Hello Folks,

First, let me say that I passed along the wrong dates for the FLW tournament dates. If you went up to Venetian Gardens in Leesburg to watch the weigh-ins this past weekend, I’m sorry. My bad. The tournament is this week. It started Thursday, February 22. The good news is that you didn’t miss anything and you can go see the anglers compete this weekend. They weigh in at 3 p.m. today, Friday, February 23, and at 4 p.m. on both Saturday, February 24, and Sunday, February 25.

It took more than 73 lbs. of fish to win in 2017. The chain has been really good for the past couple of weeks. Some anglers are predictin’ bigger stringers this year. Prior to the weigh-ins on Saturday and Sunday, the FLW will be hostin’ a Family Expo. This will give you a chance to meet your favorite anglers and enjoy the daily activities and giveaways. They will also host a Fishing Derby on Saturday at Venetian Gardens from 9-11 a.m. The derby is for all young anglers under 18 years old. So get the family and go watch the weigh-in and enjoy the activities.

If you want to go speck fishin’, try Lake Griffin or Lake Yale. You need to drift with jigs tipped with minners. Folks are also catchin’ some specks in Lake Monroe and Lake Jesup. Again, you need to drift open water with jigs tipped with a minner. Make sure you vary the depths off the jigs until you locate the specks.

The bass fishin’ on the Kissimmee Chain has been really good as of late. You can catch some nice bass on shiners fished just off the shoreline cover or around the patches of grass beds and hydrilla clumps. If you want to fish with artificials, try usin’ a plastic toad or a frog around the grass lines and lily pads. Also try fishin’ around the hydrilla clumps or the submerged grass beds throughout the lake.

The Butler Chain has been producin’ some nice stringers of bass and some folks are catchin’ some nice stringers of specks, too. If you want to catch some specks, try driftin’ open water over the submerged hydrilla and eel-grass beds. You can use the same approach to catchin’ some bass on slow-sinkin’ Senko-type baits. Also look for the birds to be divin’ on the baitfish through out the chain.

I hope you get a chance to go fishin’ this week or over the weekend. See ya next week.

Tip of the week: full moon on Thursday, March 1.

Save a few and good luck!