Hello Folks,
I hope all the fathers out there had a great Father’s Day and, more importantly, you got to spend some time on the water. If you went fishin’, you know that the fishin’ has been pretty good as of late. The bass and the panfish are still bitin’ in most of the lakes in our area.
Kyle at Bitter’s Bait and Tackle reports that the folks in his area are catchin’ some bluegills and some shellcrackers in Lake Jesup and Lake Monroe. All you need are some red worms or crickets and you are good to go. Kyle also reports that some anglers are still catchin’ some specks under the State Road 417 bridge in Lake Jesup. Most of the specks are bein’ caught on minners, under the bridge.
The bass fishin’ is doin’ really good in most of the lakes in our area. Kyle reports the store is sellin’ lots of wild shiners and domestic shiners to folks that are bass fishin’. The bass are bitin’ in the Maitland Chain really good on shiners. You can also catch ’em on lipless crank-baits in the submerged hydrilla and eel-grass beds or you can try fishin’ those same areas with a slow-sinkin’ Senko-type baits, or a Carolina-rigged plastic worm.
We have been gettin’ lots of rain here of late so make sure you look for some runnin’ water in the mouth of the feeder creeks. If you fish the Kissimmee Chain, there are lots of areas where the water is flowin’ into the lakes and those areas usually will have some bass hangin’ around feedin’ on the baitfish.
I just wanted to take a minute and expand on my column from last week about TrophyCatch.com here in our state. This year, in the eighth season, there have been 8,006 bass caught in the Lunker Club. Those bass must weigh between 8-9.9 lbs. each. There have been 1,966 bass caught in Trophy Club. Those bass that are caught and released must weigh a minimum of 10 lbs. and no larger than 12.9 lbs. Also, there is a Hall of Fame class of bass that weigh over 13 lbs. or bigger. There have been 78 of those bass caught and released so far this season. These bass were all caught and released in our waters here in Florida. I’m sure there are a lot more bass caught and released in our state, but they haven’t been accounted for in this program. All to say that we have some great fishin’ here in our great state and I hope you get a chance to experience the catch and release of a Florida big bass
If you want to participate in this great program, go to TrophyCatch.com and register yourself, so you can be part of this season. You may be part of the more than 10,000 folks who have caught and released a bass back into our waters. I hope you get a chance to do some fishin’ this weekend and I’ll see ya next week.
Tip of the week: bass are bitin’. Save a few and good luck!
