Hello Folks,
We have some cooler weather comin’ our way this weekend. I’m sure that’s goin’ to affect the fishin’ just a little. The good news is if the weather isn’t too bad, the speck fishin’ should keep goin’ strong. When it gets a little windy, it makes it tough on controllin’ the boat where you want to fish.
Kyle at Bitter’s Bait and Tackle reports that the specks are still bitin’ well in most of the lakes in our area. Lake Monroe, Lake Jesup, and Lake Harney are producin’ some nice stringers of specks when you can fish those lakes. Most folks are usin’ minners and havin’ some good results. A few folks are usin’ jigs tipped with a minner and they are catchin’ some nice stringers, too. It’s just hit-or-miss right now with the weather and the wind.
The bass fishin’ on the St. Johns River is a little slow right now because of the high water. The bass are scattered around, and they are holdin’ in one particular area of the river. Kyle reports that the bass fishin’ on the Winter Park Chain is doin’ OK if you are fishin’ with shiners. Folks are freelinin’ shiners over the submerged hydrilla and eel-grass beds and catchin’ a few bass.
Rick and I fished the Harris Chain last week and it was kinda slow for us. We fished Lake Beauclair and Lake Dora and only caught a few bass. I also fished last week on West Lake Toho with Rich Niles from Mt. Dora. We had a pretty good day on the water. We caught and released 18 bass up to 4 lbs. each. Rich went back on Sunday and caught another 20 bass up to 3 lbs. each. We caught most of our bass on swim-baits, plastic worms, and weightless Senko-type baits. We also caught a few bass flippin’ the heavy cover as well.
Folks are fishin’ John’s Lake for specks and bass. Kyle reports the specks are bitin’ on minners in the bigger lakes. The bass fishin’ on John’s Lake has been good on most days. The MLF bass organization held its tournament on the Harris Chain last week and over the weekend. They held the college tournament on Friday and then the high school tournament on Saturday. MLF is comin’ back to the Harris Chain next week for the Toyota Series. The tournament will be held from February 1-3. If you want to attend the takeoffs, you need to be at Ski-beach at Venetians Gardens in Leesburg at 7 a.m. The weigh-ins will start at 3 p.m. each day at the same place: Venetian Gardens in Leesburg.
The bass on the chain are in pre-spawn and post-spawn, and they are movin’ in and then back out to deeper water when we have a cold front. We could see some big stringers of bass weighed in next week.
Well, that’s it for this week. I hope to see you on the water.
Tip of the week: go fishin’.
Save a few and good luck!
