By Jim Keck

Hello Folks, 

We’ve been waitin’ on some cooler days, and now we have ‘em. This latest cool front will get the specks to bitin’, and folks’re already catchin’em pretty good. The specks’re still bitin’ real good up at Highlands Fish Camp on the St. Johns River.  

The guides are takin’ folks out for a day of speck fishin’, and they’re gettin’ 30 to 35 specks each trip.  Folks’re catchin’em on jigs tipped with a minner, and some folks’re catchin’em by usin’ brightly colored jigs. 

The specks’re bitin’ in Lake Kissimmee, too. Folks’re driftin’ open water with minners and doin’ really good. You need to drift with the wind until you locate a bunch of specks and keep driftin’’ back and forth until they quit bitin’.  

Kyle at Bitter’s B&T reports that folks’re startin’ to catch some specks in Lake Monroe and Lake Jesup. You’ll have to troll or let the wind push you across the lake. Most of the specks’re bein’ caught on bright-colored jigs tipped with a minner. You can fish minners naked, as well.  

You may wonder what fishin’ a minner naked is. Well, it’s when you put your minner on a gold #2 or #4 hook and drift the open water lettin’ the minner do its thing. If it’s kinda windy, some folks’ll put a small split shot on their line just above the hook to keep the minner down. The cool temperatures we’ve been havin’ will cool the water down, and when that happens, the specks’ll begin to really bite.  

Some folks are startin’ to catch some specks in Lake Eustis, too. You need to drift the open water until you find’em, and then keep driftin’ over the area until they quit bitin’.  

The bass fishin’ is still very good at the Headwaters Lake near Melbourne. The guides’re takin’ folks out, and they’re catchin’ 30 to 40 bass per trip. Most of the bass’re bein’ caught on shiners. Some big bass are startin’ to show up, as well. One group ran out of shiners, and they started catchin’ bass on chatter-baits!  

The bass fishin’ on West Lake Toho is gettin’ better each week. The guides down there are takin’ folks out on four-hour trips and doin’ really good. Shiners fished around the vegetation such as hydrilla, eelgrass, and Kissimmee grass will get you a bite. 

If the weather keeps gettin’ cooler, the bass will start movin’ to the shallow water to spawn. They’ll be feedin’ really good before they go on the beds, so now through spring will be a good time to catch a big bass.  

Lake Fairview is still producin’ some nice stringers of bass. My buddy who lives in my neighborhood fishes Lake Fairview regularly, and he reports that he and his buddy are still catchin’ 20 to 25 bass per trip.  

It’s a little early, but please save this date because on January 28th, 2026, the FWC will be hosting a meeting at The Venetian Center in Leesburg, and it’s open to the public. The event will allow the public to view all the projects and interact with the local biologists for the Harris Chain. Topics will include Fisheries, Aquatic Plants, Habitat Restoration, Hunting, and more. I’ll remind everyone again when we get closer to the date.  

Well, that’s it for this week.  

I hope y’all get a chance to get on the water and catch some fish this week. I’ll see ya next week.  

Tip of the week: Specks are bitin’! 

SAVE A FEW AND GOOD LUCK!