Lake Rosalie Bait and Tackle
10730 Camp Mack Road Ste B
Lake Wales Florida 33898
863-696-7384
Clermont Bait and Tackle
Clermont Bait and Tackle
1730 South Highway 27
Clermont Florida 34711
352-394-7000
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Lake Toho Boat Ramp
Map Below is for Lake Toho boat ramp
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Address given for Lake Toho Ramp is for Big Toho Marina, ramp is just past the bait store
A six-lane boat ramp with a floating courtesy dock is located on Lakeshore Blvd. From the intersection of Highway 192 and Highway 441/17-92 in Kissimmee, travel south on Main Street 0.6 mile to Monument Avenue. Turn left onto Monument Avenue and follow to Lakeshore Blvd. Turn right on Lakeshore and follow 0.3 miles to ramp on left. Pier and bank fishing is allowed. A marina is located approximately 0.2 miles north of ramp.
Butler Chain Bass Fishing Report Feb 2007
Orlando Bass Fishing Report
The last 2 weeks saw us on Butler Chain for 12 days with a mix of trips, a few trips with live bait and a few with all artificial trips. Start of the week saw for some very tough bite as the water temps had an almost 8 degree drop, which really had the bass on a serious case of lock jaw. Gitem Shads with a small bullet weight worked in and along grass beds worked very slow, and I stress VERY slow in order to get the bites.
Mid week saw the bite pick up as the water temps started reaching the upper 60’s and bass started heading to the beds, with several bass in the 5 and 6 pound class being caught in and around the beds. Once again it was Gitem Shads and 10 inch black neon worms getting the bass to bite with an occasional bass being caught on all white spinner baits.
The shiner bite is still going strong on several lakes on the chain, with a few lakes actually having a drop off with the live bait bite. Two very memorable trips involved two youngsters, first was Edward fishing with his father, we had spotted a buck on a bed, and decided to give Edward a crack at catching this bass, with 4 flips of the shiner to the bass, she would not touch it, so the 5th try, the buck had knocked the shiner off the bed, and at that moment, the female came flying out of the grasses and nailed the shiner and the fight was on. Edward had worked this bass perfect and landed a beautiful 5.4 pound bass.
The second was with 7 year old Nick and his dad Greg. Greg had a bass boil up on his bait twice, but she would not commit to it, when Nick got his bait up there, and in a split second, this bass hit his shiner like a freight train. Nick set the hook and the bass headed straight into the grasses and with a little effort, Nick got her out of the grass, and off to the docks she went, after a brief battle, Nick had a beautiful bass, 22 inches long with a 15 inch girth, weighing in at 6.05 pounds, perfect enough to get his Youth Angler Certification from the State of Florida.
With the weather holding steady, and a consistent air temp, the waters have been warming up slowly, which will mean one thing, bass will be really hitting the beds and the bigger gals will start being caught. Several lakes on the Butler Chain are loaded with beds, most have been empty the last few weeks, so they should be showing up any day now. One consistent pattern has been, even though the bass were not on the beds, they have been holding up very close to them with the bucks right there.
Web site has been updated with all new pictures in the Photo Gallery and new video links on the main page, along with new testimonials.
Butler Chain Bass Fishing Report Jan 2007
Orlando Bass Fishing Report
This report is for Wednesday the 24th, today I once again had the great pleasure of having Rod and his son Shawn back out on the Butler Chain, and once again the Chain did not let us down. This time we worked Lakes Chase and Lake Blanche and once again the bass did not let us down. Altho with a different weather pattern at hand, colder in the morning and much less sun than the previous day, we still got our catch, and almost got another 10 pounder.
Rod had a hook up with one that would have been bigger than the 10 pounder from the previous day, hooking up with her 4 times, first time she took him into the grasses and broke off, second time she got into the structure and worked loose, 3rd and 4th time she managed to shake off before getting to the boat, the back on this gal was huge as we watched her surface after his shiner 3 different times and the wake she kicked out had the guys excited for hours.
This is the time of year to catch some serious bass on Butler, and as Rod knows, not having caught a 10 pound bass until yesterday, and having a shot at 3 of them in 2 days, this chain does hold some very good action, as he said “ that was exciting seeing her do all that” as the big gal attacked his bait. Its always great to have a father and son on the water, catching quality bass and enjoying eachother, that, in itself made the day complete.
Today I had the great pleasure of having a great father and son trip on the Butler Chain.
Rod and his son Shawn wanted to get in on some great bass fishing action, and believe me, the bass did not let them down. The guys had opted for shiners and the bass agreed with their choice of baits, 2 minutes in to the trip, Shawn hooks up a beautiful 4 pound bass as she was cruising by one of many beds we spotted today. The guys were hooking bass here and there throughout the chain as we moved from Little Lake Down to Wauseon Bay, and over to Lake Chase. Every area we hit we had some action, and believe me folks, this was one of those days that dreams were made of, the guys caught one bass that was around 1 ½ pounds, and all the others were 4 pounds or better, with their best 5 bass coming in at just over 30 pounds.
