Fishing Lake Kissimmee With Howling North Winds

Well, I spent the entire weekend looking for fish on the Kissimmee Chain. The best places were an area on Lake Kissimmee where Terry Scroggins caught his huge bag to get into contention for the 2006 Bassmaster Classic and an area near North Cove. The water was in the mid 70’s and in the 50’s during the classic but they were still here.

The bass were in offshore hydrilla near North Cove and pretty much everywhere in the other area. The best baits were my 3/8 ounce chartreuse single colorado blade Booyah spinnerbait and the Yum Big Show Paddletail worm in junebug. I started the morning in North Cove because the winds were blowing 10 to 20 knots out of the north and I figured it would keep me out of the wind. The second area with fish was also protected from the north winds. Thank goodness I didn’t catch any pickerel on the chartreuse spinnerbait. I hate trying to get those toothy critters off the hook.

I fished all the way down to Jack Slough. The water was clearest here, but didn’t catch any fish. It’s the area Luke Clausen won pretty much won the 2006 Bassmaster Classic and definitely the clearest water. The fish should be in the clearest water so I’ll start here in the morning sometime this week and work my way south. The winds have been and will continue to blow out of the north so going south is much easier than going the other way.

It seems like the fish are just inside the main line of kissimmee grass from the main lake. I couldn’t get bit real close to shore. The one vegetation the fish are always on these days are small clumps of reeds mixed in the kissimmee grass with pink snail eggs on them. The fish are also supposed to be in the clearest water, but it seems like they like a little stain at the moment.

I’d also like to find them offshore since they tend to bunch up out there. I did catch a few on Toho and it seems like you need to fish the side the wind’s blowing onto. I also checked out the hydrilla bed near Southport but couldn’t get bit with a carolina rig. They’re hard to figure out. Somebody give me some more tips.

Another Bad Prefishing Day for the Toho Challenge

I checked out Lake Cypress today in preparation for the Toho Challenge and I can definitely rule this place out. I flipped the open water hydrilla, wormed the edges, and covered a lot of it with a Ribbit frog, a gold Xcalibur Xr75, carolina rig with a trick worm, and a Booyah Boogie Bait. You can’t fish any of the reeds because of all the hydrilla. The winds were howling and the only place I caught any fish was on a shell bed near Haines Creek. The only problem is that they were barely keepers. I don’t know if the cold front coming is shutting down the fish, but it wasn’t a successful day. I’ve got to find some big fish somewhere. 

I’ll probably check out the entire eastern shore of Lake Kissimmee and the south end of Toho next. I sure hope they’re there somewhere. I’ve covered a lot of water already and ready to find them. Either I suck or the fish are so deep in the hydrilla that I can’t get to them. I’m determined and will be looking from sun up until sun down for at least another couple of days.

After days like today, I start wondering if I’m missing something or if I just suck. I’ve got to get those thoughts out of my head and continue looking for the honey hole. I may have to try a Zoom Speed Worm. I’ve never really had too much success with them but the Ray Sedgewick and Scott Rook seemed to do pretty well on them in North Cove around pads.

Killer Swimbaits Soon to Be Released

These two new products are the reasons why I spend way too much at the tackle shop. Being in Central Florida with most places being shallow and stained, swim baits are not the most effective baits money can buy but I can’t stop buying them. I love the swimming action these things have and they just look cool. 

Earlier this year, I purchased an Optimum Platinum swimbait which abruptly broke in half after hooking into a 2 pounder. Talk about a waist of $20, but the Spro 4″ BBZ-1 Swim Shad and the Tru Tungsten Tru Life 4″ Swimbait are just way too cool looking to pass up. 

The only places I can really use these baits around here is on the Butler Chain, but it’s really cool watching big bass come up on these swimbaits in clear water. Both baits come in slow sinking and fast sinking weights, but I prefer the slow sinking ones so I can see them eat it. I can also swim it above grass a little better. If you haven’t heard, bass in Florida hang out in the grass. I’m sure these baits will be deadly on Amistad or Table Rock, but there’s nothin like that around here.

At $20, I’ll probably only buy one weight and one color. The Blue Back Herring on the Spro is gorgeous and I’m sure the bass will eat it around these parts although there’s no blue back herring here. The coolest color for the Tru Tungsten is the Chartreuse Shad. 

I’m sure both these lures will swim great as the video shows. I jut hope you can catch quite a few fish on them before they break.

FLW BFL Gator Division Schedule for 2009

The FLW Walmart Bass Fishing League just released the tour schedule for the Gator Division in 2009.

