Hello Folks, 

I hope all y’all enjoyed the latest Arctic blast we had. Good gracious, it was cold! They said that it was the coldest few days that we’ve had in 10 years. I believe it. I hope everyone stayed warm, and if you went fishin’ like a few of my friends did, I hope you caught some fish for your trouble!  

Believe it or not, the specks were bitin’ like crazy. Folks are still catchin’ their limit of specks in Lake Woodruff, the St. Johns River and Lake Monroe. Most of the specks are bein’ caught on a variety of baits.  

Of course, minners is one of the ol’ favorites, and some folks just like to fish artificials. I would tell you to fish with whatever works best for you. I’ve always used minners ‘cause that’s how I was taught! Don’t get me wrong; I like to catch’em on jigs, too. 

The Highland Park Fish Camp had a great turnout of their free Kids Fishing Rodeo last weekend, and their speck tournament, too. Last weekend’s weather conditions were brutal to fish in, but when the goin’ gets tough, the tough get goin’! Lots of specks were caught this past weekend, and some folks really caught some big’uns, too.  

Folks were catchin’ some specks in the Harris Chain over the weekend. I got some reports that the specks were still in deeper water, and folks were driftin’ over ’em just to catch’em! Most of those specks were caught on jigs tipped with a minner.  

The bass fishin’ was good on the Harris Chain last week as well as over the weekend. The big bass tour held a tournament last weekend, and lots of big bass came to the scales for the weigh-in. You could weigh in your biggest bass each hour.  

Congrats to Clayton Wiggins who weighed in the biggest bass of the tournament which hit the scales at 10.41 pounds. The top ten bass each hour won money. So, congrats to all the anglers who fished and got a check.  

The bass fishin’ on the Kissimmee Chain was hot last week. That’s where Bassmaster held their Turtlebox Bassmaster Open. They put in at West Lake Toho, and there were around 170 anglers who took part. 

Congrats to Cody Stahl from Georgia who won the tournament by fishin’ an offshore spot he found in practice. Cody caught most of his fish on a Lipless Crankbait. He used a Berkley Jack in a silver color and one in a gold color.  

Cody was rippin’ his 3/4-ounce baits through the offshore grass, and he weighed in five bass on each day of the tournament. On day No. 1, he weighed in a 9-pound-6-ounce bass in his 5-bass limit. On day No. 2, he weighed in an 8-pound-14-ounce bass with his 5-bass limit. Cody weighed in a total of 74 pounds, 6 ounces over the three days of competition.  He won by more than 22 pounds, 1 ounceover second-place Stephan Browning. This win for Cody clinched him a check for $38,731! He also punched his ticket to the 2027 Bassmaster Classic. It was a great tournament for most of these anglers. They fought off some terrible weather conditions, which, in Florida, makes for an unusually tough day of fishin’.  

Well folks, please stay warm, and I’ll see ya next week.  

Tip of the week: Lipless Crankbaits! 

SAVE A FEW AND GOOD LUCK!