It’s good to be back after being away a few weeks

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Jim-Keck-Goin-FishinHello Folks,

Yes, it is me, your favorite fishin’ prognosticator. I have been out of town for a few weeks due to a death in the family and takin’ care of some personal business. I missed you guys and hope you have been gettin’ on the water and doin’ some fishin’.

The fishin’ has been really good in most of the lakes in our area. The bluegills and the shellcrackers are bitin’ in most all the lakes in our area. We have the full moon this weekend so the panfish will be on the beds and you should be able to catch plenty of ‘em over the weekend. All you need is some red worms, crickets, or grass-shrimp.

The St. Johns River has been really good for bluegills and shellcrackers, especially in Lake Monroe, Lake Woodruff, and Lake Harney. You will find plenty of beddin’ areas for the panfish. You can usually smell ‘em or look for an oil slick on the top of the water. You can also drift with crickets and red worms until you find ‘em. If you have the family with you and you find a bed of panfish, the kids will enjoy catchin’ ‘em. When my kids were little, I took them bluegill fishin’ and we got on the bed of bluegills, and all I did was put crickets and red worms on their hooks for two hours. They had a blast catchin’ one after another until we finally ran out of bait. So get the family together and let’s go fishin’ this weekend.

The bass fishin’ has been good as well. While I was out of town, my fishin’ partner Rick has been fishin’ on the Butler Chain and catchin’ some nice bass on plastic worms and slow-sinkin’ Senko-type baits. His biggest bass was six pounds. Rick and I fished John’s Lake over the weekend and we caught and released 16 bass up to 4.5 pounds. Rick caught the biggest bass, of course, but he kept his title as the Shoe Pic King. He caught a big mud-fish that probably weighed 7 or 8 pounds. We usually don’t go fishin’ when he doesn’t catch a big mud-fish.

You should be able to find plenty of bass bitin’ in most of the lakes. My neighbors have been fishin’ in the Conway Chain and catchin’ plenty of small bass. They catch a 2- or 3-pounder every time they go but they also catch a lot of dinks, too.

Well, it’s great to be back and I hope you get out this weekend and do some fishin’. See ya next week.

Tip of the week: full moon.

Save a few and good luck!