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Lake Toho Bass Fishing Mid April

East Lake Toho Bass Fishing

Hit the waters of East Lake Toho for a few hours this morning with Jack.

We ran around a little bit marking a few areas of topped out hydrilla and located a bunch of great off shore grass beds. There was a some action on the surface with bass chasing bait fish around, but it was limited to early morning hours. Our main focus was hitting those off shore grass areas and they paid off pretty good.

Although the bass were a little scattered around, if you were in their general area they were more than happy to take the offerings we had for the. Several bass were boated with soft plastics. Using a wacky rig and lizard but the main baits were a rapala crank bait and the Azuma Shaker Z. Water levels out here looked great and water clarity was perfect. Will be hitting East Lake again soon to toss a few prototype lures around to get them fine tuned.

Lake Toho Bass Fishing

Got an early start this morning out on Lake Toho. The guys wanted to use live bait today so we meet up at Lake Toho Marina and grabbed a couple dozen wild shiners. We had hit a few areas that had been producing bass for us, mostly on the northern end of Lake Toho. We had a couple misses working the grass lines along Lakeshore drive, before we moved over to Gobblets Cove. Some very good hydrilla out here holding some quality bass along the edges. Pitching the shiners next to the edges is always a good bet.

We worked the residential canal for a few hours, with a few misses and a couple boated, along with this nice solid keeper, definitely a good anchor bass. Winds were calm the first part of the day, but believe me, they picked up pretty good. Once the winds picked up, the bite seemed to have dropped off. Have a 4 hour run out on Butler Chain tomorrow, another great body of water that has been producing pretty good.

Bass Fishing Forecast for May

With the weather calming down, cold fronts, or even cool fronts now a thing of the past, our water temperatures are now starting to warm up steadily. Early morning schooling action will be very common on Lakes Toho, Butler Chain and Johns Lake. Prop baits, torpedoes, buzz baits and toads will be very good early morning producers for some quality bass.

Grass beds and hydrilla will be very good areas to target using worms, senko type baits, spinner baits and shallow running crank baits. Depending on the body of water, docks will be holding bass as usual and typically some good quality largemouth bass.

Typical spring rains will have water flowing thru canals and creeks which will have bass ambushing bait fish off and on during the day. Rattle traps will be a great bait for these bass, as well as using for picking up aggressive bass and locating them quickly

Bass Fishing Forecast for December

Bass fishing in Florida is usually great in the month of December. Bass are starting to feed up for the spawn. Cold fronts have started rolling through the state not only cooling off our air temperatures, but also our water temperatures. This will trigger bait fish, shad and wild shiners to bunch up, making the bass feeding frenzy some really exciting action to fish.

This time of year bass schooling action is not uncommon and with this going on, bass can be caught in several different ways. Of course one of everyone’s favorite ways is top water action. Top water pop’rs, buzz baits and toads can trigger some explosive strikes from bass.

Spinner baits and blade baits, like the steel shad will also be very effective lures to use to catch schooling bass.
Largemouth bass will start staging up for the big spawn, and bass beds can be seen as early as the first week of December. This is generally when expectations start to rise, people get excited, as catching that trophy bass can become much easier. Anglers will be ready to start targeting bass beds with ten inch worms, craws and a wide range of other creature baits to catch that one gal they have been waiting for.

This is also a very busy time of year for us, as anglers from all over the United States flock to Florida, the Bass Fishing Capital of the World, as they know this is the start of what we call “Trophy Bass Fishing” season.
One of the main targets of course will be world famous Lake Toho which has been known for decades to yield some of the biggest bass the State of Florida has to offer. Other lakes in the central Florida area that can and will produce trophy bass are, Butler Chain and Johns Lake.

Lake Toho Trophy Bass Fishing

World Famous Lake Toho Trophy Bass Fishing starts on covering 18,810 acres of what is indisputably some of the best trophy bass fishing in the State of Florida, and with very good reason. This amazing body of water can, on any given day or any given cast reward an angler with a 10 pound bass, what everyone considers a trophy bass, or a catch of a lifetime for many.

