Take along plenty of liquids when you fish on summer days

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Hello Folks,

We are well into summer and if you haven’t noticed, we are in what I call  “the dog days of summer.” I don’t know if that terminology still exists today but that’s what we would call it durin’ the summer.

Durin’ the past couple of weeks, I’ve noticed that the temperature in my work truck has reached 102 degrees. When you get on the water and the sun is comin’ down and the sun is reflectin’ off the water, it can get pretty hot real quickly. Please make sure you take along plenty of water and I like to take along some Gatorade to replace the electrolytes you lose while you are sweatin’. Also, I would suggest that you get on the water early, use plenty of sun screen, and drink plenty of liquids.

The bass have been feedin’ at first light along the shoreline cover and then movin’ to deeper water once that ole sun gets up in the sky.

Folks are catchin’ bass on plastic frogs and toads or swim-baits at first light. You need to switch over to plastic worms and fish the submerged hydrilla and eel-grass beds.

The Kissimmee Chain has been real good for bass as of late. The afternoon rains are feedin’ into the chain from the feeder creeks and the bass are bustin’ on the bait-fish where the water come into the lakes.

The St. Johns River has plenty of feeder creeks with water flowin’ into the river, so give them a try if you like to fish on the river.

The Harris Chain has been good for bass and folks are catchin’ plenty of bluegills and shellcrackers, too. Lake Dora, Lake Griffin, and Little Lake Harris have been producin’ the larger numbers of panfish.

Most folks are fishin’ with crickets and red-worms under the docks and pads throughout the lake. You can also catch some bluegills and shellcrackers in Lake Harney and Lake Woodruff. Most folks are driftin’ mid-lake with crickets. If they come up on a bed of bluegills, they will anchor off and use red-worms and grass-shrimp to catch ‘em.

If you want to have some fun and you have the family along for a day of fishin’, take along a small rod and reel combo with light line, say 4 lbs. to 6 lbs. test. You can cast a small Beetle Spin or a tiny road-runner type lure over the bluegills and you will have a blast catchin’ ‘em.

The Butler Chain and the Conway Chain have been good chains to fish durin’ the week.

Once the weekend gets here, folks are getting’ on the water and skiin’, tubin’, and just ridin’ around the lake and the fishin’ slows down a little. As the boat traffic increases, you will feel like a bobber bobbin’ up and down on a bluegill bed. Again, once the mornin’ bite is over, you will have to move to deep water to find the bass. They will be hangin’ around the submerged hydrilla and eel-grass beds. If you see some deep water on the shoreline and some thick cover, you can put the ole flippin’ rod in your hand and flip the heavy cover.

Well, that’s it for this week. I’ll see ya next week.

Tip of the week: plenty of liquids.

Save a few and good luck!