By WILLIE HOWARD

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, February 21, 2008

CLEWISTON — Even though Okeechobee's water level remains 4 feet below normal, bass are in late-winter spawning mode and anglers are catching plenty of fish in the deeper water of the rim canal.

Or, as veteran big-lake guide Jesse Allen explains it: "Low water hurts the lake in terms of places to fish, but the fish are still here. They haven't gone anywhere."

Allen took a customer from Canada to fish for bass over a hump in the rim canal east of Clewiston last week. Using live shiners, they caught 36 bass in the spot - including four in the 6-pound range and one weighing 9 pounds, 4 ounces.

With the big lake's water level holding at 10.1 feet above sea level, more than 4 feet below the average depth this time of year, weekend anglers and professional guides alike set their sights on the rim canal, the dynamite holes and the Okeechobee Waterway channel instead of making risky runs into the shallows of the main lake, where a wind change can leave boaters marooned.

"The rim canal offers a lot of deep holes and structure," guide Juan Ruiz said last week as he ran his 20-foot bass boat north in the rim canal from ramps at Clewiston. "The lake is low, but the fishing is really, really good."

As cold air blew in from the north and steam rose from the water's surface, Ruiz caught several bass by working worms over drop-offs in the rim canal north of Uncle Joe's Cut.

Cold weather makes bass less willing to feed. Ruiz, who has fished bass tournaments for 10 years, switched to cold-weather mode by making a slow presentation along ledges in the rim canal with a thin-tailed plastic worm on a jig head tied to 8-pound-test fluorocarbon line, a rig known as a "shaky head" jig.

When fishing a shaky-head system, the lead jig head sits on the bottom and the tail of the worm rises up from the bottom. The worm's tail moves ever so slightly when the angler holds the rod tip up and shakes it gently with slack in the line.

Even though the surface water temperature was 58 degrees that morning, Ruiz caught his first bass at 8 a.m. using a 7-inch Reaction Innovation Flirt worm rigged Texas style on a three-sixteenth-ounce jig head. He worked it slowly, lifting his rod now and then to move the worm.

"When you think you're fishing slow, you've got to fish it even slower," Ruiz said.

In the cold water, the bite was subtle. Ruiz watched his line to determine whether a bass had picked up his worm and was moving with it.

The presentation of the worm depends on water temperature and mood of the fish, Ruiz said. If a presentation works one day, that's no guarantee it will work the next.

"This bait will produce numbers," Ruiz said of the worm rigged on a shaky-head jig. "I've had clients catch bass up to 8 pounds on them."

In a variation of the shaky head system, Ruiz uses 15-pound-test braided line tied to 8-pound-test fluorocarbon leader with a double Uni knot. The thin braided line casts farther than monofilament or fluorocarbon and has no stretch, meaning anglers feel the slightest bump.

When fishing the rim canal, Ruiz watches his depth finder for humps and looks for points along the rocky shoreline of the rim canal that might hold fish. He likes to fish in parts of the rim canal near cuts leading into the main lake because he believes bass move into the rim canal through the cuts to spawn. Last week, Ruiz pointed out bass beds along the edge of the rim canal north of Clewiston.

Like the guides, tournament anglers have also turned to the rim canal for bass.

Mike Gershberg of the Royal Palm Beach Bassmasters club said he ran the Okeechobee Waterway channel looking for bass during a mid-January club tournament but didn't catch anything until he returned to the rim canal.

"Everyone caught fish, and everyone worked the rim canal," said Gershberg, who caught a five-fish string weighing 23 pounds by casting dark-colored plastic worms along a 100-yard stretch of the rim canal near Clewiston.

The rocky banks of the rim canal near J&S Fish Camp on the east side of the lake have produced bass for anglers fishing close to the rock edge with topwater plugs and slow-sinking worms, said Greg MacLean of Okeechobee Fishing Headquarters.

"Throw it on the bank and bring it out," MacLean said of worm fishing in the J&S canal.

Fishing in the rim canal between Belle Glade and Pahokee, Steve Burris of West Palm Beach had luck with topwater plugs, jigs, crank baits and plastic worms recently. Burris caught 15 bass, including a 6 1/2-pounder and several around 4 pounds.

One of the biggest bass reported on the big lake recently - 10 1/2 pounds - was caught by Canadian angler Kevin Trudeau while fishing last week in the dynamite hole near Ritta Island west of Belle Glade. Trudeau's lunker hit a Rat-L-Trap.

On Tuesday, Norm and Howard Gum of North Carolina caught 30 bass up to 7 pounds using wild shiners in the rim canal near Ritta Island while fishing with veteran guide Terry Garrels.

"The rim canal is the big deal right now," Garrels said. "Specks are in the same place. That's what makes it really nice."

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