Hello Folks, 

I hope everyone had a great weekend, and that you’re gettin’ ready to do some fishin’. The fishin’ in our area has been really good lately, and folks’re catchin’ specks and bass in most of the lakes around here. 

The specks’re still bitin’ in Lake Kissimmee around the pads and the reeds, and folks’re gettin’ their limits with just about every trip out. From the reports I’m gettin’, some folks’re catchin’ a few shellcrackers, too. 

Lake Monroe and Lake Woodruff are producin’ some pretty good stringers of specks. Folks’re catchin’em on jigs tipped with a minner. The bass fishin’ up around that area of the St. Johns River has been exceptionally good, as well. Most of those big bass are bein’ caught on shiners. 

The bass fishin’ on Johns Lake has also been good most days. The Wednesday Night Shootout last week was won by Don Fisher and Uby Rosell with three bass that weighed 9.30 pounds. The X-treme Bass Series held their tournament on Johns Lake over the weekend. Congrats to Josh Davis and John Brazzell on their win. They brought five bass to the scales that weighed 17.94 pounds. They also had Big Bass of the tournament that weighed in at 7.94 pounds. Congrats, guys.  

As a follow-up to last week, Rick and Greg Fugate from Kentucky fished several lakes in our area, and they were fishin’ the Butler Chain at the time. As I reported then, they had caught 15 bass by noontime. But, hang on to your hat! By the end of the day, they had caught 60 bass, of which the biggest bass was probably 3.5 pounds. They also fished Johns Lake and caught some really nice bass up to 6 pounds.  

I talked this week to John Bitters of Bitters Bait & Tackle, and he reports that the bass are schoolin’ up in the northern end of the St. Johns River. Folks’re catchin’ those bass on topwater baits and lipless crankbaits. Some of those schoolin’ bass weigh up to 9 pounds!  

John also reports that the bass fishin’ on Lake Fairview is on fire, and some are bein’ caught with a few bigun’s mixed in.  

The bass fishin’ on the Harris Chain is doin’ great, too. The NPFL held their three-day tournament up there last week, and over the course of the tournament, it took 62 pounds and 2 ounces to win! Congrats to Zack Birge on his win last week. Zack fished against some big sticks in that tournament, and he was able to fend off Todd Auten, who came in second place. Zack beat Todd by a mere 5 ounces! Zack was able to win $100,000 for his win, with an additional $20,000 for fishin’ in his Bass Cat boat! It was a great tournament for all the anglers who fished; especially if YOU were one of the anglers who got a check! 

We have a full moon comin’ up on April 1st, which is next week. Rick Fugate did report that a few of the bass they caught last week in the Butler Chain still had roe in ‘em. So, with that bein’ said, along with the upcomin’ full moon, those bass will be goin’ on the beds! 

Well, that’s it for this week. I hope y’all get a chance to do some fishin’ this week, and I’ll see ya again next week. 

Tip of the week: Full Moon! 

SAVE A FEW AND GOOD LUCK!