lake Toho

Bass Fishing Forecast for July

July is a hot month here in Florida, but believe me folks, the bass are still biting down here.
It’s the same thing every year, the weatherman, who is over paid and wrong 99% of the time seems to try to scare people away with crazy out of the world hurricane forecasts. We as guides follow the weather like a hawk circling over a lake in search of his next victim, the largemouth bass or crappie.

Although July is typically a hot month, you can still fish comfortably for 6 hours and catch some very nice Florida largemouth bass. Artificial lures will still be producing good. Typically some good early morning top water action, before switching up to a Strike King Redeye Shad or spinner bait. Senko type baits and worms will also produce good catches, as well as wild shiners. Two good lakes to bass fishing will be Lake Toho and East Lake Toho. Typically Lake Toho is known for the trophy bass, but believe me, East Lake Toho has been doing pretty good itself. Evident is when it takes 24 pounds to win a tournament, which was just done on East Lake Toho during Spring Fling. Plenty of 5 plus pound bass were weighed in.

Lake Toho Bass Fishing Mid April

East Lake Toho Bass Fishing

Hit the waters of East Lake Toho for a few hours this morning with Jack.

We ran around a little bit marking a few areas of topped out hydrilla and located a bunch of great off shore grass beds. There was a some action on the surface with bass chasing bait fish around, but it was limited to early morning hours. Our main focus was hitting those off shore grass areas and they paid off pretty good.

Although the bass were a little scattered around, if you were in their general area they were more than happy to take the offerings we had for the. Several bass were boated with soft plastics. Using a wacky rig and lizard but the main baits were a rapala crank bait and the Azuma Shaker Z. Water levels out here looked great and water clarity was perfect. Will be hitting East Lake again soon to toss a few prototype lures around to get them fine tuned.

Lake Toho Bass Fishing

Got an early start this morning out on Lake Toho. The guys wanted to use live bait today so we meet up at Lake Toho Marina and grabbed a couple dozen wild shiners. We had hit a few areas that had been producing bass for us, mostly on the northern end of Lake Toho. We had a couple misses working the grass lines along Lakeshore drive, before we moved over to Gobblets Cove. Some very good hydrilla out here holding some quality bass along the edges. Pitching the shiners next to the edges is always a good bet.

We worked the residential canal for a few hours, with a few misses and a couple boated, along with this nice solid keeper, definitely a good anchor bass. Winds were calm the first part of the day, but believe me, they picked up pretty good. Once the winds picked up, the bite seemed to have dropped off. Have a 4 hour run out on Butler Chain tomorrow, another great body of water that has been producing pretty good.

Lake Toho Bass Fishing with Bob Redfern Outdoors

Here is a clip of our show we did with Bob Redfern Outdoor Magazine TV Series which air on Versus April 19th 2010.

Bob Redfern and I hit Lake Toho and Cypress Lake on the world famous Kissimmee Chain of Lakes and had a great time catching bass with Steel Shad and Wild Shiners

Lake Toho Bass Fishing first week of April 2010

Lake Toho Bass Fishing-Orlando Bass Fishing

Lake Toho Bass Fishing Report

Bass fishing on Lake Toho the first week of April was great

. Several trips out on Lake Toho have produced some good numbers and some good sized bass. For the most part, our clients have preferred using artificial baits and the bass played very good for us. North end of Lake Toho has been a good producer for us, pitching soft plastics along weed edges and isolated drifting clumps of grass.

Mid lake area of Lake Toho has seen some scattered catching for us, most of the bass

have come from areas with scattered hydrilla with some very limited bass schooling action. Toads worked thru grasses have yielded some aggressive strikes, when the hooked up was missed, tossing a worm or senko as a back up was the way to catch them.

Gobblets Cove has been the place to be. Grass beds have been holding some steady action for us, as well as scattered or thinned out lily pad areas. The Azuma Shaker Z has been the hot ticket back here for us. The bass have hammered this lure hard! Spinner baits have also been producing pretty well out here as well. Tossing to back side of lily pad fields and slow rolling them thru the pads has been very good, once you got the hook up, holding the rod high until you worked them thru the pads has been the trick to landing your catch.

Southern end of Lake Toho has still produced some bass for us, although as of late it has been more of a one here one there kind of bite. Friars Cove had been the best area south for us, mostly in the area of the cypress tree lines.

Lake Toho and Butler Chain end of March 2010

Lake Toho Bass Fishing- Orlando Bass Fishing

The end of March had seen some very good bass fishing action.

With several days of higher winds, we opted to hit Butler Chain, which gave us 12 lakes to pick from, with plenty of cover from the winds. Most trips out there had been all artificial bait trips, with spinner baits, buzz baits and senko type baits being the best producing lures.

We had a lot of very good action on Lake Sheen, grass beds had been good producers, but for those who wanted some steady action, secondary grass beds were the big key to catching bass. Slow rolled spinner baits thru these areas were very good with some solid and aggressive strikes. Lake Pocket was also holding some good bass, mostly around the docks, where we would skip a wacky rig all the way under them.

The mouth of the canal to Lake Blanche had a few bass beds right along the shoreline, with a few scattered bass on them, and after tossing everything but the kitchen sink at them, including a wild shiner, these bass wanted nothing to do with our offerings, so we moved into the main lake, where once again it was the secondary grass beds, with a good mixture of hydrilla where the bass were holding tight to.

A couple trips to Lake Toho also produced some good action. Most of our time on Lake Toho has been spent in Gobblets Cove and in Friars Cove. Beds were scattered all over the place, with nothing on them, but the females were cruising the areas and very finicky with the bite. Trick worms and blade baits were great for some very good catching, and keeping the bite steady during the day. Running spinner baits thru the thinner areas of lily pads also produced some quality bass. Waters are warming up very nicely now, and we are seeing a lot of bait fish bunching up, which has been giving way to some very good schooling activity. Its top water time folks!!

Lake Toho and Butler Chain,Mid March 2010

Lake Toho Bass Fishing-Orlando Bass Fishing

Mid March has seen some great bass fishing action. This stretch has been split up between Lake Toho and Butler Chain.

The trips have been a mix of live wild shiners as well as all artificial bait trips. Wild shiners have been either slow trolled of the back of the boat, in areas we know either hold bass, or are spawning areas. This has been a very lethal tactic to catching the bass, and is a lot less boring than just plunking an anchor out and sitting in one spot and “waiting” for bass to come to you.

One very often overlooked tactic by many is as you slow troll some live bait off the back of the boat, you can also flip one into pot holes in the grasses or tight up against lily pads or reeds. All too often, this over looked option can keep the bass catching action going steady during the day.

Artificial trips have been yielding between 10 and 20 bass a day. Mostly off senko type baits and worms, but we have got some here lately on shallow running crank baits. Long A’s have been the best along with a few custom ones in bone color. For the most part, bass had seemed to be staging just off their spawning areas but have been moving in, with some really nice ones on beds, just seem to be a little spookier this year than in years past. Good polarized glasses are huge key to sneak up on the beds, along with a very silent approach. Just remember if you catch a bass from a bed, PLEASE handle her very carefully, take that picture and gently slide her right back in the water. My clients have all been loving the new Deep South Rods, these rods are light and a lot of backbone to them to really fight those bass. You can now order them direct from my web site, or call me to place your order.