Waters · Lakes · FL · Wed, Sep 30

Lake Okeechobee water level today 11.88 ft, rising

Bite index 6/10 — Biting — save your energy for the evening.

Worth a cast.

Built from solunar, pressure, level, wind. This water has no live gauge for every reading — see the sources below.

6/10
Biting

Today's bite windows

12 AM6 AMNoon6 PM11 PM
Major
3:10 AM–5:10 AM
Moon overhead
Minor
10:50 AM–11:50 AM
Moonset
Major
3:39 PM–5:39 PM
Moon underfoot
Minor
9:25 PM–10:25 PM
Moonrise

Sunrise 7:15 AM · sunset 7:10 PM · tomorrow's first major 4:10 AM–6:10 AM · windows on every water

Solunar · computed updated 10:31 AM

Conditions right now

Water temp estimated
≈77.4°F
7-day mean of air temperature, ±4.5°F typical
computed from NOAA KOBE updated 8:35 AM
Water level
11.88ft
+0.07 ft in 24h
USACE Lake Okeechobee updated 10:00 AM
Pressure
30.03inHg
rising · +2 hPa/12h
NOAA KOBE updated 8:35 AM
Wind
0mph N
NOAA KOBE updated 8:35 AM
Moon
81% waning
Solunar · computed updated 10:31 AM

What this means

Largemouth bass, Crappie, Catfish
This gauge reports level but no water temperature, so depth calls stay open. Read the windows and the pressure trend instead.

Lake Okeechobee level over the last 8 days

11.88 ft above NGVD-29 up 0.07 ft in 24 hours

That sits 88% of the way up the band it has held over the last 8 days, between 11.67 and 11.91 ft. Over the week it is up0.17ft.

09-22 11.67–11.91 ft 09-30
USACE Lake Okeechobee updated 10:00 AM

The week ahead

Thu 6 Biting
Fri 7 Biting
Sat 6 Biting
Sun 6 Biting
Mon 6 Biting
Tue 6 Biting
Wed 7 Biting

Forecast days carry solunar and the wind outlook. Pressure and gauge movement land the morning of.

Lake Okeechobee boat ramps and public fishing access

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission lists 25 public access points on Lake Okeechobee. These are the 8 closest to our gauge — the farthest one the agency lists sits 19 mi away.

This inventory carries the agency's own vintage of 2009. Lanes, docks and fees can have changed since — call ahead if a detail decides your trip.

Access data from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Distances are straight-line from our gauge, not driving distance.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission · public access inventory

Before you go

A Florida fishing license covers this water — $17 a year for residents. FWC sets the rules and is the one that counts.

What it costs, and who is exempt →

Nearby waters today

Questions people ask about Lake Okeechobee

Answered from the same readings as the rest of this page. Where we have no basis for an answer, there is no entry — spot-by-spot local knowledge is not something we can claim for Lake Okeechobee.

Is it worth fishing Lake Okeechobee today?
6 out of 10 — biting. Worth a cast. The strongest stretch is 3:10 AM–5:10 AM. That number is worked out fresh each morning from the solunar windows, the pressure trend, the water level.
What time should you fish Lake Okeechobee?
Today's major windows run 3:10 AM–5:10 AM and 3:39 PM–5:39 PM, with minor windows at 10:50 AM–11:50 AM and 9:25 PM–10:25 PM. Sunrise is 7:15 AM and sunset 7:10 PM. A major landing on first or last light is the stretch worth setting an alarm for.
What is the water temperature at Lake Okeechobee?
No gauge on Lake Okeechobee measures it, so this is an estimate: roughly 77.4°F, worked out from the 7-day mean of air temperature at NOAA weather station KOBE (Okeechobee County Airport). Checked against the lakes that do have a thermometer, that method lands within about 4.5°F of the real reading and was off by 8.3°F at worst. Treat it as a ballpark, not a measurement — and note the bite index above ignores it entirely, because an error that size would move the verdict as often as it would fix it.
What is the water level at Lake Okeechobee right now?
11.88 ft above NGVD-29, read at 10:00 AM from the Lake Okeechobee gauge run by the USACE. Over 24 hours it is up 0.07 ft.
Are water levels rising or falling at Lake Okeechobee?
Rising. The lake is up 0.07 ft in 24 hours and up 0.17 ft over the week. Over the last 8 days it has held between 11.67 and 11.91 ft. Every figure here is a difference between two gauge readings, not a forecast — what the level does next depends on rain and on what the dam releases.
Can you eat the fish you catch in Lake Okeechobee?
That is a health question, and it is answered officially rather than by us. Florida Department of Health publishes the fish consumption advisory covering these waters, where most Florida freshwater fish are fine to eat, and a mercury threshold triggers the advisories you can look up by water. Read it before you keep a meal — we give no eating advice.

FDOH fish consumption advisory

Do you need a licence to fish Lake Okeechobee?
Yes. A Florida fishing license covers this water, required from age 16. FWC sets the rules and is the one that counts.

What a Florida license costs, and who is exempt

What size fish can you keep in Florida?
It depends on the species, and several have slot limits rather than a simple minimum. Open to harvest today: red drum (redfish), spotted seatrout (speckled trout), king mackerel, greater amberjack. Seasons here change mid-year by agency order, so the status is re-checked every morning.

Red drum (redfish) limits · Spotted seatrout (speckled trout) limits · King mackerel limits · Greater amberjack limits · Check a length against the rules

Where these numbers come from

Okeechobee is too big for one gauge, so the Corps of Engineers averages eight of them around the lake — that eight-station figure is the number the lake is managed by, and it is the one here, measured against NGVD 29. No temperature sensor, so the depth calls stay open.

No one types these in by hand. If a source goes quiet, the page says so instead of showing you yesterday.