Hello Folks,
We are havin’ some nice cool weather this week and it really feels good, too. It warms up durin’ the day and that works out great if you are fishin’.
The fishin’ has been good this past week. Folks are getting’ on the water and catchin’ some stringers of specks in Lake Monroe, Lake Jesup and the St. John’s River.
Folks are also catchin’ lots of specks in Lake Okeechobee. I’ve seen some pictures posted on the internet of folks catchin’ some nice stringers of specks that are bein’ caught in the Big O.
In South Florida, folks call Lake Okeechobee “Speckled Perch Capital of the World.” I remember being in the town of Okeechobee and seein’ a sign at the end of the street makin’ this announcement.
The town also has an event called “The Speckled Perch Festival” each year in March and it is the largest event of the year.
Well, the bass fishin’ has been really good this past week. We had BASSMASTER here last week, and they held their Team Championship on Thursday and Friday.
Congrats to the father and son team of Rodney and Aaron Yavorsky from Palm Harbor, for winnin’ the Team Championship for Thursday and Friday. They weighed in 10 bass that hit the scales at 51 pounds 9 ounces over two days of fishin’.
Then on Friday and Saturday, the top 3 teams had a two-day fish-off with the winner gettin’ a ticket to the BassMaster Classic. Aaron Yavorsky won the two-day tournament with 10 bass that hit the scales at 48 pounds and 4 ounces. Aaron is only 17 years old, and he becomes the youngest angler ever to qualify for the BassMaster Classic.
The Classic is goin’ to be held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from March 22 ‘til March 24th, 2024. Aaron said he has never been to Oklahoma in his life, but he is lookin’ forward to fishin’ the Classic. The Classic qualifiers will be fishin’ the Gran Lake O’ the Cherokees. If you would like to attend the event, go to BassMaster.com and get all the details.
Kyle at Bitter’s Bait and Tackle reports that everyone is fishin’ either for specks or bass.
The fishin’ has been good everywhere in all the chains and local lakes in our area. One of my fishin’ buddies, Rich Niles, fished his club tournament on the Butler Chain on Sunday, and he was able to catch a 5-fish limit that weighed a little over 12 pounds for the win. Congrats Rich on your win on Sunday.
If you are thinkin’ about goin’ fishin’ on the Butler Chain, now is a good time to go.
Rich reported that he probably caught over 30 bass durin’ the day. His co-angler caught around 20 bass as well.
I keep tellin’ everyone that you can catch numbers of bass on this chain, and if you want to take someone fishin’, this would be the chain to take ‘em to.
It’s always fun to watch folks catch fish no matter how big they are, right? You will be able to catch plenty of keeper-size bass and have fun doin’ it.
They caught most of their bass on swimmin’ jigs fished over the submerged hydrilla and eel-grass beds in the chain. Accordin’ to the prognosticators, i.e. “meteorologists,” we have some rough weather comin’ to town this weekend, and the forecast isn’t too encouragin’. So, just be careful, and keep an eye out for thunderstorms while you are on the water this weekend.
Have a great week, and I’ll see ya next week.
Oh yeah, 10 more days until Christmas!
Tip of the week: Cooler Temps.
Save a few, and good luck.
