The first week of September on the Big O is a heat-and-patience week. The water is warm and high, the bass are feeding in the first two hours of light and again at dusk, and the bluegill are still bedding on the hard-bottom edges. The fall shift is a few weeks out, but the anglers who know the lake are finding fish on the outside edges and the moving water.
What’s Hitting
What’s hitting this week: largemouth bass on the outside reed and Kissimmee grass edges at first light, with topwater and swim jigs drawing the strikes. Once the sun is up, the fish slide into the hydrilla and the thicker mats where flipping and punching is the play. Bluegill are on the beds along the hard-bottom shorelines and the canal edges, and shellcracker are mixed in. A few early speckled perch (crappie) are being caught in the deeper canals in the evenings, which is a couple of weeks ahead of the usual start. Catfish are steady in the rim canal.
Where to Find Them
The outside reed lines and grass edges around the Monkey Box, Observation Shoal, and the Harney Pond area on the west side, and the reed edges from Clewiston to the Kissimmee River mouth. Hydrilla and mats in the Moonshine Bay and Uncle Joe’s areas. Bluegill along the shell and hard bottom near Okeechobee city and in the canals at Clewiston and Belle Glade. Crappie in the deeper canals at Harney Pond and the Kissimmee River mouth.
Tides & Conditions
Water temps are in the upper 80s and the lake is high for the season, with the water pushed back into the reeds. The bite is concentrated in the low light and on the days with a bit of wind and cloud cover. Afternoon storms build over the lake nearly every day. Any tropical system in the Gulf or Atlantic will change lake levels and the discharge schedule — check the Army Corps of Engineers updates.
Tackle & Tactics
At dawn, a walking topwater, a buzzbait, or a swim jig along the reed edges. Once the sun is up, flip a heavy jig or punch a creature bait through the hydrilla mats on braided line. Wild shiners under a float on the outside edges are the reliable big-fish bait. Bluegill take crickets, red worms, or a small popping bug on the beds. Crappie take a minnow or a small jig in the canals.
Local Intel This Week
Public ramps: the Clewiston Roland Martin’s area and the Clewiston public ramp, the Okee-Tantie Recreation Area ramp at the Kissimmee River mouth, the Harney Pond Canal ramp at Lakeport, and the Belle Glade Torry Island ramp. Fish are concentrating on the outside edges in the low light and in the mats through the middle of the day. Florida largemouth bass rules include a slot and a bag limit, and Lake Okeechobee has its own black crappie rules — check current FWC regulations before keeping fish.
This Week’s Tip
On the Big O in September, the bass are on the outside edge where the reeds meet open water, not back in the middle of the vegetation. Run the edge with a swim jig or a topwater and cover water — a mile of edge will show you where the fish are concentrated.
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