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Bass Fishing Forecast for May

With the weather calming down, cold fronts, or even cool fronts now a thing of the past, our water temperatures are now starting to warm up steadily. Early morning schooling action will be very common on Lakes Toho, Butler Chain and Johns Lake. Prop baits, torpedoes, buzz baits and toads will be very good early morning producers for some quality bass.

Grass beds and hydrilla will be very good areas to target using worms, senko type baits, spinner baits and shallow running crank baits. Depending on the body of water, docks will be holding bass as usual and typically some good quality largemouth bass.

Typical spring rains will have water flowing thru canals and creeks which will have bass ambushing bait fish off and on during the day. Rattle traps will be a great bait for these bass, as well as using for picking up aggressive bass and locating them quickly

Bass Fishing Forecast for March

March is always a good month in Florida for Trophy Bass. Not only can you catch them on wild shiners, but you can also catch them on top water lures. Buzzbaits and toads will draw some vicious strikes and some fun action on the waters of Lake Toho and the entire Kissimmee Chain.

Rattle Traps, spinner baits and crank baits will make for some very exciting action on Orlando area lakes, catching bass on a regular basis throughout the day. Lizards, worms and senko type baits will also produce some quality bass and this is also the time of year when our cold fronts are reduced to cool fronts. Largemouth bass will be once again schooling up and feeding heavily on natural lake forage like shad and wild shiners, which also makes them an easy target for us to catch.

Lake Toho bass fishing is one of our main focuses, with such a wide range of cover to fish, from lily pads to hydrilla beds, to floating mats in mid lake, there is always some type of action going on.

Butler Chain Bass Fishing Report Oct 2006

Orlando Bass Fishing Report

Butler Chain

The last few days we have had runs out on Butler Chain, although we have had cooler nights and the waters have cooled down nicely, starting the day out with a surface temperature in the upper 70’s, the bass have not turned on just yet. We have come across a lot of good sized schools running in 12 to 18 foot of water, but very little if any schooling action has been seen on the lakes we have been hitting. Little Lake Down and Lake Down have seen the deeper water schooling with us picking up a few here and there. Today we started the day on Lake Pocket, working shoreline and lily pads we had several serious blowups on a Gitem Toad but hook up were missed. From there Lake Blanche, which has been producing as of late yielded a few descent sized bass this week.

Lake Chase was the lake to be fishing, working spinner baits and toads, this lake has woken up with some good action. Fishing wind blown side of the lake is the key. Working grass beds and the edges and working slowly, areas close to drop offs, even a slight drop off has held some bait.
Lake Louise has been doing good with Carolina rigged lizards, working slowly thru the eel grass in 6 to 9 foot of water. Bait fish pods have been getting pounded a lot as of late with the diving birds so keep your eyes open.

Today we spent doing some scouting on Butler Chain. Started out working different areas up in Lake Chase, catching a few good bass on a mixture of lures. Spinner baits, rattle traps and senkos. Did manage one good bass on a toad early on, but the was the only top water action I was able to muster up. From there I moved into Lake Blanche, working flooded timber and grass beds, picking up 3 more descent bass, had one that would have been close to 5 pounds, but 5 feet from the boat, I noticed she had locked down on the blades of my spinner bait, giving her some slack in hopes she would turn into the hook did not work.

Made a move into Lake Isleworth to end the days action, picking up 2 more bass for a total of 11 for the day. Water temps were holding steady at 77 degrees and waters were looking very good. All bass today came in water from extremely shallow to 6 foot.

Talked with a few others at the ramp, and they had said they spent their time down by Lake Down area, working spinner baits and rattle trap to catch their fish. Sounds like a consistent pattern throughout the chain right now. Two other gentlemen hit up the specks, drifting Lakes Tibet and Chase catching 14 of hat they called medium sized specks, but a good day. With the waters finally in the 70’s, the bite should really start to pick up, key to today was working the breezy side of the lakes, winds have been fairly consistent the last few days and bait fish were starting to stack up.

Today we had the great pleasure with helping out in the Edgewood Boys Ranch day on the water. These kids were ready for a great time on the water and the weather, even though it got hot before noon time did not let us down. The kids were allowed to keep one fish each over 14 inches to bring back and weigh in, and at the end of the day, word was fish were being caught on just about ever lake on Butler Chain.

