Headed to Okeechobee

Going down next week for first time, staying at Roland Martin’s place. Any suggestions of what to expect. I am flying so taking rods is limited. Have a guide booked for two days.

It's past mid April, so dress for hot weather with long sleeves. It will likely be hotter and more humid than you are prepared for. You WILL burn more easily there due to the significant latitude difference. Take some good sunscreen, wear face gaiter, etc. Don't forget sunglasses for shallow grassy fishing, likely what you will be doing mostly. It would be nice to take a flipping rod. Okee was my home lake for 20 years. Most of the time I was swimming a worm (a popular technique there) or flipping a plastic craw. Gambler is a Florida based brand you'll see in the tackle stores there; try them.

Thanks

Bring lots of $.
They upsold me on everything when I hired them few years back.

20$ for a dozen shiners... and they practically force that on you.
I bought 2 dozen just in case for myself and my brother as when I told the guide that we were planning on fishing artificial his reaction was the bite was really tough and they don't recommend that. I also let them know way in advance (weeks) that both my brother and I will be needing gear and use left handed reels.
When stepping on the boat it was missed, and they had to find us 2 last minute.

We ended up catching about 12 in half a day (2 of us), nothing huge. The guide then proceeded to take the leftover shiners that we never used and took them back into the shop and into the tank.
When i went up to the counter to settle my bill, they then proceeded to charge me for both those bags of Shiners and I had to file a complaint to get that removed.

To be honest, I was never fond of the Martin's to begin with... Scott is a selling machine, and pushes sponsors down your throat every chance he gets. I got the same feeling using his dad's guide service. Lesson learned.

Wishing you best of luck and tons of fun on your trip regardless.

A guide on Okeechobee is worthless if your looking to actually bass fish. dandeeks is right, you will spend tons of money of bait only to go out and sit in one spot waiting for a fish to swim by and eat it. there will be another dozen shiner boats with you so be ready for that. Hopefully your "guide" isn't one of the ones who is going to force you to watch a bobber all day! I don't even understand how they call themselves guides. If you rent a boat then head over to uncle joes cut area and throw a Big EZ or Mag Trick worm over top of the Kissimmee grass and pencil reeds.

Fishing for giants is better on Headwaters. I don't go there much but if your coming down for a chance at a mega bag then i would recommend headwaters. Yoan Alverez, Bryan Honnerlaw, Garret Rocamora, & Tyler Woolcott are 4 guides that will take you actual bass fishing!

I would have to disagree with the two previous posts. I have been down there a few times and all have been great. You have to tell them you want to fish artificial baits only. I tell them I want to pitch the grass beds, if that is what you want to do. I speak to the guide before I travel and make a game plan. The only trip that was a stinker and I knew it was going to be tough before I got there. They had a huge algae bloom and it effected the fishing, but we still caught some good fish.

sounds like your saying the same thing. If you dont want to shiner fish then you have to explain to them that you refuse to shiner fish! Its not just Okeechobee. The majority of "guides" in Florida use shiners because it is easy. Trust me, there are a ton of shiner guides here and they refuse to actually take you bass fishing!. I hate it!!!

In that area you might expect to eat some good Catfish and Hushpuppies. Last time I fished Okeechobee was on a regular basis and shiners sold for $1.00 a dozen. Covered moorage for my brothers boat cost $75.00 per year. Early mornings I threw a red and white Zara Spook. During daylight my brother fished a 12" blue CREMES Hawghunter weedless worm but I preferred the 8" in purple. Back then at night a black Jitterbug was all anyone needed. Our only problem was getting off the dock because other fishermen wanted to see my brothers NEW outboard engine tilt up and down with the push of a button. How things have changed in 50 years! Only wished I had bought some of that $50 and acre land. Congrats on your retirement and good luck on your trip to Florida. A 7' 3" or 7' 6" stick in 6 power might come in handy.

We went last month and had a great time staying at Roland's place. Our guide bailed out on us because of the weather. We went solo for three days and the fishing sucked. We drove 44 hours there and back, even loaded the boat up at Lake Ivie and left the best lake in the nation to go there...LOL!! They killed all the grass and everything looks the same. Good Luck!! You will love the Tiki Bar tho.

Last time I was in Florida I fished the Kissimmee chain with a guide and did insist that we fish artificial. We had a really good day but we had to work for them. When I set up the trip I just made sure he understood I was a fisherman and understood that it is fishing and I understood our success with artificials was whatever we made of it. I have shiner fished before down there though and would not hesitate to do it again. It is different than what we are used to and does cost more for the bait but it is an absolute hoot imo! When in Rome...

I will add that I called ahead 2 weeks in advance to remind them of my booking, and the need for left handed reels... that they still forgot and could only supply ONE for each of us on a day that that the Client (ME) has requested to fish artificial. Professional guiding... fully outfitted... and all I had was ONE setup. And then they charged me for unused bait fish (returned after having to file a complaint), that they re-used... come on now. It doesn't take a genius...