Photo by Bud Reiter.

There’s no better way to start the New Year than with a day spent tangling with bass. That’s not something anglers in more northerly climes can count on. But here in the Sunshine State, it’s not hard to do. Here’s a quartet of lakes where that’s not only possible, but highly probable!

LAKE OKEECHOBEE
Few lakes anywhere have undergone the rapid changes that this veritable inland sea has experienced recently. Within less than two years, the Big O went from record levels of high water that threatened to collapse the surrounding dikes, down to record low-water levels that virtually dried up the shallow bays, even impeding navigation in dredged shipping channels.

That’s a lot of change. But one thing that didn’t change was the bass fishing.

“We hit record low levels during the summer of 2007,” said Jim Wells of Roland Martin’s Marine Center in Clewiston. “But the bass fishing was still excellent. Local tournaments with a five-fish limit needed 25-plus pounds of bass to win, and my guides fishing shiners would load up with five to six dozen and be out of bait and back on the dock before noon.

“Twenty-plus fish mornings were common, and they were a good grade of fish.”

Wells doesn’t see that changing this month. The big question is just where it will be occurring. That all depends upon how much water the Big O gets this hurricane season.

“With the 9.2 foot water levels we had this summer,” Wells noted, “the hotspots were in deeper open waters. There really wasn’t anywhere you could find enough water to fish any shallow vegetation.”

Among those key open-water areas were the Clewiston Ship Channel, and selected portions of the main reef running through the center of the Big O. Among the hotspots were the Hole In The Wall, McMillen’s Cross, the Ship Channel and Norman’s Channel.

Some of the spoil islands adjacent to the deeper cuts also held fish. Vegetation was in short supply, and this was true open-water angling along channel edges and drops.

Another very productive option, where a number of local tournaments were won, was fishing the Rim Canal along the south end of the lake, from Pahokee to the Old Sportsman’s Village south of Lakeport. Shallow-water vegetation such as maidencane, lily pads, and bulrushes lined many areas of the canal. But one of the most productive patterns was to fish the rock humps adjacent to the mouths of the cuts in the canal that connect it to the main lake.

When it comes to the most effective tactics, these would surprise anglers whose previous experience occurred during years when shallow vegetation was a key target.

“This summer, I sold more Rat-L-Traps than I had in the last five years combined,” Wells pointed out. “Baby Bass, Firetiger, and gold-and-chrome were the colors most in demand.”

Wells also noted that even in open waters, plastic worms continued to produce, with Texas- or Carolina-rigged 10-inch versions in black, black/blue, June-bug or red shad pulling the largest fish.

With schools of shad also confined to the deeper water, surface schooling often took place, and savvy anglers kept handy a rod rigged with a pearl Zara Spook.

That’s what existed with water at the 9.2-foot level, and it’s likely to be the best pattern if water levels stay low. Add more water, however, and things will change.

“If we can bring the water levels up to the 12.5- or 13- foot level,” Wells stated, “January will see a lot of bass leaving the open waters and stacking up along the outer grass and reed lines in about two feet of water. “They won’t be able to get back to the inside, so they have to spawn there and they won’t be hard to find.”

Two or three feet of additional water can make this month’s fishing red-hot. If not, it’ll just be the same solid action we’ve been experiencing.