Time will tell flooding done by Tropical Storm Nicole

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Hello Folks,

By the time this article hits the stands, we will have been through another hurricane/sub-tropical storm. I hope and pray that you and your family stayed safe and I hope you didn’t suffer too much damage durin’ the storm.

Before this week’s storm, the fishin’ wasn’t too bad on the Kissimmee Chain. The National Professional Fishing League held its last tournament of the year on the chain that drew 92 anglers from across the U.S. Congrats to the winner, Taylor Watkins, who weighed in a three-day total that hit the scales at 69 lbs. 14 oz. Folks, that’s an average of more than 4 pounds per fish that he caught over three days. Again, congrats to Taylor on a job well done.

Kyle at Bitter’s Bait and Tackle fished the Kissimmee Chain on Sunday and he also caught quite a few bass on a variety of baits. He has a club tournament this week, so he took some time practicin’ for his tournament. Kyle also reports that the water is still flowin’ through the locks and I’m sure with this week’s storm we are goin’ to get some more water.

As far as I can tell from the website, all the Orange County Boat Ramps are still closed. The boat ramps along the St. Johns River are still closed due to high water. I sure hope the water starts droppin’ before we get into speckled perch season. Kyle also reports that some folks are fishin’ Lake Fairview and the ramp is open there for anglers.

My fishin’ buddy, Rich, fished the Holley Chain over the weekend. He was able to get on the water for a few hours and catch a couple of bass. He caught only two bass but they both were more than two pounds. The boat ramp at John’s Lake is still closed as of earlier this week. The water level on the lake is still very high, and that’s keepin’ the ramp closed.

As a suggestion, I would recommend checking on the availability of boat ramps before you go fishin.’ I know that most of the ramps on the Harris Chain are still open for fishin,’ so that opens a lot of possibilities to fish the chain. There are several lakes throughout the chain and plenty of boat ramps to launch your boat so check out the ramps before you go fishin.’ The only ramp on the chain that is closed is the ramp at Trimble Park because it’s an Orange County park.

I wish everyone a safe week through the storm and I’ll see ya next week.

Tip of the week: Stay safe.

Save a few and good luck!