With many options for Lake Toho Trophy Bass Fishing, catching these trophy bass on wild shiners to crank baits, one thing is for sure, the possibilities are endless, the fun and excitement has no boundaries. Tournament anglers flock from around the country to fish tournaments here. Whether it be a B.A.S.S tournament, FLW, Extreme Bass or local club tournaments, these directors hold their tournaments here for a very good reason, BIG BASS!

Lake Toho Trophy Bass Fishing is fantastic depending on what time of year you wish to fish Lake Toho can play a role on the numbers, or the quality of the bass you will catch. Now everyone knows the summer months for bass fishing can be tough with the extreme heat, many anglers feel that the bass just won’t bite. This is very far from the truth. Generally the summer months the bass fishing will still be productive in the early morning hours and late afternoon. Many will say “the big gals bite early or late” but I can assure you they will bite all day long. Most of my biggest bass, 7 to 10 pounds have come between the hours of 11am and 3 pm, right in the heat of the day!
Fall and winter are probably some of the best times to bass fish on Lake Toho. Cold fronts will roll into Central Florida, lowering our air temperatures and also dropping our water temperatures. This will trigger baitfish, shad and shiners to bunch up in pods making them an easy target for largemouth bass to ambush. This will trigger the bass feeding frenzy as they fatten up for the spawn, which typically starts early January and will last sometimes into May.

Spawn season is typically our busiest time of year, as this is generally one of the best times for people to get a chance to go Lake Toho Trophy Bass Fishing and focus on catching a trophy bass on Lake Toho. Many anglers, even the most experienced, will request live wild shiners as their bait of choice just to increase the chances of them catching that Trophy Bass that many anglers may spend many years trying to catch.
Spring can be just absolutely off the hook bass fishing! Lake Toho Trophy Bass Fishing have finished their spawn by then, and what are they looking to do? Well this is the time that trophy bass once again go on a major feeding frenzy! They have laid their eggs and for the most part remained dormant, as they remain close to the bed, watching over the buck bass guarding the nest. Now if the buck has been caught and not released, the female bass will return to guard the nest. Once the spawn is complete for her, she will start feeding up to regain strength, and these gals can be very aggressive when they feed. This will make for some seriously fun bass fishing.

Lake Toho Trophy Bass Fishing

There is good reason these bass make it to 10 pounds or better, they are smart! We know the waters we fish, but remember, they know the waters they live in. Many may find that statement laughable, but think about it. Many big bass are not caught in wide open waters. They are usually caught from beds, which can be close to or even under docks. Close to or in openings in grass beds, or in and around sunken timber. Now when you hook one of these gals, they will make a run for cover, Hitting that dock, trying to get to thick cover, or tangling you up in that timber. That to me, and many other pro anglers says these bass are smart. It’s not just a matter of setting a hook, and reeling her in.

We must always remember when you do catch a spawning bass to handle her with extreme care. Please take that picture fast, supporting her belly and gently releasing her back into the waters. These trophy bass are also our “breeding stock” as we like to call them. It’s their gene that helps map our future in the bass fishing industry, and when these trophy bass are released alive and well it will increase the next bass anglers’ chances at also catching that bass of a lifetime, and who knows, that next angler could be your own son or daughter.

For additional information on Lake Toho Guides and Central Florida Bass Fishing in general please visit these site.

Lake Toho, Johns Lake and Butler Chain Bass Fishing Report Oct 2009

Orlando Bass Fishing Report

The month of October has seen some very good bass fishing action here in Orlando.
Johns Lake has seen some good schooling action in the early morning hours with us catching them on steel shad, gitem shad and curly 7’s.

Most schooling action has been in the Deer Island Cut with some action coming mid lake. Waters are up and bass have new feeding areas due to this, so some of the more common haunts have not produced as well as in the past. Making adjustments to your normal fishing patterns will make a big difference in what you catch, and how much you catch.
Grass beds and offshore submerged hydrilla have been a huge key to success in keeping the action going steady during the day. Top water action is here! Gitem toads and torpedoes getting some good action.

