heavily while in their pre-spawn mode. This process will happen again and again throughout the fall, winter and spring, dependent on the water temperature and moon cycles.



Mid-October, November and December are often the time of year when the single largest bass of the year are caught, not to mention the large number of bass caught per trip. It's prime time to fish with live wild golden shiners. The sheer excitement of watching your bait as a hungry bass chases your shiner before inhaling it is unmatched, the energy generated by the strike of a bass on a wild shiner is thrilling. Bass are incredibly perceptive and are aware of what's happening in their environment so it makes sense that a wild shiner which is indigenous to the Okeechobee lake's environment, is the preferred food of bass, particularly big bass!


Artificial bait anglers are finding bass using spinner baits, swim jigs, and flipping jigs with a creature bait trailer. Bass can be caught daily on these artificial offerings, however it is easier to feed the fish, than to fool the fish. Which makes a live shiner swimming under a cork, the perfect combination. Bass can still be found roaming the outer edges of Kissimmee Grass chasing shad/shiners during the early morning hours. With the water level edging higher there will be a number of bass that will move further into the marshy areas of the lake, which can present an obstacle to finding bass quickly.

Pan fishing, whether for specks or blue gill is just okay, but with the arrival of cooler water the bite will pick up. Night anglers will be the first to find specks, and more than likely it will be in the Kissimmee River, jigs and minnows both will work, however one will always outperform the other, so switch your tactics for optimum catching.