Dock Talk at Okeechobee

The Bassmaster Elite Series last visited Lake Okeechobee in mid-February 2023, when winner Tyler Rivet caught 86 pounds, 15 ounces of spawning cycle largemouth from the Kissimmee River.

Rivet chose to avoid the crowds and fish an area all to himself (with exception of crappie anglers) on the far north end of the Big O. The remainder of the top finishers concentrated in community holes throughout the main lake.

The 2025 Champion Power Equipment Elite at Lake Okeechobee returns to south Florida at nearly the same time of year. Will the notorious community holes be hot or cold? What patterns will be in play? We set out to find out. Welcome to the 2025 edition of Dock Talk. We report and you decide which is truth or just dock talk.

Bryan New
Will this be won in solo or community holes? “There is one big community hole and three smaller ones,” said New.

“It’s tough to get a bite. Those community holes are the only areas that will consistently produce. They always are.”

Will doing consistently well in a community hole require going through a rotation of the area? “Yes, but someone will dial into something different that will stand out from the crowd.”

Joey Cifuentes
“You will have to be in a community hole to win it. There just aren’t many places with clean water and those are the community holes,” said Cifuentes.

“I think it will be won in one of those areas. Clean water means visible bottom, good clarity and the presence of grass, which is hard to find.

“If the weather gets right and the female largemouth will pull up and it will be won in such a community hole. There is more opportunity to win in a community hole than anywhere. That’s because the lake looks so bad, as in a lack of vegetation and clear water.”

Kenta Kimura
What will be the winning weight? “I say 75 pounds.”

“The biggest factor is the falling water level, said Kimura.

“It keeps going down and has throughout practice.”

Greg Hackney
Community or solo hole? “The lake is so muddy that the community holes are the only areas with clean water,” said Hackney. Is clear water what defines a community hole? “Yes, because they hold the clearest water on the entire lake.

I think it will go down like the last time we were here (in 2023), he said. “The only thing that will be different is forward-facing sonar in the canals.

“There are a lot of guys scoping in the canals, which we didn’t have so much of the last time. That newness messes up guessing the winning weight, because it’s so new, so different and we don’t have anything to measure it by.”

Mike Iaconelli
And the winning weight is? “It’s going to be a blowout. We have the right conditions here based on the warming trend in the forecast. No cold front. Stable water.”

As small as it’s fishing and based on the clean water I’m going to go high on the weight. I think somebody will have 30 pounds, mid-20s, that kind of thing,” he said.

“I’m going to guess 93 pounds. The high sun, calm water and manageable wind. The moon cycle doesn’t matter down here. When they commit, they move on in and spawn.”

John Crews
Somebody will get lucky and find a transitional group of fish coming in. The give and take is that it might work one day but then they move, and you have to start the hunt all over again.

Those will be lake fish that nobody else has found. The community holes are getting crushed in multiple ways. There’s not a lot of clear water or fish in those areas.

The challenge is finding that group of fish on a lake with 730 square miles of surface water.

Greg DiPalma
“There are so many variables in play here this week. The lack of vegetation, dirty and fluctuating water and of course, the all-around recreational fishing pressure,” DiPalma said.

“The water temperature is averaging in the high 60s, which is below normal for this time of the year.

“If the warming trend continues it could change overnight, and we’d see big weights.”

Tyler Williams
“I haven’t fished the main lake at all. I don’t like shallow water or vegetation.” Williams said.

“I don’t even know what the lake looks like; I’m not too concerned about it. Give me the deep water anytime. I’ve spent all my time in the creeks and canal.

“I’m scoping, dragging a jig and cranking; pretty much what I like to do everywhere else. My only challenge are the crappie anglers, which make it difficult to pull in and scope when they are concentrated in a 60-yard stretch of good water.”