Orlando Bass Fishing Report
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.
Butler Chain we had seen some schooling action on lakes Pocket, Fish, and Tibet. Canal going into Fish Lake is still very shallow but you can make it in there. There is a grass island blocking most of the canal before the final bend to the lake, but we were able to get around it with no problem. Spinner baits and rattle traps were the ticket in Fish Lake, while toads and Gitem K.O.’s where catching the bass in Lakes Pocket and Tibet. Water surface temperatures were running in the low 80’s with most bass being caught in four to six foot of water. Some bass were caught in deeper waters slow rolling a spinner bait. Busy season is now upon us, and with very low water levels once again in south Florida, we are expecting yet another very busy season, so be sure to book your trips as soon as you can.
The past 2 weeks have seen some good bass fishing action out on Butler Chain. Starting with the Patterson clan, with shiners and artificial baits we worked Lake Butler and Lake Chase, with Steve tossing a spinner bait to get the “wildest” hook set award of the year. Steve was tossing a spinner bait in and around grasses and docks, when he gave her a toss to a dock, spinner bait going over the dock walkway, back into the water around a PVC pipe sticking up and under a boat. Thinking this was going to be a mess, he was right, as he tried to shake the lure loose, the line got pinned between a post and the walkway, when it looked like the rod got tugged on.
This past week has been yet another very busy week, with some very good and solid bass being caught on everything from live bait to artificial lures. With the bass spawn all but over, bass have moved for the most part away from shallow waters and have staged more towards deeper waters, close to drop offs. There has on some days been some very good schooling activity going on, some days the schooling bass will just hammer the live bait, while other days they seem to prefer t-rigged worms with a small screw in bullet weight.
Friday saw Sam and his son out on Butler Chain, this youngster was very impressive with his casting skills, working bait casters like a true pro, starting the day out catching the first bass in the first 10 minutes working a spinner bait thru the grass beds on Lake Butler before switching up to the worms and catching several more. Sam kinda hung out on the back of the boat and had a blast watching his son fish, and even had his son coaching him on where to toss his lures, with his dad getting a good bass on a rattlin vibe out of the deep waters on Butler. Weather was better today, with what should be our last cold front. Very minimal schooling activity was seen on the lakes that we fished today, but it’s only a matter of time before the waters start to really heat up with what will be a great top water bite.
