Hello Folks,
I wanted to thank everyone who prayed for rain. We finally got some and it looks like we are goin’ to get some more soon. Our lakes and rivers are really low, so we will take all the rain we can get.
Kyle at Bitter’s Bait and Tackle reports that folks are fishin’ in the St. Johns River for bluegills and shellcrackers, but he cautions everyone that the river is low and you need to be careful while fishin’ on the river.
The bluegills and shellcrackers have slowed down a little in Lake Monroe and Lake Jesup.
The good news is that the bluegills and shellcrackers are bitin’ in West Lake Toho. Mark at Big Toho Bait and Tackle reports that the bluegills and shellcrackers are bitin’ really good on the lake.
Most folks are fishin’ the shell-beds out from Red’s Fish Camp. Almost all of the panfish are bein’ caught on red worms. If you want to take the family and catch a bucket full of bluegills, I would head down to West Lake to catch ’em.
Mark also reports that Bass Cat/Falcon Boat owners held a tournament out of Big Toho this past weekend. There were 34 boats in the tournament. Congrats to Boogie Brown who won the two-day tournament with 10 bass that weighed more than 52 lbs. total. Mark also reports that there were a couple of eight pounders caught durin’ the tournament as well.
Most of the bass were caught in open water in West Lake and Lake Kissimmee. Most of the bass were caught around the edges of the hydrilla mats throughout the lakes. The two best baits to use durin’ the tournament were a Zoom Speed worm and a Zoom 10-in. Ole Monster plastic worm. The best color was junebug. So, I would have to say that West Lake Toho bass fishin’ is doin’ pretty good right now.
Meanwhile, the bass fishin’ on the Harris Chain is fair to middlin’.
Kyle reports that his bass club, West Orange Bass Anglers, held its monthly tournament on Lake Griffin last weekend. It took five bass that weighed a little more than 14 lbs. to win the tournament.
Rick and I and his brother-in-law, Greg Fugate from Kentucky, fished the Harris Chain last week as well. Between the two boats, we caught and released more than 20 bass on both trips. We caught most of our bass on plastic worms, swim-jigs, and chatter-baits.
We flipped the Kissimmee grass with Bitter’s BFM black with a blue tail. This bait is a smaller version of the Muskrat. It’s 4.5 inches in size. It’s a great bait for flippin’ and pitchin’. These baits come in 196 different colors, so I’m sure you can find a color to meet your needs.
The bass fishin’ on the Butler Chain is doin’ pretty good. Rick and Greg caught a lot of small bass out there last week. Most of their bass were caught on plastic worms and slow-sinkin’ Senko-type baits.
Well, that’s it for this week. I hope you get a chance to get on the water and do some fishin’. Please make sure you take along lots of water and Gatorade to stay hydrated durin’ the summer. See ya next week.
Tip of the week: hydrilla mats.
Save a few and good luck!
