Kissimmee Chain
Orlando Bass Fishing Report
Today we had Amy and her father out on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes,
With the cold front coming thru and 10-15 mph winds we opted for shiners
To help the dynamic duo catch their bass. The day was spent tail hooking the shiners and letting them swim into grass beds and as they did they got hammered. This was only a 4 hour trip but was very action packed with both of them catching several to make what was a great day on the waters. We did spot several bass beds up in the shallows some of which were holding bass on them. Waters were running 62 degrees with most of the action coming as the waters were warming up as the sun poked out. Best course of action has been to start in the northwest corner in the morning as these are the waters that will warm up first as the sun comes up, from there it has been working the side where the wind is blowing as this cause the bait to blow up to and into the grass beds and gives the bass an easy target. Brave out the wind and you will catch the bass.
Butler Chain
The past week we have had several runs out to Butler Chain.
With mixed conditions the action has gne from having to really work to catch them to so super bang up days.
With the cleaner waters on Butler even the bad weather days has still produced some great bass using artificial lures.
The Gitem Toad in the brand new color Rainbow worked thru lily pads has been a great producer as well as the Gitem AKA. Lake Tibet has slowed a bit for us, so we made the move to Lake Down, working grass beds and points has been very productive. Start by searching with rattle traps then slow it down with either an AKA or a Warlock with 1/16th bullet weight pegged and watch the line carefully as they hit on the fall.
Butler Chain and Kissimmee Chain
The last several days we have had trips on Butler Chain and Kissimmee chain.
Weather has really dictated patterns and locations with the winds and cooler temps.
Butler Chain has been very good even on the worst days out there, high winds and cool temps had us switching from shiners, which were not producing as figured, to flipping the grass beds with lizards and Gitem Warlocks.
Kissimmee chain has seen some rough waters with the high winds as of late, forcing us into wind protected areas and pitching wild shiners to grass bed edges to get our catch.
Normally wind blown areas have produced great for us, but there are those times when the combination of winds and waves will dictate a move as safety always comes first.
We are expecting as the weatherman says 3 fronts back to back so be safe out there, all to often we see people thinking they can handle the winds, but when they hit 20mph on ANY lake, you really need to think if its really worth the risk. Catch and release allows the bass to be caught another day, safety first allows the angler to fish another day.
Dates are booking very fast so call or e-mail us
Look for us at B.A.S.S Classic the 23rd and 25th
Kissimmee Chain
The last few days has had us on both the Kissimmee Chain and Butler chain.
Kissimmee Chain has been producing some good numbers as well as size.
Shiners worked along grass bed edges as well as flipping them into small potholes in the grass beds has been producing some good solid bass.
Gitem AKA with 1/16th bullet pegged and dropped into grass bed potholes as well as hydrilla patches has been also producing very good. Ribbed body on the AKA creates a great disturbance in the water and has really got the bass keyed into it. White/pink spinnerbaits slow rolled has also produced very good. Working mainly points of the grass beds on the outsides of the wind blown side has been the ticket
Butler Chain
Butler Chain is still producing some very good number on artificials as well.
Big ticket bait has been a black/red lizard with a 1/16th bullet pegged on 10 pound test mono, worked slowly thru eel grass and flooded timber. Carolina rigged and drop shot baits have been good also as usual. Drop shot bait of choice has been a bubble gum trick worm and Carolina rig bait of choice has been the Gitem Shad in watermelon. Cleaner waters has dictated long casts and baits worked slowly as the waters had cooled in areas to mid to upper 50’s.
Today’s water temp at days end was 63 and with warmer weather the rest of the week will heat the waters up and really turn them on and make for even better action. ALWAYS keep a spook tied on as there have been shad busts on the water.
Kissimmee Chain
Feb 16th and the 17th had us venturing out on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes with combination trips of shiners and artificial baits. Morning bite had generally started out on the rather slow side, even with shiners being slow trolled, as the sun poked out tho the bite picked up greatly.
Slow trolled shiners along grass beds were excellent producers fr numbers and size. As the days warmed up, pitching Gitem Sugars into grass beds was a great ticket to keep the bass being hauled into the boat.
Eagle Lake
Feb 18th we had clients out on Eagle Lake, slow trolled shiners had produced 3 bass while the Gitem Shad in watermelon color produced another 16 bass.
All bass were caught n very shallow waters, 2 foot or less. Several beds had been spotted but were still vacant.
