Hello Folks,
I’m in my office writing my column on Memorial Day. This is a day we remember our fallen heroes throughout the years. I want to personally say thank you for the ultimate gift to us. We are living in freedom because of your sacrifice. God bless you and God bless America. Also, I would like to say thanks to the men and woman who are serving in our military forces today.
This week has been up and down due to Subtropical Storm Alberto. We got a lot of rain from the storm, but maybe not as much as originally thought. The rain didn’t affect the fishin’ in our area. It may be a little aggravatin’ gettin’ caught in the rain or in a rainstorm that comes up while you are on the water.
The panfishin have been impacted by the storm. The bluegills were on the beds in most of the lakes in our area. I’m sure they will have to adjust to the weather, but now that the storm has passed, they should start bitin’ again. You will probably have to drift open water with crickets and red worms to locate the beds. Once you locate ’em again, keep driftin’ back and forth over the beds until they quit bitin’. You can also use artificials and give them a try if you don’t want to use crickets and worms.
The bass fishin’ is still doin’ good in most of the larger chains in our area. The Kissimmee Chain has been really good for bass. Some nice bass are bein’ caught on wild shiners, fished along the shoreline cover. Try the pads and Kissimmee grass for some good results. You can also catch some bass at first light on plastic frogs and toads. You can also try a noisy top-water bait in those same areas. Once the sun gets up, move to deeper water and fish the submerged hydrilla and eel-grass beds with plastic worms and slow-sinkin’ Senko-type baits.
On the Harris Chain, the bass fishin’ has been good in recent days. You can catch some nice bass on plastic worms and slow-sinkin’ Senko-type baits. Once the sun gets up, try flippin’ the heavy cover or fish deeper water around the hydrilla and eel-grass beds. The bass fishin’ is doin’ good on the St. Johns River, especially where you have water from the rains flowin’ into the river. Look for those types of areas for bass to be hangin’ around feedin’ on the bait-fish. Try a top-water bait, or a lipless crank-bait in the mouth of the feeder creeks and the runoffs.
The bass fishin’ is still doin’ good on the Butler Chain this past week. My fishin’ buddy Rick was on the Butler Chain this past week. He caught and released 40 bass up to 6 lbs. each. Most of his bass were caught on plastic worms and slow-sinkin’ Senko-type baits. He also caught a few bass flippin’ the heavy cover as well.
After that news, we decided to fish the Butler Chain ourselves on Friday. We had a great day on the water, too. Rick and I caught and released 35 bass up to 3 lbs. each. We caught most of our bass on slow-sinkin’ Senko-type baits. I also ran into one of the guides who fishes the chain. He reported that his clients have been catchin’ 30 to 40 bass on each trip. Most of those bass are bein’ caught on shiners. On two of his trips, they caught and released two bass over 9 lbs. each. So if you want to go fishin’ and catch some bass, right now would be a good time to get the family and go fishin’.
We had the full moon on Tuesday so the fishin’ by the weekend may be off just a bit. That bein’ said, you should be able to find some bass to catch if you keep at it long enough.
Well, I hope you have a great week and go catch some fish.
Tip of the week: go fishin’.
Save a few and good luck!
