Hello Folks,
I’m watchin’ the heat dry up our ponds and it won’t be long before it will start workin’ on our lakes. We need to pray for some rain over the next few weeks to catch us up or we are gonna be high and dry come summer. I’m sure you have noticed how the grass along side of the road is brown and dried up. Hopefully and prayerfully, we will get some relief real soon.
Right now, the fishin’ is really doin’ good in most of the lakes in our area. The major chains and the St. Johns River are providin’ some great panfish action and the bass are feedin’ early in the mornin’ and just before dark.
Lake Monroe and Lake Harney are good lakes to catch a mess of panfish. Folks are gettin’ on the beds and catchin’ plenty of bluegills and shellcrackers. Crickets and red worms work the best. You can catch some bass in the same lakes and in the river around the pads and laydowns in the river. Swim-baits and spinnerbaits work the best early in the mornin’.
Watch for schoolin’ bass in the river, feedin’ on bait-pods. Lipless crank-baits, noisy top-water baits and flukes will catch ya some bass.
John’s Lake on the west side of town has been good for bass and panfish. Folks are gettin’ on the water early and catchin’ plenty of bluegills and shellcrackers around the shell beds throughout the lake. Again, crickets and red worms are workin’ the best.
The bass fishin’ on John’s Lake has been good real early in the mornin’. You will find the bass feedin’ early in the mornin’ along the shoreline and later in the day around the submerged hydrilla and eel-grass beds. Plastic toads and plastic frogs are good at first light and then switch over to plastic worms or Carolina-rigged plastic worms when the sun gets high in the sky.
If you want to catch a lot of bass, right now would be a good time to take the family fishin’ at the Butler Chain. The bass are bitin’ real good and you will have a blast catchin’ ‘em.
Rick and I got a chance to go fishin’ over the weekend. We couldn’t decide on the Butler Chain or John’s Lake, but finally chose the Butler Chain because we didn’t get a chance to fish last weekend.
We had a great day on the water. We caught and released more than 40 bass on Saturday. Most of the bass were caught on plastic worms, slow-sinkin Senko-type baits, and Rick caught one on his Carolina-rigged lizard.
We didn’t catch any big ones but Rick did catch the biggest bass of the day that weighed around 3.5 lbs on a plastic worm.
My buddy who lives in my community fished the Butler Chain last week and he and his partner caught and released 19 bass up to 4 lbs. each.
It would be safe to say that the bass are bitin’ on the Butler Chain. You can fish with shiners or plastic worms and you should do real good if you decide to go fishin’ some time this weekend.
If you have been puttin’ off goin’ fishin’, don’t wait any longer. The panfish and the bass are bitin’ and now would be a good time to catch some fish. See ya next week.
Tip of the week: bluegills on the beds.
Save a few and good luck!