Kissimmee Chain
Feb 20th and 21st we were back at it again out n the Kissimmee Chain. These two days clients wanted nothing but wild shiners. Again the bite had started out slow, VERY thick fog forced us to start both days out in the ramp area slow trolling along grass beds till the fog lifted enough for us to make a move to a few open water areas that have been producing as of late.
Open water areas had been producing fewer bass BUT the bass were of better quality and more aggressive as they were making the move to the bedding areas.
The first half of April has seen some good bass fishing action. Most of our trips have been done on Butler Chain and Johns Lake. Although we have seen some rather strange weather for this time of year for us, with a cold front coming thru, the action has remained steady for the most part, with us having to work harder for our bass on the day the cold front slammed us.Most of our action on Butler Chain has come from docks, wacky rigged Gitem KO’s and weightless Warlocks in Green Pumpkin have done a great job catching bass up to 5 pounds.
When docks have slowed in producing bass, we have moved to the cypress trees, tossing baits at the trees and letting it fall straight down to the base of the tree, this has triggered some very good action for us.Johns Lake has seen scattered schooling action fist thing in the mornings, usually just as the sun makes it half way thru the Deer Island cut. Docks have been excellent producers as well as my drift pattern thru the middle of the main lake, tossing Steel Shads, these baits have caught us a ton of bass out there, as well as a few 1-1/2 pound crappie. Offshore scattered grass beds have been holding some bass with the Twin Liz rigged with 1/8th ounce weight catching them all. We have caught a few bass on 1 ounce spinner baits, but that bite has not been consistent enough to keep us using them.The last half of April continued with some good bass fishing action. Butler Chain and Johns Lake have been the choice lakes to catch bass.
Johns Lake has been doing good for my clients wanting to use live bait. Early morning schooling action in both of the cuts have been good for numbers.Steel Shad worked in the middle of the lake on a drift pattern has been simply awesome at keeping the action going steady. Docks have held some quality bass using the Gitem KO whacky rigged as well as skipping a Gitem Sugar under docks.Butler Chain has seen some very good action around docks with Gitem Curly 7’s and KO’s. Areas with grass and lily pads have also been good producing areas to close out the month. Lakes Butler and Tibet have been the top producers, with some very good early morning action, once the air temperature warms up, it’s a lot of flipping and skipping.We have filmed a few more fishing shows which will be airing soon on our other site along with another Skill Zone episode showing how to tie a few more fishing knots. Be sure to check it out as we continue to add more content and videos weekly.
The past two weeks has seen some good bass fishing in the Orlando area. Butler Chain we finally started spotting some bait fish pods, although small and scattered, they are showing up. We had several runs out on Butler and with cooler weather, the water temperatures were finally dropping into the 60’s. This will get the bass on the feeding frenzy to fatten them up for the spawn which is just around the corner.
November bass fishing has been good. I spent the day out on Starke Lake with my tournament partner for what was some great bass fishing action. The 26th we got an early start, hitting the waters at 6:30am, still dark and tried some top water action, and we got none. With the sunrise, came rain and higher winds, so what should have been a bad day on the water saw us catching 16 bass on wacky rigged Gitem K.O’s and white spinner baits. All but 3 of the bass came from the main lake working tight to shoreline and scattered off shore grass beds. The 29th we headed out early once again, with live shiners and crank baits. To our surprise we boated no bass on the live bait, but the crank baits, a Big O in fire tiger pattern, and an Ugly Duckling in shiner pattern boated the bass, to the tune of another 10 bass. Crank bait bass came on the main lake and in Deep Lake. We keyed in on docks and submerged grass beds and found the bites to be very aggressive. We had seen some very good schooling action the first day, but avoided throwing to them and opted to keep searching the deeper water patterns. Storm WildEye Curl Tail swim baits once again picked up some good solid bass in the middle of Starke Lake itself as well as at the mouth of the canal on the Deep Lake side. With the water temperatures starting a nice cool down, I have noticed bait fish pods growing in size which will have the bass schooling up and feeding good to get ready for the spawn.
October has seen some good bass fishing action in Orlando. With trips on Butler Chain and Johns Lake the artificial bite has been doing pretty good. Johns Lake we had some limited early morning schooling action at the Deer Island Cut and some decent bass caught along the grass lines in the same area. After the schooling action stopped, we headed for areas with a mixture of grass and lily pads, getting several blow ups on toads and flukes swam across the pads, missing several but still getting our fair share. Most all the bass caught were in less than two foot of water and all, except for the schooling bass were holding tight to cover on Johns Lake.
