1: At what point does the winds speed begin to really make the lake nasty?
15mph? 20, 25?

At 15mph the lake is fishable just about anywhere but you may see some whitecap
action and have a rough ride.

At 20 mph, open water may not be fishable. Plan on a longer ride to and from
your fishing location. Whitecaps and 2 to 3 footers in the open water.

At 25 mph, plan on fishing out of the wind. Rough water will make long runs
dangerous for smaller boats and slow larger ones to a crawl. Rollers to 5 foot
are possible.

At 30 mph, let me know how the fishing was.

2: I noticed some places *on my map* where the water went to about 2', kinda
out in the middle of no-where. Is this something to worry about, or will we
be fine running on plane pretty much anywhere there is open water?

I don't believe you will run into any 2' water Charles, unless you work your
way back into the grass areas. You need to be careful exiting the river as a
bar runs the mouth to the channel poles. The paths are clearly marked and there
are several visual landmarks for those who do not use a GPS unit.

3: How many gators are there really? I mean, are they something that we'll
have to be continually aware of, or should we just ignore that possibility?

Thousands and they love Tenn. meat. You may or may not encounter a gator.
Gators are not aggressive. Leave them alone and they will leave you alone in
most cases. Do not and I repeat, do not feed the gators. I have never had one
try to enter the boat although, I have put a couple in the boat myself. They
are protected so your best bet is to leave them alone. You may encounter
manatees too, also known as seacows. They are friendly and will play with you
at times. They too will not harm you. Also protected, so just look and enjoy.
By the way, if a manatee moves through your fishing area, move -- the fish have
lol

4: How deep are the rim canals and are they mainly used for boating traffic?

The rim canals average 18 foot in most cases with humps coming up to 6 feet in
areas. The Kissimmee River is around 22 foot deep and you can lock all the way
to Lake Kissimmee and then lock to Lake Toho in the Orlando area. It is about a
9 mile run from the launch to the first lock north. Fishing in the river and
rim canals can be excellent at times. In fact, the 2001 BASS was won in one of
the canals cranking and worming.


5: How deep is the Kissimmee River channel, and how far up is navagational?

See above.


6: Buoys?

The channels are marked with post or buoys, however there are few true channels
on Okeechobee -- see me or Lamar before you decide to make a long run. We will
point out any hazards in your flight plan.


--
The most precious thing we have is life, yet it has absolutely no
trade-in value.
Good Fishing - Moe
Moe's Guide Service (Lake Okeechobee) - http://moebassguide.com
Outdoor Frontiers http://www.outdoorfrontiers.com/index