Florida bass fishing with shiners in Florida can be an absolute blast!. The best live bait to use of course is the wild golden shiner. These shiners can range anywhere in size from as small as four inches to what feels like 2 pounds at times. Winter time down here is a great time to use the wild shiners, as they will trigger some very aggressive strikes from bass and it can also be one of the best ways to catch that trophy bass of a lifetime.
When we get hit here is the south with a cold front, yes we do get them, and out water temperatures dip into the upper 40’s to low 50’s, sometimes bass just don’t want to chase their food. Don’t get me wrong, spinner baits and Strike King Red Eye Shads will still catch bass, as well as Senkos and worms, but to keep that bite steady for my clients we sometimes use wild shiners.
This is the perfect bait to catch some great numbers of bass, and yes you will catch your fair share of those two pound bass like in this video, but you will also stand a much better chance at the lunker bass. Most of the time we are free lining the wild shiners, hooking them thru the lower jaw and out the nostril and just pitching them to the edges of the grass beds or lily pads.
With the cooler water temperatures the bass will generally head to two areas on a lake. The first would be deeper drop offs and the other of course is tight to cover. One of the easiest ways to locate bass along the grass lines is to rig up two rods, one free lined and one with a float and just slow troll along the grass, staying about 2 foot from the grass and just move very slowly. This tactic has been very good for us as it is found us several places where we can then just slide our anchor into the water quietly and catch a ton of bass.
Remember that when the bass are feeding aggressively, hang on to those shiners that have already been hammered, as they will still catch bass for you. Just rig them thru the nose again, pitch them out there and slowly twitch them back to the boat.
Many people will change up lures thinking it’s the lure they are presenting is not what the bass may be wanting. This generally is not the case, if the bass is willing to bump your bait you have sparked his interest in your offering. Now we just need to spice up that lure to make them commit to it.
Central Florida Bass fishing is still on fire folks. Artificial bait trips are producing some good numbers as well as size. Live bait trips have been off the hook. Lake Jackson has been the hot place to be with my clients boating up to 40 bass in 4 hours of bass fishing using live wild shiners. Live bait has been free lined working around lily pads and hydrilla and the bass have been responding very good. Combination trips have seen us burn off 4 dozen shiners in 2 hours with 30 bass making it over the side of the boat.
. Even with higher winds the bass have still been playing great for us. Live wild shiners pitched to the edges of the lily pads have been not only producing good numbers of bass, but some good size as well.
The bass have just been slamming our offerings and the size is getting bigger. We have been seeing more and more bass with sores on the tail end, meaning there is some bed fanning going on and these bass are starting to get some nice bellies. Artificial baits have been doing pretty good as well. Several nice bass have come over the side of the boat using spinner baits, red eye shad and the best bass was nailed on a swim bait. Corey was working his swim bait nice a slow, actually crawling it along the bottom when his big bass slammed it and gave him one heck of a fight. He did manage another nice one working the swim bait a little closer to the surface and thru the pads.
Artificial lures are doing great out here. Skipping senko type baits and flukes under docks are producing some good numbers and size. Spinner baits and Strike King Red Eye Shads are catching the bass in a big way right now. The bass have been very aggressive hitting these lures as they are now chasing bait fish around as they start to fatten up for the upcoming spawning season.
