By Jim Keck
Hello Folks,
It looks like we dodged a bullet with Hurricane Imelda stayin’ off our coast. It looks like we’ll get some rain and a little wind. Be safe on the water this week and go catch some fish!
Kyle at Bitter’s B&T reports that folks are still catchin’ some specks in the St. Johns River. The water’s movin’ and the specks are bitin’.
I got a report about folks catchin’ limits of specks up around Highland Fish Camp in Deland. You can also catch some specks up and down the north end of the river. Most of ‘em are bein’ caught on minners, with a few bein’ caught on jigs tipped with a minner. You need to use bright colored jigs in the stained water.
Kyle also reports you can catch some specks in Lake Monroe if the wind isn’t blowin’ like crazy. If the wind is blowin’, you’ll do best to stay in the river out of the wind.
Folks are still catchin’ some bluegills and shellcrackers in Lake Kissimmee on grass shrimp and red worms. A few specks are bein’ caught along with the panfish.
The Crackerboys Bass Club had a tournament on West Lake Toho last week. It took 18.37 pounds to win. The team of Mike and Pam Hardy won with those five bass that weighed in at over 18 pounds! The team of Lufriu caught the biggest bass of the tournament at 6.07 pounds.
Kyle reports that the fishin’ has been hit or miss dependin’ on the runnin’ water in West Lake Toho. If the locks are open and the water is runnin’, the bass seem to bite better. If you launch your boat on the north end of Lake Toho, stop by and see if the water is runnin’ out of Shingle Creek. If it is, then you know the locks are open and the bass fishin’ should be pretty good. If there is no water runnin’, the bass fishin’ might be somewhat slow.
The bass fishin’ on Johns Lake is still a little slow. Neil Davis and David Simpson won the Wednesday Night Shootout with three bass that hit the scales at 10.90 pounds. There were 20 boats in that tournament. The team of Billy Charland and Phillip Anderson won the big bass of the tournament with their catch of 4.70 pounds.
Hopefully, the fishin’ will pick up when some cooler weather comes to town, which at this point, I don’t know when that might happen.
The bass fishin’ on the Maitland Chain is kinda slow, but fishin’ at night has been better than durin’ the day.
The bass fishin’ on the Butler Chain isn’t too bad. You can catch some keeper size bass at first light and then move out a little deeper and fish the submerged hydrilla and pepper grass patches. Most of the bass are bein’ caught on swim jigs and slow sinkin’ Senko type baits. You can try a noisy topwater bait along the shoreline grass first thing in the mornin’. Keep an eye out for schoolers durin’ the day. The bass will be feedin’ on baitfish, and the bass will come up and start feedin’, so you need to be ready when that happens.
Well, I hope you get a chance to do some fishin’, and I’ll see ya next week.
Tip of the week: Runnin’ Water
SAVE A FEW AND GOOD LUCK!
