bass - Bass Fishing Florida

Johns Lake Schooling action

Johns Lake has seen some great bass schooling action lately and we managed to capture some on video on a recent trip. This great body of water consistantly has some good schooling action, and it is not uncommon to catch 5 plus pounders from these schools.

Schooling bass on Johns Lake is a very common thing. This great body of water holds a lot of trophy bass and is probably one of the top ten bass lakes in Central Florida. I have been bass fishing this lake for many years, and I gotta tell you that it is not too often that you won’t see some type of schooling activity out here on Johns Lake. Two of the more popular areas for schooling action are the Deer Island Cut and the Horse shoe area. Deer Island cut has seen shad runs through it so thick that at times you can lower your dip net in the water and scoop out live shad and use them for bait.

Main lake areas usually have some good off shore grass beds that will hold some trophy bass, and there are a ton of docks that can be flipped, these docks have held some great bass, as several of my clients have caught trophy bass out here. Folks were talking ten pound plus bass. Night tournaments out here can produce a three bass limit of 24 pounds, and that is usually a three hour tournament!

Popular soft plastic baits out here are Lake Fork Live Magic Shad, senko type baits, worms and a variety of flipping baits. Spinner baits, red eye shad, top water poppers, and torpedoes do very well out here also.

Swim baits as well as crank baits work very well out here as well as of course the trusty wild shiners. There is also a very good crappie population out here for those who wish to try their hand at crappie fishing. Live minnows tipped on a small jig, roadrunners and steel shad will catch some very good crappie out. This is one of those Central Florida Bass Fishing Lakes you won’t want to overlook

Lake Toho Spinner bait

Erik, who always seems to manage to pull off a first for himself every time we fish, finally catches his first bass on a spinner bait. We had done a couple trips on Lake Toho and had a good spinner bait bite going, when Erik finally got her on his first cast in the area we hit.

Big key for Erik to catching the bass he caught was holding the rod tip up high, which helped to keep the spinner bait higher up in the water and just above the weed bed we were working. The bass were relating to hydrilla out here and would come out of the scattered hydrilla to hit our baits. Working the spinner bait just above the hydrilla and at a steady pace with the sun light we had gave off just enough flash to trigger the bass into striking our lures. The big key here was when you have someone who wants to try something new to them, such as Erik with the spinner bait, you always want to try to get them to an area where you know is holding bass. The bass here were smaller school sized bass, but it was all Erik needed to gain confidence in a lure he has never really had any great success with.

Guiding to us is more than just people catching bass, we like to pass on our knowledge to our clients and friends, so they not only catch bass, but also learn new things such as different ways of working lures to help them trigger the strikes and land the bass. Clients always love to catch bass, but one thing they also will never forget, is the fact they learned something new, that they can later incorporate with their fishing back home to help make them the more complete angler.

The great thing about bass fishing is that it is a never ending learning process. New techniques and new lures always being created to help in the chase of that trophy bass.

Lake Toho Wacky

Short video of us having some fun on Lake Toho early November 2009. We did a lot of wacky rigged Gitem K.O’s dipped in JJ’s Dippin Dye. This combination has proven to be lethal when it comes to catching bass.

We go through stretches where we seem to catch a ton of bass on a wacky rig. Typically we have our stick baits, or senko type baits Texas rigged, but when the bass are just mouthing the baits or giving it that slight tap but not taking it, we will wacky rig the bait and start catching them like crazy.

When we are wacky rigging we will normally use a 2/0 circle hook and hook the bait in the middle, this gives it a nice side to side fall and generally the bass will hit this bait on the fall, although we have had a few chase and strike the bait on the lift. This type or rigging is very effective when working the front line of grass beds and along rock walls like you see in this video. Yet another good one is skipping it under docks. Skipping this set up under docks has proven to be very effective, as it leaves the bait in perfect position as it falls slowly to where the bass may be hiding.

Looking to spice it up a little bit? We will at times dip it into a jar of JJ’s Dippin Dye, not only can we change colors or the bait but it will also add the garlic scent to the lure, this has also been a big key to that soft bite. This is also a good way to go after bedding bass during the spawn here in Florida. One of the best things about Florida Bass Fishing is catching those trophy bass during the spawn, and working a wacky rigged bait in front of a bass has triggered several aggressive strikes. Being able to watch the bait slowly fall in front of the bass and coming to rest, then just barely twitching the lure, just enough to make it move without pulling it away from the bass can and will drive that big gal crazy.

East Lake Toho Boat Ramp

East Lake Toho Boat Ramp is located on Lakeshore in St Cloud Florida. With two great places to break for lunch during the day, East Lake Fish Camp or Crabby Bills. Both offer great food. Plenty of Trophy bass have been caught here in years past, and this great body of water is making one heck of a come back with the trophy bass showing up once again.

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.

Tournament Time

This is a story, from a very good client and friend of mine, it’s a brief story about his time on the water as a spotter for a professional tournament.

My First Tournament

Well, I have finally attended my first Bass Tournament and it was above and beyond any of my expectations. I attended this tournament not as a competitor but as an observer. By this I mean I went out with a different Pro angler the first two days of the competition.

As a first time tournament experience, this is definitely the way to go. Not only do you get to experience everything from launch to weigh-in but you also get two eight hour one-on-one sessions with a pro to pick his brain, in essence, two private seminars. What type of line or lure used, favorite technique, extra equipment to bring, personal routines, full or part time pro angler, these were just a few of the things I was able to ask about.

An extra benefit was that a lot of the top pro’s from the BASS & FLW circuits were there and I got to have my picture taken with them. They were all very nice & very approachable. I learned the value of having a good sun block and also a top quality rain suit, not the cheap kind that you can get at a convenience store. All in all, it was a very eye opening experience and one I can’t wait to do again. I strongly encourage everyone to give it a try, first timers & veterans alike.

Paul E. Fisler

Johns Lake Schooling action

Lake Toho Spinner bait

Lake Toho Wacky

East Lake Toho Boat Ramp

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

Tournament Time

Lake Toho

Butler Chain of Lakes

Current Orlando Fishing Reports