With an estimated 30 to 35 boats and 2 kids per boat that ment a lot of fishing and a ton of smiles. Bass were being caught on everything from wild shiners to slow trolled crank baits. The end of the day saw a great cookout and the kids all getting prizes from rods and reels to basketballs. These kids did a great job out on the water and it was a great pleasure being able to help out, the saying “take a kid fishing” means nothing unless you actually do it. Pictured is the two youngsters I had the great pleasure of having on my boat, pictured with a very nice 5.59 pound large mouth, which also was the winning fish for the day, as they took home the hardware and some darn big smiles. Sorry that my camera person didn’t zoom in on this one, she was a very healthy one and jumped great.

Today we were once again out on Butler Chain, with conditions a little tougher.
Day started out sitting in line at the ramp for almost an hour, as without warning there was a tournament out here with a good amount of boats in it.

The day once again started out in Lake Chase, this has been the hot lake as of late, especially for getting the better quality bass to bite first thing in the morning, and they played well this morning catching a few good ones early on. Baits of choice once again were the spinner baits with a mix of live bait. Bass were holding on the drop offs and hitting the baits as they were worked up the drop offs from the deeper waters. This is a pattern that has been holding true for the better part of a week now, and with the cold front coming in, should hold true for at least another week.

Lake Sheen and Lake Tibet, the bite had slowed some for us, but we have been spotting some bait fish pods on the screen as of late so the bass should really start feeding up very soon, as long as we can keep a good cooler weather pattern going. Waters on most of the lakes have really cleared up which has dictated longer casts, Fluorocarbon lines and lighter lines to get the good bites.

Monday the 23rd we spent the day on the water with Larry and Terry. With picture perfect weather as the cold front passed thru. Pattern from the past week now has been holding true, hitting areas on the chain in 6-8 foot of water, with a good drop off close by, meaning a drop off to 16 to 20 foot of water. Bass seem to be cruising back and forth from deep waters to grass beds and being in these areas has been the big key to getting the bigger bass, as Larry and Terry found out.

Small bass of the day came in at 3.9 pounds and big bass, with a few twin look- a-likes came in at 4.7 pounds. Hits were very light, as they were taking baits and swimming them back towards the boats and the deeper waters, and the flip side, taking the baits in deeper waters and swimming back to shallow waters. Being a line watcher was a must.

Baits the last few runs have remained very consistent from spinner baits, senko type baits and wild shiners. Jigs and swim baits were also tried with no luck to speak of. Crappie fishing as reported to me by a few locals has been off and on using a drift pattern over deeper waters using minnows but it is expected to pick up with some great action as the waters start to really cool down.

Thursday we were out on Butler Chain with David for what turned out to be some tough fishing. From bluebird skies to party cloudy, and little to no breeze at times, the bass definitely did not want to play as they had in days past. We had started out on Lake Chase, working a deep water drop off area for a few with no luck. Making the long move to Little Lake Down, we did manage to pick up two bass, one on a drop shot and the other on a shiner.

Making the move out to Lake Down, David picked up 2 small ones on a rattle trap before we made the move to Lake Louise and trying some buzz baits and toads. I tried working a buzz bait across the top of the eel grass and turned to look behind the boat when the buzz bait got hosed by a descent 3 pounder.

Friday we were back out on Butler with Frank and Tom from the Villages. Again starting out in Lake Chase with no takers, we moved into Lake Blanche where Tom managed 3 quick keepers before the bite in there died off. The winds were starting to pick up, so I made a move into Lake Louise, where the guys were tossing spinner baits and working them thru the eel grasses, were again, Tom picked up 4 more good bass, leaving Frank scratching his head, Tom would simply cast in right behind Frank to catch the fish for the day. Water temps were a comfortable 74 degrees and the bass definitely played a lot better today. Cooler water temperatures have helped to turn these bass back on and things will only get better.

Lake Toho, Butler Chain and Johns Lake Bass Fishing Report May 2006

Orlando Bass Fishing Report

John’s Lake

Today we did some more scouting on Johns Lake for future trips we have coming up that will be done out there. One of the greatest parts of our job is to have the ability to be able to scout and fish several lakes. This lake is unlike most Florida lakes as this lake has some very clean waters, great shad population, and some very hard fighting bass. The cleaner waters combined with the great shad population, excellent grass beds and scattered timber make for some great bass fishing action.

Lures of choice today consisted of a wide variety of lures, Rattle Traps, Spooks, rattling spinnerbaits, Gitem KO’s, Gitem Toads, and Gitem Shads.

Morning bite started out with what was some excellent schooling activity in the cut on Johns Lake and once that slowed to a crawl, we had moved into Clear Lake. Working the undeveloped side of Clear Lake, we saw a ton of bait fish and had some good action with the bucks coming out to play. As the sun got up and really started to cook, the bite slowed and the pattern of choice was positioning the boat in the middle of long scattered grass beds and slow trolling thru, tossing Gitem Shads with a small screw in bullet weight, and tossing it to the edges and into potholes in the beds. Several good solid bass fell to this pattern and made for a very successful scouting trip.

