Hello Folks,
I hope you had a great Labor Day weekend and, hopefully, you got a chance to do some fishin’. We have been havin’ quite a bit of rain and that has cooled the water temps in most of the lakes in Central Florida. The cooler water has helped the fishin’ whether you are fishin’ for specks or a few panfish or even some bass.
Kyle at Bitter’s Bait and Tackle reports that the specks are still bitin’ in Lake Jesup and folks are gettin’ their limits on most days. All you need to do is get a bucket of minners and head over to the State Road 417 bridge, and you will be able to catch ’em.
Kyle reports that a few folks are catchin’ some panfish in Lake Jesup on red worms, too. So, you have a couple of options if you want to get the family and go panfishin’.
The bass fishin’ has picked up a little with all the rain we have been gettin’. The rain cooled the water down and the bass fishin’ has picked up.
Kyle reports the bass fishin’ in the Maitland Chain has been good but most of the bass are bein’ caught on shiners. You need to freeline shiners out the back of the boat over the submerged hydrilla and eel-grass beds.
The water is flowin’ in the St. Johns River and folks are fishin’ the feeder creeks and the runoffs for bass. Kyle fished there last week and did pretty good fishin’ those types of areas.
The bass are bitin’ a little better in Big Lake Toho. Mark at Big Toho Bait and Tackle reports that the afternoon rains have cooled the water down and the bass are bitin’ a little better.
Most of the bass are bein’ caught on shiners fished around the hydrilla clumps in open water. You can fish top-water baits early in the mornin’ around the movin’ water from Shingle Creek or the canals and feeder creeks that feed into the lake. Buzz Baits have been workin’ the best early in the mornin’.
Mark said that once the sun gets up, you need to switch to plastic worms and slow-sinkin’ Senko-type baits mid-mornin’. Most folks are comin’ off the water by noon time due to the afternoon rains or the hot sun. So, if you want to go bass fishin’, you need to be on the water at sunrise to catch ’em.
The Trophy Catch program Season 8 will end on September 30 of this year. You need to make sure your entry is in by the end of the month. Season 9 will begin on October 1. You can go to the www.trophycatch.com to submit your entry for this season or you can go and register for next season as well.
It’s a great program and I would highly recommend you get registered for next season. Your next bass could get you into the Lunker Club.
I, along with others, caught and released a bass of more than 8 lbs. last year. I got all kinds of neat stuff from the sponsors and it also allowed me to be registered for a chance to win a Phoenix Boat at the end of the season.
Well, that’s it for this week. I hope you get a chance to do some fishin’ this week and I’ll see ya next week.
Tip of the week: cooler temps.
Save a few and good luck!
