Hello Folks,
I hope everyone is havin’ a great week and, hopefully, you have plans to do some fishin’ this week.
The weather has been chilly and windy, but then it’s warm again. It’s cold today as I write my article but next week it’s gonna be back in the 80s after a cold blast to start the week, so if you get a chance to go fishin’ and the wind ain’t blowin’ you off the lake, get the family and go fishin’.
Captain Fay at Bitter’s Bait and Tackle reports that the folks in their area are catchin’ plenty of specks in Lake Monroe and Lake Jesup. The specks in the St. Johns River have slowed down this week. Most of the specks are bein’ caught driftin’ open water with jigs tipped with a minner. You can also catch ’em on minners as well with no jig. If you decide to use a jig, try fishin’ with a brightly colored jig like chartreuse or white. Keep movin’ around or let the wind drift you around until you locate a school of specks. Once you locate ’em, keep driftin’ back and forth over the school until they quite bitin’.
Folks are catchin’ a few specks in the Harris Chain, driftin’ open water until they locate a school of ’em. Use the same technique as I mentioned above and you should be able to find a few specks.
Captain Fay also reports that the bass fishin’ is a little slow right now but should be improvin’ on this upcomin’ full moon. We have a full moon on Monday, January 21. If the weather improves, or at least stays consistent, the bass fishin’ should improve as well.
Right now, you can catch a few bass in the Harris Chain. I fished there over the weekend and even though it was slow we still managed to catch six bass. We didn’t catch any lunkers, but, hey, we didn’t get skunked either. We managed to catch our bass on plastic worms, as well as with lipless crankbaits fished around and over the hydrilla clumps. You can also catch some bass in the Butler Chain. Most of the bass that are bein’ caught are on the smaller size. Folks aren’t catchin’ any big ’uns right now but I’m sure that’s gonna change as we get closer to the spawnin’ time here in Florida.
If you fish the Butler Chain, try fishin’ the shoreline cover early in the mornin’. You may find some bass feedin’ on bait-fish durin’ the early mornin’ bite. There are a few schoolers bustin’ on bait-fish in the chain. The bass are very small so you may have to use a small lure to catch ’em. Always keep a lipless crank-bait tied on one of your rods in case they start schoolin’ while you are fishin’.
Well, that’s it for this week. I hope you get a chance to go fishin’ over the weekend. See ya next week.
Tip of the week: full moon.
Save a few and good luck!