1. Kissimmee Chain-Camp Mack-January 24
2. Harris Chain-Hickory Point-February 14
3. Harris Chain-Hickory Point-April 4
4. Kissimmee Chain-Camp Mack-May 2
5. Kissimmee Chain-Camp Mack-October 3-4

Bass on the Butler Chain

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The Butler Chain of Lakes in Windermere offers some of the most pristine waters in Central Florida, yet it’s far less renowned than nearby Harris Chain and Kissimmee Chain. It’s the clearest and deepest water you’ll find around here with fantastic bass action.

I like fishing here because it’s totally different from most of the lakes around this area. The clear water and depths lend itself to structure fishing which is not a commonplace in Central Florida. I can break out my deep cranks, swimbaits, and finesse baits. I can fish for bedding fish in 8 feet of water. I can throw topwater in 15 feet of water. You just can’t do this anywhere else around here. Besides, there’s something about being out in really clear water that’s just nice.

Don’t get me wrong there’s shallow fish here as well, but most of the big fish will come out of deeper depths because of the clear water. There’s plenty of timber, reeds, and pads in shallow water if you decide to take that route. I just enjoy structure fishing here, because you just don’t get to do it anywhere in Central Florida. Besides, I heard some saying about 90% of the being behind you when you’re throwing at the bank. I’d say it holds true here.

My favorite lakes are Butler and Down. There’s lots of humps and ledges to fish and the key is to find the vegetation or shell beds on these structures. It’s a constant battle locating them because Fish and Wildlife kills them off from time to time.

The only public access is located at 10900 Chase Rd at the RD Keene Park in Windermere. I suggest fishing during the week because there’s a lot less boat traffic and the parking lot fills up quite rapidly on weekends.

As far as tackle, my favorite on these lakes are worms, flukes, crankbaits, swimbaits, and spinnerbaits. Stick with watermelon or green pumpkin for worms. I prefer the finesse type plastics such as the senko, trick worm, giggy snake, and shaky head worm. There’s a lot of shad here so white flukes also produce quite well on a weightless texas rig or carolina rig. The best colors for crankbaits and swimbaits are white, chartreuse shad, ghost color, or anything that looks more natural and realistic. Anytime the bass are feeding on shad, a spinnerbait is deadly. If I’m trying to locate some fish, a white or translucent spinnerbait is my go to bait. The best color is white with double willow leaf blades, but sometimes the bluegill color finds the bigger fish. Often times, jigging it off the bottom will catch the biggest fish out of the school.

Here’s a map from back in the day from Tim’s Tackle Box on Michigan Avenue. It used to be the biggest tackle shop around Central Florida before the days of Bass Pro Shops. I used to love going in there and hearing all the aerators running with a hint of something in the air…   probably reel grease.

click to enlarge

The Butler Chain is a fantastic fishery that doesn’t get a whole lot of pressure. It’s the nicest lake near the attractions so I’d check out fishing here if you’re in town on vacation.

virtual tour: Butler Chain

Charlie Hartley Tips on Becoming a Pro Angler

Looks like “DC” is still hanging around. Charlie don’t surf, but he don’t disappear either. Since Charlie led the 2008 Bassmaster Classic after day 1, he’s been popping up everywhere. He seems like such a nice guy and he shares some insights on making a run at becoming a pro angler.

KVD Talks About His Winning Pattern on Toho

KVD won the Elite Series event on Toho earlier this year ripping a Red Eye Shad out of open water hydrilla. He says the key was to find clumps where the wind was blowing on to them. I also didn’t realize that the loch was open and at least a little bit of current flowing through it. 

Lipless crankbaits are notorious for fish shaking them off and KVD says his 7′ medium heavy rod with 17 lb fluorocarbon line and extra short #2 hooks helped him keep the fish hooked up.

Ben Matsubu also won an event on the Kissimmee Chain in September 2007 fishing open water hydrilla and it could be a winning pattern out here. Matsubu had to use a carolina rig since the water temps were way warmer, but the pattern is the same.

John’s Lake Tacklebox Essentials

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Fishing John’s Lake in Winter Garden offers lots of different areas and cover to fish including kissimmee grass, lilly pads, pepper grass, eel grass, timber, reeds, and hydrilla. There’s lots of different ways to catch’em here, but the most effective baits are senkos and trick worms.