The highlite of the days was when Rod had tossed his bait out, and in a matter of minutes the fight was on, this bass hosed his bait and ran all over the place, almost getting hung in the big motor, then making a move and almost tagging the trolling motor before Rod got her under control, and catching his first ever 10 pound bass, as this gal weighed in at a nice 10.25 pounds on the digital scale. Second biggest bass was caught by his son Shawn, which came in at just over 6 ½ pounds.
They did have another big gal hooked up but with a few shakes of the head, she found her way to freedom, close to having 2 bass over 10 pounds, but it just wasn’t in the cards for today.
This past week I had several trips out on Butler Chain, with the weather playing games with us, we watched bass going from beds to heading back to deep water drop offs. Several bass this week had been caught off beds in various lakes on the chain, using mostly Junebug lizards to get them. Lake Down and Little Lake Down early on in the week seemed to be the hot ticket to catching bass, in and along the grass beds as well as off of bed. Most of the beds spotted were in 2 foot to up to 8 foot of water.
After two days of a slight cool down, bass were pushed off the beds but you could still see and catch them as they were still in the general area of the beds, just cruising around, occasionally cruising thru the bed. A few days we had catches of 20 bass using nothing but weighted Gitem Shads and working them real slowly, as the cool down came, the bite did drop off but you still got your catch, just working very slowly.
Chris came down from New York and had some descent action on Butler, as he caught the tail end of the cool down, asking me to also fish with him, I got him up on the weighted Shads, which he had said he had never used them with a weight, I had tossed to shoreline and Chris made a cast close to the boat to check the action, I had landed a nice 2 ½ pounder, Chris had made his second cast right behind me, and instantly got hammered, and the fight was on, landing a very nice bass just shy of 5 pounds. The bite was very a light one, with you getting light taps, you had to let them take the bait and swim off with it some before you set the hook, other than the very aggressive one that Chris had gotten.
White spinner baits and a 10” Junebug worm were also catching bass, spinner baits had to be slow rolled and worked in and around grass beds, big key was having some type of drop off close by or other types of cover such as eel grass or hydrilla. Lakes that were fished this week on the chain were Little Lake Down, Lake Down, Lake Chase, Lake Tibet and Lake Sheen.
Florida Fall Bassin
Florida Fall Bassin
That time of year is fast approaching us, the time of year that everybody has been patiently awaiting, Fall. The temperatures make a swing for the better, cooler air temperature and water temps drop, from what used to be bath water to bass busting water.
What does all this mean for bass fishing in Florida? It means its time for some of the best top water action of the year. The time of year where we can put the worms on the self, and dust off our favorite top water baits and enjoy some serious explosions on the surface. Bass will start feeding up in a big way again, fattening themselves up, once again for what promises to be yet another great spawning season
The typical summer pattern had been, very early top water action, and then the rest of the day was spent slow worming, or even a drop shot, and flipping, flipping, flipping. Water temperatures as of late have started out around 83-85 degrees first thing in the morning thanks to the summer rains we have finally gotten, which is roughly a 5 degree drop in temperature to start the day, which has helped out the bite throughout the day. But this is also my favorite time of the year, as clients generally won’t even ask about shiners!
Shiners are always a good bet to catch bass, but when fall rolls around and the bass start feeding up, they are what I consider a “needless expense” although some prefer the use of shiners, as they are generally wanting to relax and catch fish, they really are not needed and can save a person anywhere between $60.00 and $120.00 on a full day on the water.
Butler Chain, right here in the middle of beautiful Central Florida shows what we believe to be some great promise for yet another great fall/winter season. This great chain of lakes has a huge population of shad for the bass to feed up on and the typical fall season has always see some of the best schooling action around Florida. Bass on this chain feed up very aggressively and allows the angler a wide range of tactics to catch bass. From the typical top water action to using jigging spoons in some of the many deep holes this great chain has, that can be as deep as 43 feet. Northern anglers have really taken a liking to this chain, as it has allowed them to come to the south and still be able to use some of their all time favorite lures, such as Mepps Minnows, Road Runners and jigging spoons.
Kissimmee Chain, what more can we say about this great chain of lakes. Lake Kissimmee bounced back from the major clean up years ago, to produce a bunch of bass this year ranging from 10 to just over 16 pounds. Lake Toho, although at times was a hit or miss deal at times this year, produced some great bass this year also, as was proof at the 2006 Bass Master Classic, where records were not only set, but shattered!!
Harris Chain of Lakes, in beautiful Lake County Florida has been fishing really good as expected. Years ago this chain really had a bad drop off in bass fishing action due to over spraying, but has rebounded by leaps and bounds, great bass fishing action is once again expected, with the never ending possibility of catching a few stripers here and there can make the day on the water very entertaining.
Those are just 3 of the major fishing areas that show a lot of promise once again this year for some great fall/winter bass fishing, all within 30 minutes or so of all 3 major theme parks in Central Florida, which helps to make it the best choice for all of your family vacation action, the hustle and bustle of hitting the theme parks and then a relaxing day on the water with the family, setting hooks and catching bass, and believe me, nothing makes a vacation more complete, than seeing your kids holding up some great bass for pictures.
