Lake Okeechobee is a world all on its own. Sprawling out over nearly a half a million acres, it’s the second-largest lake landlocked by the United States alone. Easily visible from space, it’s astonishingly only nine feet deep on average.
With a lake this wide and shallow, the scenery shifts each time the wind blows. And every time a hurricane hammers down on it, the lake changes forever.
This constant barrage of long-term and short-lived variation in conditions means there are lots of variables in play for any angler inquisitive enough to set sail on her. And as we settle in for the start of the 2023 SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Lake Okeechobee, the Big O is as wild and unruly as ever.
Drew Benton, a Georgia boy but barely, hails from just north of the Florida Georgia line and has been competing on Lake Okeechobee for well over a decade now. He’s been at it again during official practice this week so we sat down with him to get the scoop on how the lake is setting up.
“It’s a different Okeechobee than I’ve ever experienced,” said Benton. “I’ve been coming down here since 2009 or 2010. Every year is different, but this is really different. I’ve never seen it this high with this much water, but this little fishable water.”
Okeechobee sat at 15.87 feet above sea level as of February 13th, the midway point of practice. That’s definitely near the top end of the 14- to 16- foot target that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shoots for in the winter.
“The highest I’ve ever fished a tournament here, it was like 13- and 1/2- feet. And it’s right there at 16 right now. Every day I’ve run through a place that I got stuck when it was 13 feet. Like stuck stuck, had to get an airboat to pull me off. You can run it no problem now because it’s three feet deep.”
This rise in the water level would seem to spread the fish, and thus the anglers out more than ever. But Benton stated that the lake is definitely “fishing small” this time around.
One big contributing factor to this is the lack of submerged vegetation like hydrilla. There’s an abundance of eel grass in the water, but very few places have good hydrilla which filters the water best.
Lifelong Clewiston resident Scott Martin commented this week that of the 467,000 acres of water on Okeechobee, only about a thousand of it had good hydrilla.
“You’ve got Tin House, you’ve got the Horse Island area, Moonshine Bay and little places kind of on the shoal as you go down that have a little bit of trap clear water, but that’s all I’ve seen of the lake.”
“Can you believe there’s not a stick of hydrilla in Harley Pond? There’s not a lily pad. There’s not anything. All that on the North Shore doesn’t exist anymore. That’s flat bottom now.”
The shock and dismay of Benton were evident. All these areas that have historically been major players in years past, packed with abundant vegetation and large bass, have been ravaged in recent years by hurricanes.
Submerged vegetation like hydrilla, milfoil and coontail filter out the sediment in the water. The result of little of this type of vegetation means low visibility. Add that to the high water levels, and Benton’s favorite way to catch them, sight fishing, is rendered obsolete this week.
“You won’t be able to see them because it’s just so high. There’s so much water. When I say clear, you can see down to maybe two feet in the clearest places and it might be three feet deep is the shallowest. So you can’t necessarily see the bottom, but it’s clear.”
Outside of these few places that Benton mentioned, the water is definitely not clear. And the sediment in the water is not only decreasing the visibility, it’s even effecting the performance of equipment.
“A lot of guys are having problems when they run through the Monkey Box and North Shore area. Their motors are running hot because there’s so much sediment in the water there.”
Given enough time, the sediment will try to settle to the bottom. But with the constant coming and going of boats through these commonly used lanes and passes, the prop wash and waves are constantly stirring up the sediment. And any wind added on top of that stirs up the whole lake, of which there was plenty on Day 1 of practice.
Sunday was the start of official practice for the Elite Series field, and the winds blew a sustained 20- to 30- miles per hour as a front crawled through the area.
“That was pretty bad. I actually think it might have been stronger than that at times.”
Because Okeechobee is so wide and so flat, a wind tide can actually be generated, where one side of the lake will rise as the other side drops.
Benton couldn’t tell if there was a wind tide on the first day of practice since he hadn’t been on the water recently prior to that day. But he had a story from another time that illustrated just how much wind can play a factor on Lake Okeechobee
“The very first tournament I ever fished here, probably in 2010. I had found them really good in South Bay, back behind the hard line.”
The “hard-line” refers to the first thick line of reeds. This line of vegetation typically provides a good layer of protection from an incoming wind.
“There were some open ponds with scattered lily pads. But it was mostly eel grass and then little patches of pads. And you could go to every patch of them and either pitch a Senko to them or buzz something over them and catch a big one.”
“I was so excited. It was my first tournament ever from the front of the boat. And I was thinking it’s way back in there. I don’t have anything to worry about with the wind.”
Unfortunately for Benton, a massive front moved through overnight. And when he made his way to his starting spot on day one of the event, he experienced the full effect of a wind tide on the Big O.
“It blew super hard all night out of the North and all those pads were under water. So it came up a foot. And it turned into chocolate milk. I’m talking about it was way back in there.”
“So yeah I’ve experienced it. And that’s the reason why I’ve told myself every time I come down here that I’ll practice for every wind and try to find something for every wind.”
Though that old ghost still haunts Benton, practicing for every wind just isn’t a reality anymore, as he stated that many of the old hidey holes are gone now. J&S on the East side is one of the more notable of victims to recent changes in the layout of the lake.
“A lot of the stuff you used to be able to go fish just isn’t there anymore.”
Practicing for every wind to the best of their ability will be more important than ever for the Elite Series anglers this week. Though winds out of the North have pounded the anglers in practice, a change is coming.
The wind is forecasted to blow 10- to 20- miles per hour on any given day, out of the South and South West during the first two days of competition, and then shift to the North and North East on days three and four.
“I think that everything we did these first couple days is going to kind of be irrelevant because the wind is going to turn around and blow out of the opposite directions.”
Benton pointed out that the few productive areas the anglers have been able to fish during the first two days of practice will get “blown out” on the first couple days of the tournament.
“I feel like a guy is going to have to go down to the South end to do well, just because of the direction that it’s going to be blowing. I’ve kind of been waiting to go down there til the last practice day because I feel like I’ve got to go down there to be competitive.”
If an angler can find productive water that’s sheltered from the wind, Benton thinks the productive baits will be of the normal variety for Okeechobee.
“If the conditions were like they were today (bluebird skies, high pressure, post front), a guy could do well flipping. But I think with the more stable conditions we have coming, you’re going to be able to catch them winding something and pitching something.”
Winding baits like lipless crankbaits, vibrating jigs and swimbaits will be players in productive areas. With “plenty of mats” to punch for the occasional big bite.
And though there is a fair amount of wind in the forecast, the South winds will bring warmer air temperatures to the region on Days 1 and 2. Add to that the sunny skies that are forecasted, and Benton believes some fish will be spawning.
“I don’t know that we will get a wave of fish, cause we’re not on a moon. But these fish are kind of funny. They don’t necessarily have to have a moon. I think a warming trend after a cold front is just as strong as a moon down here. It could happen. It’s just where is it going to happen?”
With the ever-changing conditions, Benton believes that there will be several anglers who struggle through practice, but do well during the tournament.
“This is just one of those deals where I feel like a guy that’s going to catch them doesn’t know he’s going to catch them right now. And he might not even know tomorrow (Tuesday, the last day of practice). Because everything is changing so much.”
“You’re either going to have to land on them or just find an area where you got a couple of bites in and it just materializes and gets better. It’s going to definitely be a unique challenge.”
