Vacation Day 5

Day 5

Day five starts out very early. We  hired a fishing guide to take us out on late Okeechobee. We are to be the before 7:00 a.m. and it is about an 85 mile drive from our condo. The drive is easy, I-95 to I-595/I-75 then north on highway 27. The trip north on highway 27 is partially through the Everglades and then it is sugar cane fields on either side of the road. There is virtually no civilization between I-595/I-75 and the town or Clewiston which is our final destination. The thing that struck me as we traveled north was how dark it was. No street lights, no little towns, no houses! There was nothing for miles and miles until a Domino Sugar Processing plant and then a lot of nothing and darkness until Clewiston.

I have GPS on my phone which I used a lot during the vacation but I had just written down the directions to the marina in Clewiston. Now Google map is pretty good but when it is off it is way off, usually it is off in rural areas. In this case Google maps was off by a few blocks and it had our turn off the main street onto the street the marina was located on but that wasn’t the case.  We had to stop and ask. While Jackie was getting directions I entered the address in my phone so we had clear directions either way.

We arrive at the Roland Martin Marina just in time and our guide is waiting.  Jackie and I use the bathroom, buy or fishing license and a cup of coffee. The sun is just starting to come up so in the boat and off we go. We start in a small marina area, to get to the main lake we have to go through a lock because the lake is surrounded by a large dyke and the lake is also part of an intercostal water way. Once we pass through the lock we have an idle zone. Once out of the idle zone our guide takes off maintaining a speed that Jackie has never experienced on the water prior.

Side note:  Now, I had never fished on Okeechobee so this would be new water for me. The name Okeechobee means big water and this is the biggest fresh water lake in Florida, seventh largest in the US at 730 square miles. The average depth of this lake is only 9 feet so in any wind it will get rough fast.

We arrive at the spot we are to fish. The guide drops an anchor from the front and has some type of power pole “thing” on the back that drives itself into the lake bottom which holds the back in place. The first cast for me yields a 6 pound 3 once largemouth. Jackie caught a 3 ½ pounder, I caught 4 ¾ pounder, we both catch several other 2 to 3 pound fish. Overall a very productive day on the water.

The rest of the day was pretty predictable. We lounged around the pool. Both Jackie and I took a nap and we went out for diner. Day five was over! Day six is a trip to the Alligator Safari Park/Airboat Ride tourist trap!