Hello Folks,

I’m sure everyone has noticed that we have had a slight weather change. Yep, winter has arrived in Central Florida just in time for Christmas. I’m not sure if it’s gonna be this cold come Christmas, but we are headed in the right direction.

The bass fishin’ has been a little slow for everyone in most of the lakes in our area. You will do best with shiners but not too many big ’uns are bein’ weighed in right now. The good news is the specks are bitin’ like crazy. Kyle at Bitter’s Bait and Tackle reports that the folks in his area are catchin’ specks in most of the lakes in Central Florida. The best lakes to catch a mess of specks in are Lake Monroe and Lake Jesup. Folks are driftin’ open water with minners and jigs tipped with a minner. Lake Ivanhoe is producin’ some nice stringers of specks as well. So, if you want to catch some specks, right now would be a good time to go speck fishin’.

Kyle reports that the bass fishin’ has slowed down due to the colder weather. The water temps have dropped more than 10 degrees this past week. It will take some time for the bass to adjust to the cooler water. You can still catch some bass, but you will do best by fishin’ with shiners. You need to free-line shiners out the back of the boat over the submerged hydrilla and eel-grass beds to be able to catch ’em.

Kyle said he fished the Harris Chain this week and it was a slow for him. I also fished the Harris Chain this past week and it was slow for me as well. When we get these cold fronts and bluebird skies, it makes the bass fishin’ a little tough. I’m not sayin’ you can’t catch ’em but you will have to have some patience and cover a lot of water to catch ’em.

If you want to chase schoolin’ bass, you need to go to the Butler Chain. There are a lot of schoolers bustin’ on bait-fish throughout the chain. The bass are really small but there are a bunch of ’em feedin’ durin’ the day in most of the lakes. It only took a five-fish limit of bass that weighed right at 11 pounds to win last weekend’s tournament on The Butler Chain.

I talked to Mark at Big Toho Bait and Tackle this week and he reports that the specks are startin’ to bite in West Lake. Most folks are fishin’ in deeper water between Mackinson Island and Paradise Island with minners. You will find the water deeper in those areas of the lake. That’s where folks are catchin’ their specks. Some folks are fishin’ with jigs tipped with a minner to catch ’em as well. So, get the family and take ’em speck fishin’ this weekend. Mark reports that you should be able to catch 10 to 15 nice specks for supper. You will catch a lot of smaller specks as well.

If you are lookin’ for a family activity for the weekend, get a bucket of minners and head out to the lake and go speck fishin’. You have some great lakes in our area to choose from so go fishin’ and enjoy your time on the water fishin’.

See ya next week.

Tip of the week: specks bitin’ like crazy.

Save a few and good luck!