Hello Folks,
We had another great weekend to go fishin’. Lots of folks were on the water catchin’ some bluegills and shellcrackers.
Lake Woodruff and Lake Monroe have been good lakes to fish for panfish. Most folks are driftin’ open water with crickets and red worms. Keep driftin’ until you locate ’em and then keep driftin’ back and forth over the school until they quit bitin’. Then drift again until you locate another bed of ’em. Do the same thing and by the end of the day you should have enough for supper. There is nothin’ like fresh fish, hushpuppies, coleslaw, maybe some baked beans, and a big glass of sweet tea.
The bass fishin’ has been good and not so good. Some days they are in the feedin’ frenzy and the next day you have to hit ’em in the head to get ’em to bite. The Harris Chain has been doin’ good until the day Rick and I went which was last week. We only caught five bass. All those bass were caught flippin’ the heavy cover. No big ’uns but good keeper-size bass. It just wasn’t our day on the water but, hey, you know what they say: A bad day on the water is better than a good day at work.
The bass fishin’ on the Kissimmee Chain is a little better. With all the rain we have been havin’, look for some runnin’ water and the bass should be hangin’ around those type of areas. Fish in the mouth of the canals, feeder creeks, and the shell-beds for bass. Once the sun gets up, move to deeper water and try and locate some submerged hydrilla and eel-grass beds. Try a lipless crank-bait, swim-bait, or a bladed jig fished over the top of the grass.
The Butler Chain has been good one day and the next it’s kinda slow. You need to get on the water early at first light and fish the shoreline cover with a noisy top-water bait or a swim-bait around the grassline or the lily pads. You can also find some bass by flippin’ the heavy cover with your favorite flippin’ bait. You can always try and locate some bass in deeper water that has the submerged hydrilla and pepper grass beds.
If the grass isn’t topped out, try a Carolina-rigged plastic worm or a slow-sinkin Senko-type bait around the grass clumps. Try and find the edge of the grass with a little indention in it and let your Senko slowly drop down the edge. You need to be ready to set the hook because if that bass gets you back in the middle of the grass patch, you may not be able to get ’em out. But, hey, that would be a good problem to have, right?
The bass fishin’ has been good in Lake Fairview. A co-worker of mine was fishin’ the lake last weekend and he had a good day on the water. Justin was fishin’ a slow-sinkin Senko-type bait around the cover and the docks through out the lakes. He caught one bass that weighed 4.5 lbs. It wasn’t 10 minutes later he caught a 4.8 lb. bass. I have included pictures of the bass with this article.
Well, that’s it for this week. I hope you get a chance to go fishin’ this week or over the weekend. See ya next week.
Tip of the week: slow sinkin’.
Save a few and good luck!
