hydrilla - Bass Fishing Florida

Lake Jackson Bass Fishing

We have been doing a lot of bass fishing on Lake Jackson which is just south of Saint Cloud Florida. This body of water has a lot of lily pad coverage and some very healthy hydrilla. This combination means for some great bass fishing. Artificial baits have been doing very good out here and you can really catch some good numbers from one to three pound bass. But don’t be fooled, this place has a good amount of big bass as well. October 1^st 2010 saw a ten pound bass come over the side of the boat using a Strike King Red Eye Shad and several bass in the six pound range have also been caught using live wild shiners as well as artificial lures.

The two bass boated in this video are only two of the twenty five bass I caught that day using a mix of artificial baits. Strike King Red Eye Shads, Spro baits, Bass Pro Shops Stick O baits and flukes have been great baits to use out here. For the soft plastic lures, junebug and watermelon red have been very good colors. I have also been using some of my own hand poured worms out here and they have been really banging some good numbers as well. The worms I have been using are roughly 4 ½ inch worms with a small bullet weight and just slowly crawling them along the bottom and pulled thru the hydrilla. This has been the hot ticket to catching not only the numbers, but some quality three and four pound bass as well.

With the cooler weather the spinner bait bite has been turning on very good as well. Slow rolled thru the lily pads has been great, as the bass have been stacking up in these areas and have been hitting the spinner baits very aggressively. We have had some success with swim baits out here as well. The Lake Fork Live Magic Shad has caught some very nice bass, so don’t shy away from using swim baits.

Hydrilla Treatment

Hydrilla treatment scheduled Orange County at Lake Lawne

The hydrilla treatment by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and Orange County for Lake Lawne, which was postponed due to cold weather in February, has been rescheduled for March 10-11.

Hydrilla is an invasive, exotic aquatic plant spread easily by boats throughout the state’s lakes and rivers. It clogs waterways, making recreational activities difficult or impossible and chokes out beneficial native plants. Managing and treating it is necessary for the health of Florida’s waters and to enable continued recreational boating and other aquatic activities.

The FWC will treat the hydrilla with Aquathol™, which has no restrictions for fishing or swimming; however, there is a 14-day irrigation restriction. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approves Aquathol™ for use in lakes.

The FWC’s Invasive Plant Management Section will post notification at the lake’s public boat ramp on the day of treatment and will remove the notification once the 14-day irrigation restriction expires. The FWC and Orange County will close the public boat ramp the morning of the 10th and possibly the 11th, should weather conditions postpone the treatment on the 10th.

For questions about this treatment, contact Alicia Knecht, FWC invasive plant management regional biologist, at 407-275-4004.

Media Contact
Alicia Knecht, 407-275-4004

Lake Lawne

Cold weather delays Florida’s treatment on Lake Lawne

Hydrilla treatment by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) on Lake Lawne in Orange County is postponed until sometime in March because of the continued cold weather. The treatment was originally planned for Feb. 16.

Hydrilla is an invasive, exotic aquatic plant that spreads easily by boats to the state’s lakes and rivers. It clogs waterways, making recreational activities difficult or impossible, and kills off beneficial native plants. Managing and treating it is necessary for the health of Florida’s waters and to enable continued recreational boating and other aquatic activities.

The FWC will treat the hydrilla with Aquathol™ , which has no restrictions for fishing or swimming; however, there is a 14-day irrigation restriction. Aquathol™ is approved for use in lakes by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The FWC’s Invasive Plant Management Section will post notification at the lake’s public boat ramp when the treatment begins and upon completion of the 14-day irrigation restriction.

For questions about this treatment contact Alicia Knecht, FWC invasive plant management regional biologist at 407-275-4004.

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.

Johns Lake, Butler Chain, East Lake Toho and St Johns River Bass Fishing Report Sept 2006

Orlando Bass Fishing Report

John’s Lake September 6th

Today we did some more exploring on John’s Lake. Waters are still looking great out here, with water temps starting the day out at 85 degrees. Very light if any real breeze to speak of. We started the day in the cut to the Horseshoe, working the Gitem Drop and picking up 3 very quick bass before heading to the shorelines and doing some flipping.

Schooling activity was pretty much non existent this morning with only a few blows here and there but very small schools. Hitting the grass beds away from the cut to the horseshoe produced 2 descent bass on the Gitem Shad in watermelon red tight to the grass bed, before making another move to the main lake area.

