Wanting to start off the new year with a bass fishing experience, I scheduled a two week trip to get the guys together and hammer some large lips.
I scheduled the time around the new moon hoping the big girls would be on the prowl.
We definitely had our highs and lows and as Nancy said when I got back last night, "that was a Yin Yang trip.
So here goes the report.
We scheduled two weeks at the Big O knowing that some weather would come in and we wouldn't be able to fish, but to our surprise we got to fish 10 days in a row under sunny to partly cloudy skies and 80 degree temps.
The wind blew steadily out of the SE for every day that we were there.
This kept the north end of the lake a little muddy and the protected east and south side had cleaner water if you kept looking, which we did and were able to find.
After checking in to our place in Buckhead Ridge, Doug, Wally and I put in at the Scott Driver boat ramp. This is a great ramp with nice facilities. The city of Okeechobee should be very proud of this park.
We fished the mouth of the Kissimmee River as it empties into the Big O. After a few minutes of casting Wally quickly caught a nice 3 lb. fish on a spinnerbait.
Then Doug got going with another nice fish.
They caught four on the first evening to get the trip started.
Day two, began with more searching of the same and looking for good clean water. We searched around but we couldn't get on a good bite, a few small fish but nothing to write home about.
Wally got day 3 going well with a nice early morning fish again over at the mouth of the Kissimee.
He said "send that one to Mom" meaning Doug's/Bill's Mom, since she had ragged on him for not smiling with his big fish on Tuesday.
The FLW Everstart tournament was due to start on Thursday and the pros were practicing. We knew we were in some of the good places since Randall Tharpe's Everstart boat kept showing up near us. In fact he put on a show for us as he fished along side of us and caught two nice fish and missed a couple while we watched in envy without a bite. He was pretty much a vacuum cleaner while he flipped a jig tipped with a trailer.
Nick drove down from Ball Ground and got in around 2PM. Not tired a bit from the 10 hour drive I jumped in his Ranger and we went to the west side of the Kissimee River and he quickly got going.
He tied on Mikey Sr. and I tied on Mikey Jr. to try and bring up a big one in the sparse grass and relive some Lanier style moments. That worked too!
The water being off color on the North end had us pondering what to do over a few brews and enchiladas supplied by Noelle. We decided to head down to the south end and put in at Slim's fish camp and sample some of the fishing in that area. Last year Nick and his Dad, Larry did real well in the loose reeds down there.
This quickly turned in to a great idea as the early morning bite was on.
Nick and I banged a few nice fish on Mikey Jr. and the swimming zoom worm when Doug started easing towards us with a sh&# eating smile and asking "do you have a camera"?
Wally brought out a big head that had already spawned, he caught it on a Zoom Toad out off one of the reed patches. It weighed 5 1/2 lbs. but looked like a 8 pounder.
They headed off out to the front of the bay as the wind picked up.
We poked our way back into the reeds and caught a few flipping and watched a fellow net shiners.
He worked hard for his money throwing a ten foot net and pulling in about 4 keeper shiners and a bushel of grass each throw. Nick and I left him knowing why shiners cost $21 a dozen. He did give us a tip to fish the Kissimee grass to the south and east. We set off and found some of it later in the evening. This spot was clear and easy to fish if you were throwing something that would stay on top, and we managed a few nice fish on toads and swimming baits. It was also out of the wind. Later in the trip this turned out to be a great spot to fish.
Doug took Wally back to Orlando to catch a plane Friday as he was looking forward to the ice fishing and snow shoveling up north.
Nick and I went back to the south end and experienced some of the Yin of the trip, we only caught 5 fish all day, and we went from daylight to dark.
We got back to the house and had been monitoring the FLW Everstart tournament and decided we would go to the mouth of the river and see which way the leaders were traveling the next day. They had cut to the top 20 boats, and as we were watching only a couple went west, everyone else headed east toward J&S and Chauncey Bay.
So off we went with more Yin to follow.
We had fished our way through the reeds and had caught a few schooling fish at the edge of the reed line where it merged with eel grass and hydrilla.
We finally made it into a nice bay where the water was clear and beds were seen.
Nick got a bite and set the hook. Everyone that fishes with Nick know he SETS THE HOOK. Well, he didn't get this one to set into the fish's lips and as I was watching the 3/8 oz. weight and hook came screaming my way, crashed in to my Costa Del Mars and dropped my like a rock.
I couldn't see and glass was in my eye and cutting me up pretty good. Nick and Doug took care of me the best they could and poured water into my eye to try and clear out as much glass as possible. The pain finally subsided enough and my vision had returned enough that we decided to make the run back to the ramp and get the emergency room in Okeechobee.
Nick said his boat ran well and his Lowrance drew a nice straight line to follow back to the river mouth and at 65 MPH we were there and at the hospital about 45 minutes after the glass hit the deck.
