Hello Folks, 

Well, we finally got some decent weather this past weekend, and lots of folks were on the water fishin’. The specks are bitin’ really good in most of the lakes in our area.  

Lake Woodruff and the St. Johns River have been on fire for the past week. There were a couple of days when the specks slowed down with the cold weather, but once it warmed back up a little, they started bitin’ again. Most folks are catchin’ ’em on jigs tipped with a minner or just fished ’em naked under a cork or bobber.  

The specks are startin’ to bite in the Harris Chain just a little. Some folks are still catchin’em in 8 to 10 feet of water, but some anglers are searchin’ the pads.  

We have a new moon on the 17th of this month. If the weather stays decent, I’m sure those specks will be movin’ to shallow water to spawn. Over the years, folks drifted for ’em in Lake Eustis and Big Lake Harris, but those specks sure do like to get in those pads on the chain! If you decide to go catch some specks, check deep and then move on to the shoreline and see if any specks are movin’ in there to spawn.  

If you were on the Harris Chain last week and over the weekend, you might’ve run into some bass anglers who were fishin’ an MLF Pro Circuit. There were 145 anglers who fished this tournament. And, congrats to Drew Gill; he won that tournament! Over the course of three days, Drew weighed in a total of 66 pounds-4 ounces of bass. He caught a big bass on Day 1 that hit the scales at 8 pounds-3ounces for an additional $500. In total, he won $100,500 for his win.  

I would also like to give a shout-out to Bobby Bakewell from Orlando. He finished in 27th place and won $10,000 for his efforts. He also caught the biggest bass of the tournament on Day 2, which bagged him another $500. But folks, this is where it gets interesting. When I talked to Bobby after the tournament, he said he was worn out after three days of fishin’. He said the water temperature on the Harris Chain on the first day of practice was 45 degrees! Our Florida bass just don’t like cold weather very much. So, on day 1 of the tournament, he didn’t weigh-in one single bass! Zero, nada, nothin’! Bobby didn’t have any boat or motor issues, he simply didn’t catch any bass to bring to the weigh-in. On day 2 of the tournament, he caught four bass that weighed 18 pounds. On the last day, he weighed-in two bass for another 6 pounds, and he still finished 27th. In total, he caught six bass for those three days of fishin’… But he still got a check! Folks, that’s pretty dog-gone good for this young man. I asked Bobby what he caught most of his fish on, and he told me he caught his biggest bass, the 8-pound-14-ounce, on a Chatterbait. He caught a 7-pounder on a Yo-zuri Jerkbait. He also caught a couple of bass on Bruiser Bait stick worms. He didn’t say which color he used, but I’m sure it had some green pumpkin or blue flake in it. Those are usually pretty good colors on the Harris Chain.  

Well, that’s it for this week. I hope you get a chance to do some fishin’ this week, and I want to see you on the water real soon! 

Tip of the week: Warmer Days.         

SAVE A FEW AND GOOD LUCK!