Panfish are still the fish to catch in area lakes and rivers

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Hello Folks,

Well, it’s summer time in Florida, and the heat index has been pretty high this summer. The fishin’ is still good in most of the chains in our area. The bigger lakes are still producin’ some good stringers of panfish.

Kyle at Bitter’s Bait and Tackle reports that the bluegills and big shellcrackers are still bitin’ in Lake Monroe and Lake Jesup. Folks are catchin’ a mess of ’em on red worms and crickets. The store has been sellin’ out of crickets and red worms just about every day. So, if you want to take the family and catch some panfish, now is a good time to go fishin’.

The bass fishin’ is still good in most of the lakes in our area. It has slowed down a little bit, but you can still get on the water and catch some bass. You need to go early and that way, if it gets too hot to fish, you can get off the water earlier and beat the afternoon rains. Most of the bass are bitin’ at first light along the shoreline cover on top-water baits. Once the sun gets up, try fishin’ with plastic worms and slow-sinkin’ Senko-type bait. Once that slows down, you will have to move to deeper water and fish the submerged hydrilla and eel-grass beds. The bass will be lookin’ for some cooler water and vegetation so they can get  out of the sun and the heat as well.

If you have a favorite lake to fish and it has some deep water along the shoreline and the cover is thick, this could also be a good spot to get out the long rod and do some flippin’. The bass will be in cooler water due to the thick cover and the bass can keep out of the sun as well. So, you have plenty of options to catch some fish durin’ the summer.

I wanted to share some information with everyone in regards to fishin’ for bass in the Great State of Florida. As you know over the years, I have shared with y’all about the Trophy Catch Program that we have here in our state. This program is run by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission throughout the state. We are in season seven and there are plenty of prizes that are still up for grabs. This program started in 2012 and as of May of this year, these are some of the results. In order to qualify in this program, you have to catch a bass that weighs more than 8 lbs. and she must be released back into the water. The anglers in Florida have caught and released 8,910 trophy bass. In the Lunker Club, there have been 7,133 bass that weigh between 8.0 lbs. and 9.9 lbs. In the Trophy Club, there has been 1,712 bass that weigh between 10 lbs. to 12.9 lbs. In the Hall of Fame Club, there have been 65 bass caught that were more than 13 lbs.

These are the bass that the FWC knows about and that doesn’t count the bass that get caught and released that no one ever knows about. So now you know why there are lots of folks who love to bass fish and the reason we can call ourselves the Bass Capital of the World.

Well, that’s it for this week. Next week, I’ll share the top 10 lakes or chains where these big bass are caught. See ya next week.

Tip of the week: go fishin’.

Save a few and good luck!