Warmer weather means specks are bitin’ in area lakes

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Hello Folks,

Well, the weather is warmin’ up and we got some rain on Super Bowl Sunday so all is well for catchin’ some fish.

Folks are fishin’ for specks in most of the major chains in our area, the Butler Chain, the Kissimmee Chain, and the Harris Chain. Most folks are driftin’ with jigs tipped with a minner. You will need to cover a lot of water until you locate a school of ‘em. As you drift, make sure you have your jigs tipped with minners at different depths.

The specks may be suspended or layin’ close to the bottom of the lake. They may be suspended somewhere between the top and bottom of the lake as well. We don’t have a full moon until March 1 so it may be a couple of weeks before they start headin’ to the spawnin’ areas. Lake Griffin and Lake Yale have been two good lakes to catch some specks in as well. Most folks are driftin’ open water and doin’ pretty well.

The bass fishin’ should be pickin’ up by the weekend. Folks are catchin’ some bass in the Harris Chain and the Kissimmee Chain. A co-worker fished Big Lake Harris the first of this week. He caught and release five bass up to 3 lbs. each. He caught a couple of bass on swim-baits and slow-sinkin’ Senko-type baits.

My fishin’ buddy Rick was also on the water this week. He also caught five bass up to 5 lbs. each. Most of his bass were caught on slow-sinkin’ Senko-type baits as well. Rick also reports he didn’t see any bass on the beds. He saw some areas where the bass were startin’ to fan the bottom of the lake. Some nice bass are bein’ caught in the Kissimmee Chain on shiners fished along the outside grass beds.

Congratulations to Tim Frederick of Leesburg. He won his first FLW event on Lake Okeechobee. Tim weighed in 20 bass over the course of four days. His total weight for the event was 85 lbs. and 4 oz. His winnin’ stringer got him a check for $102,700. It’s great to see local anglers win at this level. Again, congratulations to Tim on his win.

If you want to catch some of the action of the FLW tour they will be hostin’ a tournament on the Harris Chain this month. They will be goin’ out of Venetian Gardens in Leesburg. The tournament dates will be February 22-25. The weigh-ins on day 1 and 2 are at 3 p.m. On days 3 and 4, they weigh-in at 4 p.m.

Well, I hope you get a chance to do some fishin’. See ya next week.

Tip of the week: go fishin’.

Save a few and good luck!