The doc pulled two big chunks of glass out of my eye and gave me some antibiotic drops and said to get polycarbonate lens next time. Good advice. To everyone out there, sell your glass Costas and get polys, here is why:
Well after getting that out of my system, I figured I could get a little Yang in my life. Sunday came and the eye was working so we decide to put in at Scott Driver ramp and head back to Chauncey Bay.
We worked our way back to One Eye Cove as we now called it and we caught fish along the way. This was my best day of the trip. The fish were eating the water melon red Zoom swimming worm and the Watermelon red Senko for me and Doug and Nick were nailing them with toads.
One of my last fish got a big kiss since I was very happy that my eye had weathered the storm.
The wind had picked up later in the day and where we were fishing back in the reeds, we didn't notice how strong it had become. As we got to the big water we realized that this was gonna be a tough long dark ride back as the ways were rolling in from the south east. That meant a following sea and nothing can be done but ride the surf all the way back. Eleven miles worth.
We arrived knowing we had another Yin moment, soaking wet, cold, and happy to be on dry land.
Yin didn't want to leave us though. We had decided to head back to Chauncy bay the next day, but this time we wised up and decided to put in at the Henry Creek ramp and lock into the lake, avoiding the long run in potentially rough seas, as the wind was going to blow from the southeast again.
We loaded up and headed to the gas station and somehow a gremlin locked the truck.....keys inside as we pumped gas. Nice. All the you tube video and parking lot advice couldn't get us into the truck. Finally, giving up, a lock smith arrived and gained access to the truck and off we went again.
Yang was waiting for us today as the bigger fish bit.
Doug and Nick were banging them good as we headed into the hayfields of Chauncy again.
The better fish were on the move in the boat lanes that morning.
Suddenly I heard Nick and Doug do a "Holy Sh*%!" and I looked to see two monster fish on the beds.
Doug said if only he had a white GitZit, which I quickly told him I had one and he tied it on. A few minutes later he said "There he is!" And Doug's biggest bass he had ever caught came aboard, a nice 6 lber.
This picture gives you an idea on how large these southern bass' heads are as the gitzit is dwarfed in his big ol' head.
While we were taking pictures of the fish, Nick was preparing to go after the bigger fish. Here he is on point as Doug coached him on. This picture could be on any fishing mag, or Florida vacation site soliciting fishing in Florida. The water here is crystal clear and you are actually looking right at a 8 lb. bass. It will crank you tractor.
Hookset!!
And Doug scrambling.
I didn't get the next picture since it was filled with a bunch of words not printable as this pig got quick released.
Nick worked her a few more minutes, and we even came back later and she never did get back on the bed.
We got a little more Yin action as we headed south to look at new water as the evening came on. We headed up a lead for a few miles only to have it dead end into the swamp, boat lodged in willow trees and the overheating beeper going off because the motor is packed with debris from the shallow water. After some skilled boat handling and perilous walking on his PowerPoles Nick got us going again.
Take a look a these short videos and you can see how you run the Big O. Also, you can see that if one of the leads dead ends, that aren't many places to turn around.
I called and got an opthamologist appointment up in Tallahassee for Thursday, so Wednesday was gonna be Doug and me's last day on the Big O.
After very little discussion on where to go, we went back to Slim's on the southside looking for some action in the hayfields and reeds.
Yang was back with us this day.
We were greeted at Slim's by Harry this black crowned egret. Slim Jr. says he shows up every year on November 1. He has one of his kids with him, Harry Jr. but he was camera shy.
Harry gets to eat dead shiners they cull from the tank.
This was the best fish catching day of the trip as Nick and Doug put on a show, Nick blasted over 40 fish and Doug had around 25. The old one eyed guy hiding in the back of the boat started out strong with five nice fish but only ended up with 9.
I caught this one on the outside of the reeds. As the bite slowed we asked Doug if he would like to venture to the hayfields inside and he said yep. Being the cloudiest day we thought the fish may be on the move during the day. We weren't mistaken as the boat trails and a few feet from the trails yielded nice largemouths slamming the Ribbit Obama frogs and Big EZ's and Skinny Dippers. It sounded like someone was dropping bricks in the water as these fish continued bashing the topwater lures quickly retrieved on top of the hay.
This is what the bottom of your Ranger looks like after a day of fishing the hayfields at the Big O. They should have a recycle bin for plastic lures at the ramp. Someone could make a little money turning them back into some other plastic tool.
A little Yin had to hit one more time as I was hoping for one more big fish.
I threw a Big Dipper way back in the brush and was greeted with the splash of a bass inhaling the plastic swimbait. I set the hook and my Daiwa rod shattered in three places, but Yang won as I boated the fish and 5 pounds of weed on the stubby 4 foot piece of my rod.
The sun went down on a great fishing trip, one to be remembered in the coming years as the Yin/Yang trip.
A great time was had by me as I spent time with my two best buds, Doug and Nick.
