Dead Lake: 6,700 Acres of Cypress and Bream Water at Wewahitchka

Major and minor solunar windows shift daily with the moon’s transit. Fish the windows above, or check the Seasonal Playbook below for Dead Lake’s current pattern.

Spring is bream season on Dead Lake. Florida's wildlife agency says the lake enjoys an excellent reputation for its bluegill and redear sunfish, the shellcracker, at this time of year. Its method is specific: a wiggler on an ultra-light rod with a number 10 gold hook, or a beetlespin, fished around stumps and snags, along weed lines and in deep holes. Those same stumps are the hazard. The agency says the lake is filled with cypress snags and that navigating them can be difficult for new anglers, so it recommends a GPS or limiting your fishing to West Arm Creek. The Dead Lake recreation area off State Road 71, just north of Wewahitchka, has the ramp for that arm. Yellow perch are on the agency's species list for the lake as well. No dated spring report is published that we can cite, so treat this as the agency's standing advice and not a catch report from this year.

No dated summer report is published for Dead Lake that we can cite, and the state agency gives no summer pattern of its own, so this section keeps to its standing advice. Bream: a wiggler on an ultra-light rod with a number 10 gold hook, or a beetlespin, around stumps and snags, along weed lines and in deep holes. Catfish are the other option the agency raises. Flathead catfish can be caught in deep flowing areas and behind large snags using sunfish for bait, and the agency asks anglers to keep every flathead because the fish is not native here. Live sunfish may only be used as bait if you caught them yourself on hook and line. Channel catfish and suckers are in the lake too, and sucker nets are not allowed. Run slowly: the lake is filled with cypress stumps, and the agency suggests a GPS or staying in West Arm Creek.

Fall is when the bass turn on at Dead Lake. Florida's wildlife agency says Florida bass fishing picks up in the fall as the fish move out of the deep holes and feed in shallow water. It recommends fishing around dusk and dawn in two to three feet of water with worms, lizards or live shiners. Bream are still there for the taking with a wiggler on a number 10 gold hook or a beetlespin, worked around stumps, snags, weed lines and deep holes. Flathead catfish hold in deep flowing areas and behind large snags; the agency asks anglers to keep them because they are not native. The usual warning applies: the lake is full of cypress stumps and snags, and the agency tells new anglers to use a GPS or keep to West Arm Creek. No dated fall report is published for the lake that we can cite, so this is standing advice and not this season's catch.

Florida's wildlife agency gives no winter pattern for Dead Lake, and no dated winter report is published that we can cite, so this section sticks to what the agency and the map support. The agency says bass move out of the deep holes to feed shallow in the fall; it does not say where they go in winter. Bream are fished in deep holes as well as around stumps, with a wiggler on a number 10 gold hook or a beetlespin. Three launch sites are mapped on this page. Dead Lakes County Park is a Gulf County ramp on Stone Mill Creek with no launch fee listed. Nadine Stone Landing is the Calhoun County ramp on Cypress Creek, which reaches the northwestern part of the lake. Beards and Cox Landing is a private pay ramp near Wewahitchka. The lake is filled with cypress stumps and snags, so go slowly, and carry a GPS as the agency suggests.

Dead Lakes County Park

Wewahitchka, FL

Parking

spots

Fee

Gulf County ramp on Stone Mill Creek, one launch lane, no launch fee listed in the state inventory.

Nadine Stone Landing Public Boat Ramp

Wewahitchka, FL

Parking

spots

Fee

Calhoun County ramp on Cypress Creek, one launch lane. Reaches the northwestern part of the lake.

Beards / Cox Landing

Wewahitchka, FL

Parking

spots

Fee

Pay ramp (private)

Private pay ramp, one launch lane.