Hello Folks,
It’s official; summer is here. It officially began a week ago Thursday and it’s heatin’ up really quickly. It’s not so bad if you have a breeze, but if you don’t, you will have to find some shade. All I can say is get on the water early and go home early.
Rick and I fished last Friday and we were on the water at 6:30 a.m. and we got off the water around 2:30. That gave us eight hours of fishin’ and by the afternoon, we were ready to come home. Plan ahead and make sure you have plenty of drinking water on board and be safe.
The fishin’ hasn’t been too bad if you go early. Folks are catchin’ lots of bluegills and shellcrackers in most of the lakes in our area. Folks are driftin’ open water with crickets and red worms. You can try slow trollin’ a road runner or beetle-spin type bait until you locate the panfish. Once you locate ‘em, keep driftin’ back and forth over the beds until they quit bitin’. Lake Woodruff, Lake Monroe, Lake Harney, and Lake Jesup have been good lakes to catch a mess of panfish.
The St. Johns River has been good for panfish, too. Most of the bluegills and shellcrackers are bein’ caught around the lily pads, laydowns, and docks. The bass fishin’ on the St. Johns has been good, especially around the runoffs and where the water is flowin’ into the river. The bass will be hangin’ around those type of areas feedin’ on the bait-fish. Try usin’ a lipless crank-bait, or a swim-bait to catch ’em.
The bass fishin’ on the Harris Chain has been good especially in Lake Griffin and Big Lake Harris. Most of the bass are bein’ caught on Rat-L-Traps and square-bill crank-baits. You need to find some submerged hydrilla or eel-grass beds and fish around those types of areas. You can also try slow-sinkin’ Senko-type baits as well in those same areas.
The bass fishin’ on the Kissimmee Chain has been good early in the mornin’. The bass are bitin’ on plastic frogs and toads at first light. Fish around the shoreline cover, like pads and scattered grass patches. Once the early-mornin’ bite is over, find some deeper water with submerged hydrilla and eel-grass beds. Try a swim-bait or spinner-bait in those areas. You can also try fishin’ around those areas with plastic worms and slow-sinkin’ Senko-type baits.
The afternoon rains should have the water flowin’ from lake to lake so if you have some current, try a Carolina-rigged plastic worm in the mouth of the canals.
The bass fishin’ is still doin’ good in the Butler Chain. You will do best to get on the water early and fish the shoreline cover with top water or plastic worms. Rick and I fished the Butler Chain last Friday. We caught most of our bass on plastic worms and slow-sinkin’ Senko-type baits. We fished shoreline cover and offshore hydrilla beds. We also caught some bass around the pads throughout the lake on swim-baits. We caught and released 24 bass. Most of the bass were keepers with the biggest bass bein’ around 2.5 to 3 lbs.
As I said earlier, we went early and got off the water early. If you like to flip, try flippin’ the heavy cover once the sun gets up. You need to fish the shady side of the cover, the docks, the laydowns, and places that provide shade for the bass.
The bass don’t get to wear sunglasses like us, so they have to keep the sun out of their eyes. In the summer, you need to look for shade and the bass should be in those type of areas.
Well, stay cool and I hope you get a chance to do some fishin’ this week.
Tip of the week: shade.
Save a few and good luck!
