Hello Folks,
They say that if you hang around long enough, the weather will change in Florida and it did. I would say that March came in like a lion and, hopefully, it will go out like a lamb. That’s kinda what I heard growin’ up in Florida and it’s been windy for sure. Even with all the wind, the fishin’ is still doin’ pretty good in most of the chains in our area. The specks are still bitin’ and the bass fishin’ ain’t too bad either.
Kyle at Bitter’s Bait and Tackle reports that folks are still catchin’ some specks in Lake Monroe and Lake Jesup. Most of the specks are bein’ caught on minners and a few specks are bein’ caught on jigs tipped with a minner. A few bluegills are showin’ up, but they probably won’t do their thing until the full moon at the end of this month. Red wigglers and crickets work the best for bluegills.
Kyle reports that the bass fishin’ on the Harris Chain has been good as of late. BassMaster held its Southern Open tournament on the Harris Chain last week. It took a total of 58 lbs., 13 oz. to win the three-day event. Congrats to Keith Tuma who went into championship Saturday in 10th place and won the tournament with the biggest bag of bass. He had a limit of five bass that weighed 26 lbs., 2 oz. He jumped from 10th place to first place to win the Southern Open on the Harris Chain. I would have to say the fishin’ on the Harris Chain is pretty good right now.
We have a new moon Saturday, March 13, and the wind is supposed to lay down a little so the bass fishin’ should be good by the weekend. Mark at Big Toho Bait and Tackle reports that the bass fishin’ on West Lake isn’t too bad with all the wind we are havin’ this week. Mark reports that bass are bein’ caught on shiners when they can get the shiner and on plastic baits. You need to use dark-colored, Senko-type baits, and plastic worms to catch ’em.
This week, Rick Mullins and his brother-in-law Greg Fugate from Kentucky are on their annual fishin’ trip. Greg comes down just about every year to fish with Rick durin’ the winter. This past year, they didn’t get to fish due to the pandemic. They are battlin’ the wind, but they are catchin’ some bass just about every day that they are fishin’.
They fished the Butler Chain this week and caught 31 bass on plastic worms and Senko-type baits. They fished John’s Lake on Monday and caught 14 bass. They haven’t caught any big uns, but they are catchin’ some decent-sized bass. They reported that the fishin’ should be better by the end of the week if the wind will lay down. They also fished the Harris Chain.
I fished with my buddy Rich on Saturday on the Kissimmee Chain. Rich had a tournament comin’ up so we went down to practice. It was a little rainy, but we did manage to catch nine bass and one warmouth perch. We caught most of our bass on swim jigs and speed worms. We had a fun day on the water and it’s always good to get on the water and catch some fish.
Well, I hope you have a great week and I’ll see ya next week.
Tip of the week: new moon.
Save a few and good luck! P.S. Time change is this weekend. Clocks move ahead one hour at 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 14.
