![]() ![]() The “Big O” as anglers often call it, has been on an upswing recently, re-establishing itself as a top-tier crappie lake after a crash in the mid-aughts. It’s a crappie powerhouse, although, like most great crappie lakes, the fishing can be somewhat cyclical. Spanning 730 square miles, Lake Okeechobee is one of the largest natural freshwater lakes in America, and easily the largest in Florida. While crappie populations are known to follow cyclical highs and lows in even the best lakes, all of the waters listed below have the potential to produce huge numbers of speckled perch, including plenty of slabs that measure over 14 inches and tip the scales above 2 pounds. White crappies, though common throughout much of the South, are absent from Florida waters. Crappies spawn as early as January in Southern Florida and as late as April in the northern part of the state, but cooler temperatures invariably attract them to the shallows.įlorida is somewhat unique in that it only offers fishing for black crappies. Winter is the best time to fish for crappies in most Florida lakes. But fishing picks up as waters cool in autumn and usually remains productive well into spring. Most Florida anglers abandon speck fishing during the hottest months of the year, as these fish-notoriously prone to scattering in open water-become near-impossible to find. Crappies thrive in shallow, fertile waters with ample weed growth, all of which are common characteristics of Florida lakes. ![]() Anglers don’t catch crappies in Florida they catch speckled perch or ‘specks’ in the local parlance.Ĭall them what you will, the Sunshine State offers some outstanding fishing for these feisty panfish. ![]()
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