Hello Folks,
I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend. We did have some rain this week when Hurricane/Tropical Storm Elsa skirted by in the Gulf. Some folks did go fishin’ between the rain storms and they were able to catch a few fish. The rains have helped raise the level of the lakes in our area.
Kyle at Bitter’s Bait and Tackle reports that the fishin’ has been a little slow for panfish. He reports that bluegills and shellcracker bites have been slow in Lake Monroe and Lake Jesup. They are in their summer pattern and they have all finished spawnin’. We may have some late spawnin’ but the majority of ’em have spawned. Kyle also reports that the bass fishin’ in his area has remained steady even with the rains. Folks are getting’ on the water and catchin’ a few bass.
The Harris Chain and the Maitland Chain are still producin’ some nice bass. You can catch some bass in the Winter Park Chain and the Butler Chain as well.
The bass are bitin’ on a variety of baits. Use top-water baits early and then plastic worms and slow-sinkin’ Senko-type baits as the sun gets up.
You will have to fish some deeper submerged hydrilla clumps and eelgrass beds later in the day as that ole sun gets up higher durin’ the day.
Mark at Big Toho Bait and Tackle reports that the weather and the hydrilla has kept a lot of anglers off the water. The hydrilla has topped out in West Lake and that has made the navigation and fishin’ a lot tougher.
You can still catch some bass along the edges of the hydrilla clumps with Ole Monster 11-in. plastic worms. Junebug has been the best color to use in West Lake.
The Wednesday night tournaments being held on West Lake are still producin’ some nice five-fish stringers of 15 pounds to 18 pounds. The Lake Kissimmee bass have been bitin’ pretty good as of late as well. Folks are catchin’ their bass on a variety of baits. Plastic worms, swim jigs, and chatter-baits have been good baits to use in Lake Kissimmee.
The warmer weather and the post-spawn period have not stopped the flow of Hall of Fame submissions in Season 9 of TrophyCatch. Season 9 will end on September 30.
Recent season stats are as follows: There have been 763 Lunker Club Bass caught and released this season. Those are bass that weigh in the range of 8-9.9 lbs.
There have been 226 Trophy Club bass caught which are in the range of 10-12.9 lbs. Also, there has been 25 Hall of Fame bass caught that weigh 13 lbs. or more. I would have to say that’s a pretty good showin’ for Florida. You need to make sure of one thing before you go on the water. You need to register at TrophyCatch.com before you go fishin’. You don’t want to be on the water and not be registered when a big ole bass decides to bite your bait, so get registered and go catch a big ’un.
Well, that’s it for this week. I’ll see ya next week.
Tip of the week: get registered.
Save a few and good luck!
