Don't Forget the Locks Close at 6 on Weekdays

Headed back down to Okeechobee for a few days last weekend to fish with the old man and try to get on some decent beds while the gettin's good. We had a great time as always and got into some real nice fish. We started out jigging for specks at one of the bridges on his basin of the river. Caught a handful, but every one was undersized. No shortage of catfish either, unfortunately. We went through the locks and headed further south down the river. We hunted for beds along the edges and decided one spot in particular looked promising. And promising it was! We got into a real mess of fish including bluegills, myans, and some of the biggest shellcrackers I have ever seen in my life. I mean monster slabbos, boys.

We stuck around for most of the afternoon until the bite finally died down. Unfortunately for us, we were 15 minutes late to the lock and the locktender wasn't sticking around for us apparently. Long story short, with the help of a friendly neighbor and a little time wasted we got back safely. We both were having so much fun we just lost track of time. But hey, we laughed about it the whole time and made the best of it. It was a good trip nonetheless. Here's a video of the fish a bit closer since there were quite a few to fit into a picture!

Ain't no secret to the sauce on this one. 100% red wigglers paired with an ultralight rod/reel on some 4lb test. You'll have more fun than you can shake a stick at. I also just talked the old man into a newer Garmin unit for his boat. Finding beds with polarized sunglasses is alright until you get into dirty water, but once you get setup with side imaging it really makes it effortless - no matter the clarity. Looking forward to getting back down there soon!

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True tug-of-war of epic proportion. How would you compare the cyclids to shellies in both power and tablefare?

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Lots of good uns there. Congratulations

Those are some big crackers! Nice mess fora major feed.

Doug, Bluegabe on YouTube does a catch and cook and talks of how the Mayans are lighter colored and very tasty. Look like they’re a ton of fun. I’m sure if you find the beds that some proper jigs would do the deal.

Yes Tim- I've seen his shallow bedding footage for bg's and mc's, awesome strengths in both species! Cyclids on a flyrod would definitely be the BERRIES!!:highfive

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Originally Posted by up2specks

True tug-of-war of epic proportion. How would you compare the cyclids to shellies in both power and tablefare?

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Honestly, the big boy Shellies fought just as hard if not harder than the myans. They like to hug the bottom when your reeling them in.

Eating wise I think they’re both great. Myans fillet a lot easier than gills or shells which is nice. I love gills, but they are bastards to clean when you’ve got a mess of em. One thing I’ve noticed about myan fillets is some of them are pure white and sometimes you’ll get fillets that have an orange hue to them. Not sure why, but I haven’t noticed any taste difference.


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some mighty nice fishing going on there. Thanks for the report.

Good pic Brent. I’d like a dozen of those for dinner.

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