By Jim Keck

Hello Folks, 

I hope everyone is enjoyin’ these nice cool days. It’s gonna be kinda warm for Christmas, but I’m sure it’s gonna get cold again real soon. The fish are still bitin’, which includes specks and bass.  

I’m gettin’ reports of folks still gettin’ their limits of specks in Lake Woodruff up near the Highbanks Marina area of the St. Johns River. Most of the specks are bein ‘caught on jigs and minners. 

My soon-to-be grandson-in-law Josh, and his dad Kevin fished for specks over the weekend in Lake Monroe. They were trollin’ bright colored jigs with spinners on’em out in the middle of the lake. They didn’t set any records, but they did catch eight nice specks. One of the specks weighed around 2.5 pounds. Josh said she was nice and fat, so they let‘er go thinkin’ she might be full of roe.  

Kyle at Bitter’s B&T reports that folks’re stoppin’ by the store to pick up a bucket of minners, and they’re catchin’ a few more specks on minners and jigs tipped with a minner in Lake Monroe and Lake Jesup . Brightly colored jigs have been workin’ the best. So, with the cooler weather, I’m sure the water temperatures are droppin’, and that’ll get those specks to bitin’ better each week. 

We have a new moon tonight at 8:44 p.m., accordin’ to the moon calendar (or 8:43 p.m. accordin’ to a different one), so that should help the fishin’ this weekend. If you’ve been waitin’ to go speck fishin’, this weekend should be a great time to go catch ’em.  

Also the specks are still bitin’ very well in Lake Kissimmee. Folks are driftin’ with minners and gettin’ their limits.  

They’re still catchin’ lots of bass in the Headwaters down in Palm Bay. Most of the bass are bein’ caught on shiners, and some big bass are startin’ to bite, as well. The bass fishin’ on West Toho is really good right now. The guides’re takin’ folks out on four-hour trips and doin’ exceptionally well. Most of those bass are bein’ caught on shiners.  

Lake Fairview is still remarkable for bass fishin’. Folks’re catchin 20 to 25 bass per trip. The hot spot for bass fishin’ right now is the Butler Chain. My buddy Rich fished his bass club tournament out there over the weekend, and he reports that it only took a little over 10 pounds to win. Each angler is allowed to bring five fish to the scales. So, a five-fish limit of bass averaged a little over two pounds each. Rich said his partner and he caught at least 30 bass each durin’ the day, and that most of the bass were quite small, but they had a blast catchin’em all day long! 

The other anglers in the tournament reported that they caught 10 to 15 bass each, as well. They caught their bass on lipless crankbaits, plastic worms, and Senko type baits. A few bass were caught on a swim jig, too. So, if you want to take someone fishin’ who has never caught a bunch of bass, you might just want to give the Butler Chain a try over this weekend.   

I haven’t got any good reports from the Harris Chain, but I’m sure the bass fishin’ will pick up soon. They’re catchin’ some specks over there in Lake Eustis and Big Lake Harris.  

Well, that’s it for this week. I hope to see you on the water real soon. And have a very merry – and SAFE – Christmas! 

See ya next week. 

Tip of the week: New Moon! 

SAVE A FEW AND GOOD LUCK!