Hitting the main lake grass beds was the key for the day, and fishing very slow was the only way to catch anything. Flipping the grass beds and just bouncing your bait around the holes produced a couple more bass. I did manage to flip a few of the docks out there and you had to work extremely slow doing so, pitching all the way under the docks and boats, and letting your bait just sit there, giving it an occasional twitch to get a strike. None of the hits today were by any means aggressive in nature, so paying close attention to your line was very important, as they would pick up the bait and slowly move, if at all.

Butler Chain

Today I had a good friend out on Butler Chain to help him scout out a few areas for a tournament he has coming up soon. We had started the day out in Lake Pocket working schoolies for about 20 minutes when they settled down, from there it was pitching docks and working shoreline with deep drop offs close by. With a move into Lake Sheen, the pattern had pretty much stayed the same, working shoreline that had deep drop offs close by and grass beds set up in waters 6-9 feet deep. Baits used in these 2 lakes were Mepps Minnows and Gitem Shads, with a small screw in weight.

Lake Isleworth, as usual was a good stop off for some drop shot action for about 45 minutes before making the move into Lake Louise, where we worked spinner baits and lizards thru the Eel grasses managing 2 descent bass in 12 foot of water.

Lake Down and Little Lake Down produced some good numbers using Gitem KO’s and Shads with no weight, and worked extremely slow in the 4-8 foot depths. Once again fish were just picking up the baits and moving slowly, so line watching was a big key to catching today. Fish were very scattered other than the schoolers on Lake Pocket. Total fish today was 16, with the best 5 coming in about 14 pounds. Not bad for numbers, but trust me on this folks, we had to work hard for the ones we caught, 16 fish with probably 20 moves around the lakes.

Hopefully the weather starts cooling down some soon, with the rains we have been getting, the water temps have come down a good bit, starting the day out with 83 degree water temps is a lot better than the 89 degree we had been seeing before the rains. Water levels out on Butler look great, and waters are still very clean with visibility in areas roughly up to 4 feet, we did hit a few areas where water depth was 9 foot and could clearly see the bottom, which makes for long casts and 10 pound test line.

East Lake Toho

Today I hit East Lake Toho for a few hours, My old tournament partner wanted, for some reason to tackle East Lake and get away for a few hours. Normally East Lake is pretty much a last resort fishing spot, as it has not really been producing that great as of late.

We started the day out searching the deep water brush piles in hopes of finding a good bite, managing 3 nice crappie on a drop shot, now this is an awesome lake for crappie.

Making the move to shallow water and working Gitem KO’s in baby bass color, and Shads in watermelon red we did manage to pick up a few here and there in and around the reeds and scattered grasses. Bit was very soft, so you really had to pay close attention to your line. We had one very solid, hard hitting bite, and I mumbled it was a mudfish, and after a few minutes of a good fight, it was a 5 pound mudfish!

From there we made a move to check out Boggy Cove, a few weeks back it was tough going to get in there, if at all, but with the rains, the lake is up atleast a foot, so we ventured back there and tried our luck. Using the same baits, we slammed a bunch of bass, a total of 28, but the sad thing is, of the 28, only 3 were of keeper size and just barely at that, as you can tell in the pictures. Lake levels are looking good, and the waters are very clean, have not seen the waters this clean in a long time. Water temps started out at 82.4 first thing this morning and when we pulled off they were right around 83.9, cooler temps have made the bite a little better, with more schooling activity going on around the offshore hydrilla beds.

We did manage to spot several good bass, in the 4 to 6 pound class cruising in and around the scattered reed, but as you know, generally if you see them, they have also spotted you. Other than the small size, it turned out to be a fairly good day. If we get the waters to cool down maybe another 10 degrees this lake should really turn on good.

St Johns River

This past week we decided to mix things up a little bit and spent some time back out on the St Johns River and Lake Monroe. We had great weather all week long which made for great fishing conditions, water temps starting the day out in the upper 70’s an ending the days in the very low 80’s, what a nice change of pace that has been. Thursday we saw some schooling action, but other than that the waters had been pretty much calm.

Wide range of baits were used, from Sweat Beavers to rattle trap, only thing the traps got, were a few mullet that got snagged. Most action and fish caught were on the Beavers, Senko type baits and Fluke type baits. Lake Monroe itself fished pretty good, working grasses, hydrilla, and reed yielded some descent bass, but no aggressive hit, all the hits we got were very light taps, almost as if it were dinks hitting the bait, these bass were just picking up the bait and holding onto it, only reacting once you set the hook.