Tomorrow we are back it at one last day before hitting the trips again, so we will be targeting the Horseshoe area as well as the Black Lake area of Johns Lake.

John’s Lake
May 3rd

Lures of choice today consisted of a wide variety of lures, Rattle Traps, Spooks, rattling spinnerbaits, Gitem KO’s, Gitem Toads, and Gitem Shads.

Tomorrow we are back it at one last day before hitting the trips again, so we will be targeting the Horseshoe area as well as the Black Lake area of Johns Lake.

May 4th

Today as planned we started the day out in the main cut working swim baits from storm, 3 inch curltail in Pearl color and worked the deeper waters around the cut. Catching a few good school sized bass we moved on over to the Horse Shoe area and worked the mouth in the same manner, tossing around swim baits, which was the definite bait of choice. Moving along the shoreline we were working Gitem Shad and Warlocks and managed a few more good school sized bass. From there we headed to the extreme west side of John’s Lake known as Clear Lake. This area has some of the best looking waters out there and tossing around white spinner baits was the definite way to go here.

May 5th

Back out on John’s Lake yet again, the bite had dramatically slowed down as the normal schooling bass did not make their appearance in the morning as they have been, We made the move over to the horse shoe area once again picking up one good bass off a spinner baits before making the move to the west side of the main lake. Here we were tossing chatter baits in Chartreuse color picking up a few more slot sized bass. Weather played a big factor as a front was starting to move in on us, giving us calm breeze one minute and a good stiff wind the next. Bait of choice was definitely chatter baits and small spinner baits.

John’s Lake
May 9th

Today we had a run out on John’s Lake.
Morning bite had started out catching 2 quick keepers on a Storm CurlyTail swim bait before 6:30am, still slightly dark out and with heavy rolling cloud cover. Shortly after that the skies opened up and yes, the rain finally came, and so did the lightning!!! After a quick run back to the ramp for cover and about an hour wait for the skies to somewhat clear up, we headed back out in the rain to once again locate our fish.

Opting for a change in baits to kick things off again was a good choice, as we switched to Gitem Shads with a small screw in weight and long casts into scattered grass beds, we managed to pick up 3 keepers really quick. The rains had changed our approach as the bass had seemed to move tighter to the cover but remained on the deeper edges in 6 to 8 foot of water. Baits were worked VERY slow after about a 5 second count down to allow them to fall deep enough.

We had made several moves to different areas of the lake and the same pattern held true at every location we hit, long casts, 5 second count down and worked VERY slow, hits were very aggressive, picking up 3 or 4 bass in every location we hit. Stronger winds kicked up and once again changed the bite, Bass seemed to position themselves in the middle of the grass beds and on calmer sides of isolated grass patches. Main lake points and a few boat docks also produced. With the water levels down some, look for the submerged grass beds, which are becoming easier to locate to be holding some good bass, spinner baits and Gitem Shads have been hot baits on this lake as of late and are a sure fire way to catch some good limits.

Butler Chain

Today we had a great run out on Butler Chain. With Tim and his Dad we headed straight to Lake Down trolling shiners along grass bed edges and nothing wanted to play, from there we headed into Little Lake Down, slow trolling shiners the guys managed a few good bass, which all came from the deep waters, ranging in depth from 10 to 26 feet deep.

From there we headed over to Lake Louise and worked the eel grass beds picking up a few more bass. Tim had a serious toad just absolutely hammer his shiner and a after a brief fight, it actually snapped 50 pound braided line.

With a phone call from a friend, we opted to move into Lake Isleworth to be positioned to make a fast get away as a bad storm was heading our direction. Shiners pitched to shoreline vegetation and in and around lily pads produced a few more good bass, rain started to kick in some along with the winds and the guys opted smartly to head on out.

Waters are getting low so getting the total downpour we got was great to see, the cut going from the bay into Lake Down is very shallow and getting narrow as you enter Lake Down. There is a tree, laydown in the entrance to the cut leading from Lake Islewoth to Lake Louise, so pay close attention as you motor thru there.

