I hope everyone is havin a great week and you got a chance to get out and do some fishin’’.
I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but the bluegills and shellcrackers are bitin’ like crazy in Lake Kissimmee. Some folks are still catchin’ their limits by 10 or 10:30 a.m. The fish are bitin’ on grass-shrimp and red worms. It’s gettin’ really hot, so get out their early and catch a mess of panfish before the sun gets up too high and you start gettin’ dehydrated.
I’m a little late for this but this week is National Safe Boating Week. It runs from May 17th until May 23rd. The bass fishin’ is still doin’ really good in most of the lakes in our area.
The Harris Chain has been on fire. The American Bass Anglers held a tournament last weekend out of Ski Beach in Lake Harris. Congrats to Jeremy Smith from Auburndale who won the tournament with five bass that hit the scales at 32.04 pounds. Jeremy had a 7.86-pound big bass to anchor his five bass. Jeremy won the Pro Division and a check for $4,000.
Bobby Bakewell from Central Florida came to the scales with five bass that weighed in at 25.94 pounds Bobby also had big bass of the tournament which weighed 8.18 pounds. Bobby had another bass that hit the scales at 8.17 pounds. So 16 pounds of his five fish came from those two big bass. Bobby caught all of his bass on the new Yo-Zuri Pro Series jerk bait.
There were 26 boats that fished the tournament, so it’s safe to say that the bass fishin’ on the Harris Chain is pretty hot right now.
Another lake that is hot right now is Lake Yale. I’ve been gettin’ some good reports from folks are catchin’ lots of bass on the lake. It was a little slow for a while due to the sprayin’ that took place there. Some anglers are reportin’ that they are havin’ some good days on Lake Yale, so give it a try this week.
The bass fishin’ on the Butler Chain is still about the same. Folks are gettin’ on the water early before the sun gets up. They are catchin’ a few schoolers that are feedin’ on the bait fish throughout the chain. Top water baits early, then lipless crank-baits on the schoolers.
You can fish the off-shore pepper grass patches, and the submerged eel-grass through out the chain. Swim-jigs, and speed worms in those areas work well, too. When that ol’ sun gets up, try fishin’ a Carolina rigged creature baits or drop shot creature baits will get you some bites as well. Watermelon with red glitter and junebug, or green-pumpkin are good colors to try.
We still need some more rain so keep those prayers goin’ for rain in our area. The water levels are low so be careful while you on the water.
Well, that’s it for this week. I hope you get a chance to do some fishin’ especially this weekend. We will celebrate Memorial Day on Monday, so hopefully you will be off and you get a three-day weekend.
I want to give a salute to all of those who gave their lives in service to our country.
There will be plenty of boats on the water so be extra careful this weekend. See ya next week.
Tip of the week: God Bless our troops
SAVE A FEW AND GOOD LUCK
