Hello Folks,
I hope everyone is havin’ a great week, and you are lookin’ forward to goin’ fishin’ this weekend. The fishin’ has been pretty good this past week and over last weekend, the fishin’ was good as well.
Folks are gettin’ on the water in Lake Monroe and Lake Jesup and catchin’ lots of specks. Most folks are catchin’ their specks on minners, driftin’ the deeper areas of Lake Monroe. Most of the specks bein’ caught in Lake Jesup are bein’ caught driftin’ open water with minners. Folks are also catchin’ some specks around the 417 bridge in Lake Jesup. The specks are also startin’ to bite some jigs tipped with a minner. The specks are bitin’ on a variety of colors, so keep changin’ colors until you find the right one. Over the years, bright colored jigs have worked the best.
The bass fishin’ has been pretty good in the Harris Chain. I had the opportunity to fish the chain with my buddy Rich Niles last Friday. We caught and released over 20 bass up to 4 pounds. It’s been a while since I’ve caught that many bass. It was fun, and it sure beats catchin’ three or fourbass per trip. It is always fun to catch ‘em, but I also enjoyed just bein’ on the water again.
Kyle at Bitter’s Bait and Tackle reports folks are catchin’ bass in the Maitland Chain on shiners and plastic worms. Also, the bass fishin’ on the Kissimmee has been good as well. It’s taken around a 30-pound bag of bass to win a tournament on the chain. Kyle also reports that the bass fishin’ has been good on the Butler Chain. Most folks are catchin’ schoolers on the chain. You can catch plenty of schooler-size bass on the chain on lipless crank-baits, chatter-baits, and slow rollin’ a speed worm through the submerged grass patches throughout the chain.
Well, the battle is over. If you remember, the FWC/TrophyCatch program had a “battle of the lakes” this past year. The battle was between Orange Lake and Fellsmere Reservoir, better known as the Head Waters. Fellsmere anglers submitted 85 trophy bass totaling 759 pounds-3 ounces. The average bass weighed in at 8.93 pounds. Orange Lake anglers caught 64 bass weighin’ in at 635 poundss-8 ounces. Orange Lake yielded the heaviest bass of the entire season hittin’ the scales at 14 pounds-1 ounce. Also, Orange Lake yielded four Hall of Fame bass weighin’ over 13 pounds. The average bass caught in Orange Lake hit the scales at 9.93 pounds. Fellsmere did not post any giant bass in the Hall of Fame category. It’s no coincidence that well after these two bodies of water were selected for this battle (BassMaster chose both of these waters) along with world-famous Lake Okeechobee for its prestigious “Top 10 Best Bass Lakes” of 2023. I think it’s pretty cool that we have three of the top ten lakes in our state for catchin’ lots of bass, and a few big ‘uns, too.
Well, I hope you get a chance to do some fishin’ this week or over the weekend. I’ll see ya next week.
Tip of the week: They’re bitin’.
Save a few and good luck!