Butler Chain

Today we had a great bunch of guys out on the water from England.
These guys have never been to America before and NEVER bass fished before either.
Needless to say this was a shiner trip, and the day had started out on the slow side.
Isleworth was where we had started the day out, with no real good action to speak of, and with the guys only fishing a 4 hour trip, we had to find fish fast, and did we ever.
We made the move into Lake Lousie and the guys picked up a few here and there when out of nowhere, 2 rods slammed over and the fights were on, or so we thought. As father and son battled their bass, one surface and did a beautiful dance on the water and we knew at least one of them was a serious toad .Keith got his to the boat, and as I lipped her I saw Keiths hook in the corner of the mouth, and his sons hook and shiner deep in the bass’s mouth, so not only did they share a GREAT day on the water, but as a team, they both hauled in the same bass, that weight in at a very nice and SOLID 10.1 pounds!!!!

Remember folks, when you go fishing, take your kids with you, the smiles and chatter after this bass was released alive and well was absolutely priceless.

John’s Lake week ending May 21st
This past week has had us out on John’s lake with a mix of scouting trips and guide trips.
With the waters still dropping, the bass have pulled more to the outside edges of the grass beds and deeper water grass beds. Spinner baits in all white or Gold have been very good producers. Storm swim baits have seen some good action on the early morning schoolers in the cuts. As the day warmed, the flipping bite in and around the docks have produced some very nice bass as well.

Mixing the lures up a bit to see how the bass would react was a good bet, with a #5 Mepps Minnow picking up a few good bass as well as a Long A and rattle traps. Most of the flipping baits were the Gitem Bugs and the Gitem Shad. Top bait producer in and around the docks was the Gitem K.O in Red Bass, this has been a great color out here.

Shiner bite is still going good, if the schoolers don’t take a freelined shiner, use a bobber and set it to 8-12 inches early on in the day, and late afternoon, pinch on a small slit shot to drop the bait just a little deeper, surface schooling may be over but the bass are still there, suspended in deeper water.

With the air temps rising and the dog days of summer fast approaching, the early bite is going to be key if you want good topwater action, then the bite will slow down but with the switch to slow rolled spinnerbaits, and senko type baits, you will still get some very good quality fish.

Lake Toho

Today we did a little scouting around out on Lake Toho.
Day started out with a very light breeze and ended very calm.
We started out the day working grass beds with Gitem K.O’s and Toads, managing to pick up 2 slot sized bass on the K.O in Red Bass color. From there we made the move to the grass and reeds just past Makinson Island, this was a move that would pay off in a big way.

We started out flipping Gitem Bugs with one good thump and a drop and watched as reeds were getting banged around, noticing this we tossed bugs and K.O’s up into the reeds managing to pick up 3 more good solid bass before they just stopped biting.

Shad had moved thru and the bass seemed to be more focused on them, so we made a switch to some top water minnows. Quick pops WITHOUT moving the lure was the key, as we managed to get 6 more bass, all of which came in between 5 and 5 ½ pounds each.

Pop R’s and chug bugs managed 3 more bass about 2 to 3 pounds each before we decided to call it a day. A lot of great hydrilla in these areas, which was a big key to catching the bass, also saw a lot of schooling activity out around the island, mostly which was taking place about 20 to 30 feet off the grass beds and pretty consistant. Bass all looked very healthy and were very aggressive when they hit.

Butler Chain

Thursday we were out on Butler Chain scouting new waters and working new baits from Gitem Baits. Baits were the new drop shot baits and with the bass staged up and holding in the deeper waters, these baits could not have come to us at a better time.

We had started the day out on Lake Isleworth, hitting the deep holes, 10-18 feet with the drop shot rig set at 2 ½ feet. Lighter tackle and 10 pound mono and stand out hooks made these baits look very impressive as we picked up 6 good bass.

With a quick move over to Lake Louise to work a few more deep holes picking up a few more good bass before calling it a day. With the dog days of summer beating down us, drop shot is going to be a good bet to get some good quality bass.

Friday we had a 6 hour trip out on Butler, Janet and her brother Kirk came for some good bass fishing action and the chain did not let them down. Kirk had the hot rod, hooking up several nice bass. Lakes that we had worked were, Lake Isleworth, Lake Louise and Lake Tibet. Waters were very calm as we had no real breeze to speak of, which this trip being a shiner trip, didn’t really effect the bite for us today. Once again it was the deeper holes, 12-18 foot of water that held the bass. In all it was a great day on the water, especially for Kirk, since his sister treated him today for his birthday.

Bass Fishing Forecast for May

Bass Fishing Forecast for March

Butler Chain Bass Fishing Report Oct 2006

Lake Toho, Butler Chain and Johns Lake Bass Fishing Report May 2006

Lake Toho

Butler Chain of Lakes

Current Orlando Fishing Reports