My favorite way to fish the senko on John’s Lake is weightless on a texas rig, wacky rig, or carolina rig. This bait just flat out works all day every day as long it’s plum with green flakes (junebug) or watermelon red. You can’t say that about any other bait, but the trick worm is almost as good. My favorite way to fish the trick worm is on a carolina rig, but the texas rig and wacky rig works as well and perhaps better around docks. The best colors for trick worms are junebug, watermelon red, and red bug.

Rattletraps and shallow crankbaits are also really effective here, but you need to find active fish for these baits to work. Rattletraps work best when ripped out of hydrilla, yo yo ing it off the bottom, and cranked between and over grass beds. The best colors are gold with black back and orange belly, chrome with green, blue, or black back, and chartreuse with black back. I tend to stick with Bill Lewis Rat L Traps and Xcalibur Xr50, but the Xcalibur seems to hold up a little better and run a little truer with a better shimmy.

Paralleling weed lines and banging timber with a shallow crankbait is also effective here especially in the Fall. My favorites are the Bandit 200 series and Lucky Craft 1.5. My favorite color for the Bandit is Rootbeer and Copper Perch for the Lucky Craft. You tend to lose a few of these baits on timber so I’ll use the Bandit for this situation since they’re 3x’s cheaper and run just a true.

Early mornings provide the best opportunity for exciting topwater action. The best topwater baits are Zara Spooks, buzzbaits, and frogs. Black really works well for all these baits, but my favorite for my Ribbit frog is junebug.

One of the most effective baits that’s overlooked on these lakes for pre spawn and post spawn bass is the suspending jerkbait. My favorite is a olive green X Rap Rapala and I like to work them everywhere I use a rattletrap. I’ve even used them to get bass off of beds. You can just drag it into the bed and let it dangle in front of their face for a long time. The firetiger color is the best for bedding bass since it resembles those pesky bluegills they’re constantly chasing away from their eggs. Pre and post areas will be just outside of spawning coves and shallow water flats in the middle of the lake with deep water close by. Just make sure the water is on the clearer side during winter and spring. Slow down the retrieve as the water gets colder in Winter and speed it up during Spring.

The summers are probably the slowest time for fishing here, and I’d target deep water docks and the handful of places with deep water and cover with senkos and trick worms. Sometimes you can find running water after some of the tropical storms and hurricanes we get during the summer and it can be just phenomenal fishing. The water runs into John’s Lake from Black Lake so it’s the only place to find running water here.

You don’t have to spend a fortune at Bass Pro Shops to catch fish here. Just get some senkos, trick worms, rattletraps, ribbits, and jerkbaits and you’ll catch’em as good as anybody. Now the only thing you gotta do is locate the fish which is the hard part. You’ll catch a lot of small fish here, but there’s also some monsters out there.

Prefishing on Toho

I headed out on the Kissimmee Chain yesterday to begin my prefishing for the Toho Challenge and it wasn’t very successful. I started out on Lake Kissimmee in the 7 Palms area and caught a few fish in Kissimmee grass areas without hydrilla or pepper grass. I tried like heck to get some frog fish but couldn’t get any out of the matted vegetation.

The wind was pretty brisk this morning so I looked for some sheltered areas and found it near the Overstreet Ramp and North Cove. Both were about the same with a few small fish but not the size I’m looking for. All the fish in both areas came from a junebug Gitem finesse worm that’s pretty much the same as the Zoom Trick Worm.

Well, things started calming down and the water temps were hitting the mid 80’s so I decided to lock to Toho and fish some open water. I did find a few spots in the hydrilla patches in the middle of the lake, but again they were all too small to do any damage. There must have been a tournament yesterday, because there were 3 other boats around me netting their fish into the boat. I was lookin but no one else got any big ones either.

I think I’ll try to dedicate an entire day on open water in Toho this coming week. I’m pretty sure it’s a place where tournaments can be won here. It’s just so boring graphing the middle of the lake and carolina rigging all day. You gotta do what you gotta do. At least they’ll bite a Rat L Trap as well which will help break up the monotony. Ripping the Rat L Trap through the hydrilla and letting it rest in the open area seems to be working lately. I like to rip it, but if they like it better just sitting there, then I gotta let it sit.

2008 Lake Toho Challenge

There will be an exciting bass tournament upcoming on the Kissimmee Chain as part of the 2008 Kissimmee Great Outdoor Days. The team tournament hosted by Terry Seagraves will take place November 6, 7, and 8 with $20,000 guaranteed to the winner and $5,000 big bass payout each day.

Chris Lane won the event in 2007 with a final day bag of 17.47 lbs and Terry Scroggins placed third with 13.75 lbs. I definitely plan on fishing this tournament and putting in a lot of time on the water beforehand.