Butler Chain has been pretty typical with the action coming mostly on wacky rigs skipped under docks. We have gotten on a good spinner bait bite as well along with rattle traps and c-rigged gitem warlocks. Lakes Butler and Down have been very good to us especially in deeper waters, working drop offs has seemed to be the spot as well as areas with sunken trees, as the bait fish have been stacking up in these areas pretty good as of late.

Lake Toho has been doing good, with a few runs out there lately steel shad have done very good in open waters, as well as working along hydrilla beds and grass edges. Toads and 10 inch worms have been great coming across topped out hydrilla as well as thru scattered grasses.

November is shaping up to be a great month for bass fishing. Temperatures, water and air are cooling down, making it much nicer to fish than the hot summer months, and with the cooler waters, bass are getting much more active. Live bait bite should be good as usual, and we should have some good top water action as well. Schooling action is typically good in November and we fully expect it to carry on right thru the end of the year. Just take a look at the pictures from previous Novembers and this is what you can expect to happen on any give cast. This is also the time to really start considering that Crappie trip, slabs will be plenty and makes for a very exciting time on the water as well as bass fishing.

Butler Chain Bass Fishing Report Oct 2006

Orlando Bass Fishing Report

Butler Chain

The last few days we have had runs out on Butler Chain, although we have had cooler nights and the waters have cooled down nicely, starting the day out with a surface temperature in the upper 70’s, the bass have not turned on just yet. We have come across a lot of good sized schools running in 12 to 18 foot of water, but very little if any schooling action has been seen on the lakes we have been hitting. Little Lake Down and Lake Down have seen the deeper water schooling with us picking up a few here and there. Today we started the day on Lake Pocket, working shoreline and lily pads we had several serious blowups on a Gitem Toad but hook up were missed. From there Lake Blanche, which has been producing as of late yielded a few descent sized bass this week.

Lake Chase was the lake to be fishing, working spinner baits and toads, this lake has woken up with some good action. Fishing wind blown side of the lake is the key. Working grass beds and the edges and working slowly, areas close to drop offs, even a slight drop off has held some bait.
Lake Louise has been doing good with Carolina rigged lizards, working slowly thru the eel grass in 6 to 9 foot of water. Bait fish pods have been getting pounded a lot as of late with the diving birds so keep your eyes open.

Today we spent doing some scouting on Butler Chain. Started out working different areas up in Lake Chase, catching a few good bass on a mixture of lures. Spinner baits, rattle traps and senkos. Did manage one good bass on a toad early on, but the was the only top water action I was able to muster up. From there I moved into Lake Blanche, working flooded timber and grass beds, picking up 3 more descent bass, had one that would have been close to 5 pounds, but 5 feet from the boat, I noticed she had locked down on the blades of my spinner bait, giving her some slack in hopes she would turn into the hook did not work.

Made a move into Lake Isleworth to end the days action, picking up 2 more bass for a total of 11 for the day. Water temps were holding steady at 77 degrees and waters were looking very good. All bass today came in water from extremely shallow to 6 foot.

Talked with a few others at the ramp, and they had said they spent their time down by Lake Down area, working spinner baits and rattle trap to catch their fish. Sounds like a consistent pattern throughout the chain right now. Two other gentlemen hit up the specks, drifting Lakes Tibet and Chase catching 14 of hat they called medium sized specks, but a good day. With the waters finally in the 70’s, the bite should really start to pick up, key to today was working the breezy side of the lakes, winds have been fairly consistent the last few days and bait fish were starting to stack up.

Today we had the great pleasure with helping out in the Edgewood Boys Ranch day on the water. These kids were ready for a great time on the water and the weather, even though it got hot before noon time did not let us down. The kids were allowed to keep one fish each over 14 inches to bring back and weigh in, and at the end of the day, word was fish were being caught on just about ever lake on Butler Chain.

