What can I say, the months of March and April have seen some very good bass fishing. We have been hitting several different bodies of water. East Lake Toho had been doing good for us for a good stretch and then the action started to slow down a bit too much for my liking. Spinner baits, flukes and stick baits had been the hot ticket baits out here until things slowed down.
We made the move to Starke Lake in the small town of Ocoee where there was some good action, this place can definitely be a good numbers lake for bass fishing, and if you’re looking to take a break for lunch, the Ocoee Café has some great food, just a matter of minutes from the lake.
Lake Jackson has still been fishing great. Live wild shiners have been producing not only some good number but some darn good sized bass as well. Just ask Vonda Ward, as her and husband Mike came down for some great bass fishing action on Lake Jackson. Vonda had informed me that she had never caught a largemouth bass before, plenty of catfish and such, but never a bass. I told her not to worry she WILL catch some bass, and folks she was on fire! Her first bass of the day, took a little long than expected, maybe 30 minutes but she handled this big gal like a true pro! Gave her one heck of a fight, and in the end she was holding this 7 pound largemouth bass for some pictures and some great memories for sure.
Mike did a great job working the artificial lures himself, catch a scattering of bass around the lake using spinner baits and senko type baits, let me tell you, hats off to the folks at Pure Fishing, for which I am now a team member of, these new Veritas rods we are using have been absolutely awesome, a much lighter rod and tons of hook setting power.
The past two weeks has seen some very good bass fishing in Florida, especially on the Kissimmee Chain of lakes to include Lake Jackson.
Central Florida Bass fishing is still on fire folks. Artificial bait trips are producing some good numbers as well as size. Live bait trips have been off the hook. Lake Jackson has been the hot place to be with my clients boating up to 40 bass in 4 hours of bass fishing using live wild shiners. Live bait has been free lined working around lily pads and hydrilla and the bass have been responding very good. Combination trips have seen us burn off 4 dozen shiners in 2 hours with 30 bass making it over the side of the boat.
. Even with higher winds the bass have still been playing great for us. Live wild shiners pitched to the edges of the lily pads have been not only producing good numbers of bass, but some good size as well.
The bass have just been slamming our offerings and the size is getting bigger. We have been seeing more and more bass with sores on the tail end, meaning there is some bed fanning going on and these bass are starting to get some nice bellies. Artificial baits have been doing pretty good as well. Several nice bass have come over the side of the boat using spinner baits, red eye shad and the best bass was nailed on a swim bait. Corey was working his swim bait nice a slow, actually crawling it along the bottom when his big bass slammed it and gave him one heck of a fight. He did manage another nice one working the swim bait a little closer to the surface and thru the pads.
Butler Chain Bass fishing has been holding pretty steady. My main areas of fishing with clients has been on Lake Butler and Lake Down. Steel Shad and Redeye Shad have been producing some good numbers out here mostly in mid lake areas where we have found the grasses offshore.
Capt Rob Warfield covered for me on another trip as I was already booked, and took his trip out on Lakes Chase and Tibet. Working mainly offshore grasses in 8 to 10 foot of water working trick worms, brush hogs and spinner baits they had a great time boating a bunch of bass. The bass had been relating to the outside edges of the grass beds and would follow the baits out before smacking them. Working slow and being patient was the key, other than the couple very aggressive ones that smacked spinner baits, once you located those bass, it was just a matter of picking apart the grass beds and drop offs.
