Hello Folks,

I hope you had a great weekend and, more importantly, that you got a chance to do some fishin’. The days are startin’ to get pretty warm, and July and August will be here before you know it. When that happens, it’s gonna be brutal hot, so get the family or your fishin’ partner and go fishin’.

You can still find some panfish like bluegills and shellcrackers on the beds in most of the lakes and the major chains in our area. Lake Monroe, Lake Harney, and Lake Jesup should be for panfish. Get some crickets and red worms, and drift open water until you get on ’em. Look for slick spots on the water and the bluegills should be close to those areas.

The bass fishin’ is still doin’ good in the major chains as well. The Kissimmee Chain and the Harris Chain have been producin’ some nice bass early in the mornin’. The afternoon rains have some water flowin’ into the lakes and you will find the bass hangin’ around those areas. If you decide to go to the Kissimmee Chain, you will find the water flowin’ into the mouth of each of the lakes. The bass will be feedin’ on baitfish in those areas.

The Butler Chain has been good for the past few weeks and this week was no different. You need to try to be on the water at first light and fish a plastic toad or frog around the cover. Try the pads, grass, and scattered grass through out the lake. You might try the shoreline grass if it has some deeper water next to the grassline. Durin’ the summer, the bass like to come up and feed on the baitfish at first light and just before dark. Once the sun gets up, you will need to find some submerged hydrilla and eel-grass in deeper water. There are plenty of schoolers in the Butler Chain. I know I say it each week, but always have a lipless crank-bait tied on to one of your rods just in case they decide to start bustin’ on the baitfish. The schoolers won’t stay up very long so always be ready.

This past week, I was able to fish for a couple of days with my fishin’ partner Rick. As I mentioned last week, Rick’s brother-in-law Greg Fugate from Kentucky was in town. I got the chance to go fishin’ with them last week. The first day we fished John’s Lake. We caught around 14 or 15 bass up to 5 lbs. each. We also caught some nice 3 lb. and 4 lb. bass. Most of the bass were caught on slow-sinkin’ Senko-type baits. On Friday, we fished the Butler Chain. Between the three of us, we caught 57 bass. Rick caught the biggest bass that weighed in at 5 lbs. We caught most of our bass on plastic worms and slow-sinkin’ Senko-type baits. I caught some of my bass on Senko-type baits, but I also caught some nice bass on a swim-jig.

We had plenty of schoolers comin’ up around us and we saw plenty of schoolers feedin’ on bait-fish out in open water and along the shoreline grass. The bass are feedin’ on little glass minners. The schoolers can’t get enough of those minners so they keep bustin’ on’em throughout the day. Those little bass are kinda hard to catch because they are so little but they are fun to watch just the same.

As I said earlier, summer is gonna be here before you know it. Summer officially starts on June 21. If you do go fishin’, make sure to bring along lots of water and Gatorade to keep you hydrated throughout the day. Make sure you wear long-sleeve shirts and put on plenty of sunscreen. If you have a big straw hat, it will provide you with plenty of shade through out the day.

Well, that’s it for this week. I’ll see ya next week.

Tip of the week: lots of water.

Save a few and good luck!