St Johns River itself looked pretty good, with a good flow, we were able to set a shoreline drift without having to tap the trolling motor, allowing us to be very stealthy closer to the shoreline, and flipping very tight to cover, again the bass were just very lightly tapping the baits, so you didn’t know if you were setting the hook on fish or weeds, so every tap you felt, you set the hook, although several bass were missed, with most coming unbuttoned close to the boat, they were showing good size, and very scrappy fighters. The big key to fishing the river, was finding submerged trees with scattered grasses around or very close by.

Butler Chain and Johns Lake Bass Fishing Report April 2006

Orlando Bass Fishing Report

Butler Chain

Last few days has been runs out on the Great Butler Chain of Lakes.

Trips have been a mix of shiners and artificial baits. Domestic shiners have been the best producer as far as the live bait went, as they are a very close resemblance to the great shad population this chain of lakes has.

Morning bite has generally been the best producer before the sun gets to high. There has been a lot of schooling activity as of late and most all the schoolers being caught are in the 3 ½ to 4 ½ pound ranger and in Kevin’s words” she fought like she was a smallmouth bass. The cleaner waters, much cleaner than the typical Florida lake makes these bass a much healthier bass and you get more of a fight which makes it much more exciting.

The artificial bite is still going strong, with top water action really picking up good.

Gitem Toads, which can be bought online at GitemBaits.com has been the best bait for some serious top water explosions. Gitem Sugars and KO’s are also getting good numbers pitched and flipped into grass beds as well as hydrilla and eel grass beds.

Water levels are dropping with the lack of rain, so please be cautious motoring thru the canals going from lake to lake. Till my next report, Tight Lines and great fishing.

Butler Chain still hot

Water Temps are on the rise with day ending surface temps running between 74 and 77 degrees. Topwater bite has been pretty good first thing in the morning with Gitem Toads in white color leading the way with the bigger catches. Lakes Down and Lake Butler have been the main producers. Worms pegged with 3/8 ounce weight have been catching a few here and there off the grass beds and in the eel grass beds, 10” Black/red flake have been the best producers.

The shiner bite is still going good on Lakes Down, Little Lake Down and Lake Louise.

Slow trolled thru eel grass and hydrilla have been the way to go early in the day. As temps warmed, a small split shot 12 inches up from the shiner in waters ranging from 10 to 16 feet have seen some good bass fall to our offerings. We actually have a day off next week, and we will be out on Butler Chain trying out the new drop shot baits from Gitem Baits as soon as we have them in our hands.

Johns Lake

Today we had a free day and decided to head back to Johns Lake on the Orange/Lake border off Hwy 50. Game plan was to be to get in some drop shot fishing, but with higher winds we opted for rattle trap and senko type baits.

Started the day out tossing rattle traps at and along the grass beds along the East shore of the main lake. Picking up a few here and there, but the were definitely hitting the trap hard. Southern end of the main lake has some great grass beds, they just didn’t produce for us today. Most bass caught, all but one on Rattle Traps, blue/chrome with black tiger strips, were in and around the grasses. One solid hit on a Sticko from Bass Pro Shops.

Lake waters have dropped as expected with the extreme lack of rain, but remain very clean, longer casts and lighter lines were a definite difference maker. Offshore grass beds held a few bass, which were rather aggressive on the strike. Look for submerged grasses and sunken trees/branches and bang the traps thru and hold on.

Butler Chain

Butler Chain the last couple days has been hot one day and a little slow the next.
Bass were still being caught but some days you had to work a little harder than normal.
Trips were mixed bag of tricks, shiners and artificials. Shiners had produced in Lake Louise and Isleworth, eel grass beds in Louise and deep waters in Isleworth.
Early morning topwater bite is still doing good, with toads and poppers leading the way.
Afternoon bite has been mostly Fluke type baits and senko type baits, 1/16th ounce bullet weight, screw in type, and bouncing them around in deeper waters ranging from 8 to 14 feet.

Lake Tibet has been unusually slow for us but has showed signs of coming back, Lakes Down and Little Down have been having good schools of shad getting blown up on, bass have been gorging themselves on these shad, so if your shiner fishing, best bet is DOMESTIC shiners, as they are a closer resemblance to the shad in color, Wild shiners will work, but domestics have been out catching them.

Spinnerbaits in white, Long A type baits, clear with a blue tint to them have also been producing on Lake Down. Bass have been cruising and hiding up in lily pad fields, topwater aspect of it, GITEM TOADS, bass got nuts over these things in the pads, and also a 10 inch worm, Black with red flake, 1/16th ounce bullet weight pegged and worked thru the pads has been a good ticket also.

Lake Toho

Butler Chain of Lakes

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