Hello Folks,
The weather is great and the fishin’ is great as well. Folks are gettin’ on the water and doin’ some fishin’. The specks are still bitin’ in most of the lakes in our area.
Kyle at Bitters Bait and Tackle reports that the specks are still bitin’ in Lake Monroe and Lake Jesup. You can also catch some specks in the St. Johns River. Try usin’ jigs tipped with a minner.
Folks are also catchin’ some nice specks fishin’ with a minner under a cork. You need a small split shot and a #2 or #4 gold hook and a bucket of minners and you are good to go.
Folks are catchin’ some specks in the Harris Chain as well. We had a full moon the first part of this week so some specks are movin’ to the shoreline to spawn. You need to check the shoreline cover like laydowns, pads, and reeds to see if any specks are startin’ to bed in those areas. Folks are also catchin’ a few specks in the Butler Chain and John’s Lake. Most of those specks are bein’ caught by driftin’ in open water. Let the wind drift you across the lake until you see a school of ’em bitin’. Once you find ’em, keep driftin’ back and forth over that same area until they quit bitin’.
The bass fishin’ is good one day and a little slow the next. You can catch some nice bass on shiners in most of the lakes in our area. Try lettin’ your shiner swim up around the shoreline cover like the pads or the reeds for some good results. This is the time of year when you will be able to catch a big female spawnin’.
Please practice catch and release on these big bass. We need to ensure the future of bass fishin’ for our children and grandchildren. You can weigh the bass and take some quick pictures and get her back in the water as soon as possible.
Try to release her where you caught her, if possible, so she can go back on her bed to finish spawnin’.
My fishin’ partner Rick and his brother in-law Greg and his nephew Chris finished out the week of bass fishin’. They fished for eight days in a row and caught some nice bass as you saw last week in my column. Chris ended up catchin’ the biggest bass out of the three, an 8-pounder in Lake Dora. They also caught some really nice bass the rest of the week.
They fished the Harris Chain, the Butler Chain, and John’s Lake. They caught several bass that were in the 4 lb. to 5 lb. range, and a lot of smaller bass, likely bucks that were gettin’ the beds ready for the big females to spawn. They caught most of their bass on plastic worms, and slow-sinkin’ Senko-type baits. A couple of bass were caught on lipless crank-baits, too.
If the weather continues to be in our favor, the fishin’ should be good the rest of the month. Get the family together, go enjoy the outdoors, and catch some fish. See you next week.
Tip of the week: family time on the water.
Save a few and good luck!
