Artificial Lure here with your Lake Okeechobee fishing report for August 17, 2025. Anglers rolling out before dawn caught the sunrise right at 6:46 this morning, with plenty of daylight stretching until sunset at 8:05 tonight. Cloud cover and a light southerly breeze have kept things comfortable out on the water, and temps started in the mid-70s, climbing fast into the high 80s by midday. Light chop and mild currents dominated, with a low tidal coefficient—translating to not much tide swing and pretty stationary water, so location and presentation made the difference today, especially as that midday sun got high.

Bass action is still solid, especially early and late in the day. According to Dagon Fishing, Lake Okeechobee remains one of the state’s premier destinations for freshwater bass right now, and the bite is ramping up as we lean into the tail end of summer. The best window came right after sunrise and again during the evening dusk, with plenty of largemouth in the two-to-five pound range being caught—nothing gigantic today, but strong, steady numbers overall.

The outside grass lines along Horse Island and Tin House Cove continue to be hot spots, especially for folks pitching jigs and working weedless swimbaits over the hydrilla edges. Another productive area this week has been King’s Bar, where channel edges see steady baitfish movement and the bass are stacked up close to the cover.

Big Bite Baits’ Trick Stick and Suicide Shad buzzbaits saw the most strikes on soft plastics, especially in junebug and watermelon red colors. If you’re looking to get explosive surface action, I’ve had good luck today throwing the Spro BBZ-1 Rat, which picked up a couple of reaction bites during the morning’s low light—award-winning and still a top choice for surface feeders. For live bait enthusiasts, wild shiners drifted along the submerged grass caught both numbers and a few outsized bass. Nothing gets a big Okeechobee bass up quicker than a lively shiner dancing near the edge of a mat.

Panfish still in play for those after bluegill and shellcracker, especially along the rim canal and in the backwater pockets north of the Harney Pond Canal. Crickets and red wigglers are the best bait—bring plenty if you’re targeting bream, as action picks up fast when you find them schooled. Catfish are doing well on cut bait or chicken liver around the locks and spillways with the minimal current. Some nice channel cats have been reported by boaters drifting just outside J&S Fish Camp.

Access is prime all along the north shore and Garry’s Lakeport ramp, while the pier near Okeechobee City offers good shore fishing if you aren’t looking to launch a boat.

Fly fishing has started to pick up too, especially around the grass flats. Most anglers targeting bass on fly are throwing big deer hair poppers or Clouser minnows and reporting solid hookups during the low-light periods. According to local guides at Captain Experiences, artificial lure fishing and sight casting are both working well and continue to outpace live bait on pressured fish.

So, if you’re planning an Okeechobee mission this weekend, stick to the grass edges at sunrise with topwater, transition to soft plastics and live shiners as the sun pushes fish deeper, and don’t overlook backwater panfish for steady action throughout the day.

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