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.
The first half of April has seen some good bass fishing action. Most of our trips have been done on Butler Chain and Johns Lake. Although we have seen some rather strange weather for this time of year for us, with a cold front coming thru, the action has remained steady for the most part, with us having to work harder for our bass on the day the cold front slammed us.Most of our action on Butler Chain has come from docks, wacky rigged Gitem KO’s and weightless Warlocks in Green Pumpkin have done a great job catching bass up to 5 pounds.
When docks have slowed in producing bass, we have moved to the cypress trees, tossing baits at the trees and letting it fall straight down to the base of the tree, this has triggered some very good action for us.Johns Lake has seen scattered schooling action fist thing in the mornings, usually just as the sun makes it half way thru the Deer Island cut. Docks have been excellent producers as well as my drift pattern thru the middle of the main lake, tossing Steel Shads, these baits have caught us a ton of bass out there, as well as a few 1-1/2 pound crappie. Offshore scattered grass beds have been holding some bass with the Twin Liz rigged with 1/8th ounce weight catching them all. We have caught a few bass on 1 ounce spinner baits, but that bite has not been consistent enough to keep us using them.The last half of April continued with some good bass fishing action. Butler Chain and Johns Lake have been the choice lakes to catch bass.
Johns Lake has been doing good for my clients wanting to use live bait. Early morning schooling action in both of the cuts have been good for numbers.Steel Shad worked in the middle of the lake on a drift pattern has been simply awesome at keeping the action going steady. Docks have held some quality bass using the Gitem KO whacky rigged as well as skipping a Gitem Sugar under docks.Butler Chain has seen some very good action around docks with Gitem Curly 7’s and KO’s. Areas with grass and lily pads have also been good producing areas to close out the month. Lakes Butler and Tibet have been the top producers, with some very good early morning action, once the air temperature warms up, it’s a lot of flipping and skipping.We have filmed a few more fishing shows which will be airing soon on our other site along with another Skill Zone episode showing how to tie a few more fishing knots. Be sure to check it out as we continue to add more content and videos weekly.
The past two weeks has seen some good bass fishing in the Orlando area. Butler Chain we finally started spotting some bait fish pods, although small and scattered, they are showing up. We had several runs out on Butler and with cooler weather, the water temperatures were finally dropping into the 60’s. This will get the bass on the feeding frenzy to fatten them up for the spawn which is just around the corner.
