Lake Okeechobee Winter Vacation!

After a deep-freeze here in Winnipeg with temperatures dropping to 35 below zero and colder, I was more than excited to drive across the United States to Clewiston, Florida to fish on Lake Okeechobee! We left on December 20th and returned home on January 5th, 2014. We spent six days on Okeechobee from sunrise to sunset. The fishing was so great it was hard to leave and come back home! As a flippin' stick I used the 7'6" Extra Heavy Extra Fast Action RType rod paired with a RType baitcaster and 80lb Sufix braid. The heavy braid and longer rod really helped me with the hook-sets needed to land these big Largemouth and pull them out of the slop. 1oz to 1.5oz weights and jigs were needed just to punch through and penetrate the mats the fish were hiding under. The other rod I used on the trip was the 7'2" Medium-Heavy Extra Fast Action RType paired with a Shift baitcaster and 30lb Sufix. In areas where the weed growth was sparse as well as along weed edges and cuts, we used Terminator Spinnerbaits. Where the weeds were thick we used swimbaits and retrieved them quickly using them more as a topwater lure. The TriggerX Slop Hopper rigged texas-style on a 5/0 non-weighted Gamakatsu hook worked great especially in the color "tru blue". I am really impressed with the performance of the RType rods, I really put them to the test on this trip. Landed my biggest Largemouth yet at just over 6lbs on the Medium-Heavy RType in thick cover!