Hello Folks, 

I hope everyone is doin’ okay and, hopefully, you’re gettin’ some time to go fishin’. The fishin’ has been really good for a couple of weeks, and folks ’re catchin’ plenty of specks as well as some very nice bass.  

The specks are still bitin’ good in the north end of the St. John’s River, and Lake Woodruff. Folks are goin’ out of Highlands Park Fish Camp and fishin’ in the St. Johns River with minners and jigs tipped with a minner. Limits of specks are bein’ caught in Lake Woodruff on jigs tipped with a minner or even fishin’ a naked minner under a cork and driftin’ across the lake.  

Kyle at Bitter’s Bait & Tackle reports that the specks are bitin’ in Lake Monroe and the St. Johns River. Most of the specks are bein’ caught on jigs and minners, but some are bitin’ on jigs tipped with a minner. You want to make sure you’re usin’ brightly-colored jigs to increase your chances of catchin’ specks! Kyle also says, what with the water bein’ as low as it is in Lake Monroe, you need to be really carefulwhile you’re navigatin’.  

The bass fishin’ in the Butler Chain has been pretty good on most days, recently. Kyle reports that most of the bass are bein’ caught on jerkbaits.  

And… the bass fishin’ has been good in the Maitland Chain, as well. The Wednesday Night guys are catchin’ 11 to 14 pounds of bass durin’ their tournament. They can only weigh in three bass, and those are nice weights for three bass. Big Bass for the Wednesday night tournament weighed in at 6.40 pounds.  

The bass fishin’ is also  doin’ pretty good on the Winter Haven Chain. Folks’re catchin’ some nice bass throughout the chain on both shiners and artificials.  

I can tell you from reports I’m seein’ that the bass fishin’ is still goin’ strong down at the Headwaters in Palm Bay. The guides are takin’folks out and catchin’ 30 to 40 bass per trip. Most of those bass are bein’ caught on shiners, but you can also catch’em on chatterbaits, jerkbaits, or just flippin’ the heavy cover. 

Down on the Kissimmee Chain, accordin’ to the reports, the bass fishin’ is doin’ good. Folks’re catchin’ some nice bass on shiners. Even the specks are bitin’ down there. They’ve  moved into shallow water to spawn. I can’t confirm or deny whether this is true; I can only report on the pictures I see from anglers fishin’ for specks.  

Folks’re still catchin’ some bass on Lake Fairview, but you’ll have to move around due to the cold weather. The bass seem to bescattered around since the water temperatures dropped down after the cold weather we had a couple of weeks ago. 

My fishin’ buddy Rich fished his club tournament on Lake Apopka last week. The winnin’ weight for four bass was 5.4 pounds. The biggest bass for the day was 2.4 pounds. Rich was one of the 14 anglers who caught a bass. He caught his bass, which weighed almost 2 pounds (1.98 pounds), at 7 o’clock in the mornin’. He said he never had another bite the whole rest of the day! Rich also reports that the water temperature was only 50 degrees (brrrr…) when he started fishin’ that day, but it finally made it up to 62 degrees. He said there were a lot of dead tilapia all over the lake. 

Well, that’s it for this week. I hope to see you on the water… soon! 

Tip of the week: Go Fishin 

SAVE A FEW AND GOOD LUCK