By Jim Keck
Hello Folks,
Happy October to all, and I hope you’re as excited as I am. I love this time of the year, with the holidays, the time with families, and all the good food. Everything that’s pumpkin is fine with me.
We are supposed to be gettin’ some cooler weather next week, and it couldn’t get here quick enough for me.
The fall fishin’ is all the same whether you’re fishin’ for specks or bass. If you like to catch speckled perch, they’re catchin’ ‘em right now.
It’s a little early, but you know what? They call me when they’re bitin’. Well, they’re bitin’. Kyle at Bitter’s B&T confirmed that last week and again this week.
Folks’re catchin’ some specks in the St. John’s River and Lake Woodruff. Most of the specks are bein’ caught on minners and jigs tipped with a minner.
Folks’re also catchin’ some specks in Lake Monroe while driftin’ with minners.
The bass fishin’ is still a little slow, in our area. Kyle reports that folks are catchin’ some bass in West Lake Toho and Lake Apopka. It’s takin’ about 18 pounds or more on West Lake Tournaments to be in the money.
A few big bass are bein’ caught around the hydrilla mats on West Lake, but you’ll have to cover a lot of area to find ’em. Also look for some runnin’ water if the locks are open. You’ll find some bass hangin’ around those areas feedin’ on bait fish.
Last week’s Wednesday Night Shootout on Johns Lake was still slim pickin’s. Congrats to the team of Neil Davis and David Simpson who brought to the scales three bass that weighed 8.10 pounds. Big bass of the tournament was caught by the team of Dalton Ray and Marissa Maddox that weighed 3.95 pounds.
The bass fishin’ on the Harris Chain is still doin’ pretty good. The X-treme Bass Series held a tournament on the Harris Chain, and it took 24.47 pounds to win.
Congrats to the team of Mark Stanton and Bryan Moore who weighed in five bass that weighed 24.47 pounds. They also had the biggest bass of the tournament that hit the scales at 6.61 pounds.
I’ve gotten some reports that Lake Apopka bass fishin’ has picked up a little. Some anglers are gettin’ on the water after work and catchin’ a few bass before dark-thirty. And I’ve also heard that the bass fishin’ is a little slow on Lake Apopka. All I can say is that a bad day’s fishin’ is better’n a good day at work… so go fishin’ and see for yourself if they are bitin’ or not.
Trophy Catch Season 14 was launched on October 1st. If you aren’t familiar with this program you can go to the FWC’s website and get the rules and prizes information. This program is about catchin’ an 8 -pound bass or bigger, and releasin’ it back into the water. This is a free bass fishin’ program for anglers in pursuit of an 8-pound bass. Since this program was started, there have been 16,000 bass caught and documented and released back into the water. There have been 160 Hall of Fame bass caught, which is a bass that weighed over 13 pounds. If you fish for bass, you need to register for this program. You never know when your big bass is gonna bite.
I hope you have a great week, and I hope to see you on the water real soon.
Tip of the week: Cooler Weather… Soon!
SAVE A FEW AND GOOD LUCK!