With an estimated 30 to 35 boats and 2 kids per boat that ment a lot of fishing and a ton of smiles. Bass were being caught on everything from wild shiners to slow trolled crank baits. The end of the day saw a great cookout and the kids all getting prizes from rods and reels to basketballs. These kids did a great job out on the water and it was a great pleasure being able to help out, the saying “take a kid fishing” means nothing unless you actually do it. Pictured is the two youngsters I had the great pleasure of having on my boat, pictured with a very nice 5.59 pound large mouth, which also was the winning fish for the day, as they took home the hardware and some darn big smiles. Sorry that my camera person didn’t zoom in on this one, she was a very healthy one and jumped great.

Today we were once again out on Butler Chain, with conditions a little tougher.
Day started out sitting in line at the ramp for almost an hour, as without warning there was a tournament out here with a good amount of boats in it.

The day once again started out in Lake Chase, this has been the hot lake as of late, especially for getting the better quality bass to bite first thing in the morning, and they played well this morning catching a few good ones early on. Baits of choice once again were the spinner baits with a mix of live bait. Bass were holding on the drop offs and hitting the baits as they were worked up the drop offs from the deeper waters. This is a pattern that has been holding true for the better part of a week now, and with the cold front coming in, should hold true for at least another week.

Lake Sheen and Lake Tibet, the bite had slowed some for us, but we have been spotting some bait fish pods on the screen as of late so the bass should really start feeding up very soon, as long as we can keep a good cooler weather pattern going. Waters on most of the lakes have really cleared up which has dictated longer casts, Fluorocarbon lines and lighter lines to get the good bites.

Monday the 23rd we spent the day on the water with Larry and Terry. With picture perfect weather as the cold front passed thru. Pattern from the past week now has been holding true, hitting areas on the chain in 6-8 foot of water, with a good drop off close by, meaning a drop off to 16 to 20 foot of water. Bass seem to be cruising back and forth from deep waters to grass beds and being in these areas has been the big key to getting the bigger bass, as Larry and Terry found out.

Small bass of the day came in at 3.9 pounds and big bass, with a few twin look- a-likes came in at 4.7 pounds. Hits were very light, as they were taking baits and swimming them back towards the boats and the deeper waters, and the flip side, taking the baits in deeper waters and swimming back to shallow waters. Being a line watcher was a must.

Baits the last few runs have remained very consistent from spinner baits, senko type baits and wild shiners. Jigs and swim baits were also tried with no luck to speak of. Crappie fishing as reported to me by a few locals has been off and on using a drift pattern over deeper waters using minnows but it is expected to pick up with some great action as the waters start to really cool down.

Thursday we were out on Butler Chain with David for what turned out to be some tough fishing. From bluebird skies to party cloudy, and little to no breeze at times, the bass definitely did not want to play as they had in days past. We had started out on Lake Chase, working a deep water drop off area for a few with no luck. Making the long move to Little Lake Down, we did manage to pick up two bass, one on a drop shot and the other on a shiner.

Making the move out to Lake Down, David picked up 2 small ones on a rattle trap before we made the move to Lake Louise and trying some buzz baits and toads. I tried working a buzz bait across the top of the eel grass and turned to look behind the boat when the buzz bait got hosed by a descent 3 pounder.

Friday we were back out on Butler with Frank and Tom from the Villages. Again starting out in Lake Chase with no takers, we moved into Lake Blanche where Tom managed 3 quick keepers before the bite in there died off. The winds were starting to pick up, so I made a move into Lake Louise, where the guys were tossing spinner baits and working them thru the eel grasses, were again, Tom picked up 4 more good bass, leaving Frank scratching his head, Tom would simply cast in right behind Frank to catch the fish for the day. Water temps were a comfortable 74 degrees and the bass definitely played a lot better today. Cooler water temperatures have helped to turn these bass back on and things will only get better.

Lake Toho Bass Fishing Mid April

Bass Fishing Forecast for May

Bass Fishing Forecast for December

Lake Toho Trophy Bass Fishing

Lake Toho Trophy Bass Fishing

Lake Toho, Johns Lake and Butler Chain Bass Fishing Report Oct 2009

Butler Chain Bass Fishing Report Oct 2006

Lake Toho

Butler Chain of Lakes

Current Orlando Fishing Reports