FD.

Harris Chain out of Buzzard Beach Jan 6 Air 55-80 water 56 Heavy fog until 11 am with light wind lots of flippin grass lines in 4-6' water 1 bite 1 hookset 1 6.5 lber ghoti had several misses and 1 break off

Nice day of fishing!

Lake gibson ramp is behind 5 guys burger and fries- Starbucks on Socrum Loop rd, its a county ramp with parking for about 10 rigs. The majority of the lake is about 8' with some shallow sandbars near shore. There is a deep hole 25' on the NW end and 12' in the eastern most cove. This lake is very clear for florida, 4-6' visibility. I have seen a lot of large bass in the pads near shore in 3-5' of water with no bites. The only fish I have caught out of there in the last 2 weeks was on a shallow crank over a shell bar at sunset. I have been told that red shad and black zoom trick worms work but that remains to be seen. Don't worry about saddle creeks rep. I fish there at night and all day and have been doing so for over a year with no problems. Shiney Red shad worms, J-11 rapala in root beer, firetiger 6a crank, rattletraps in bleeding shad or silver/black have been working lately. Fish the submerged Hydrilla points in 4-6 feet of water next to drop offs. I have caught several fish over 5 lbs out of there last year with seven fish over 2 lbs in 1 hr last spring. As a family we have a 3.5, 4, and a 5.5 lber since xmas eve.

I'm with avid. Just buy a license, it can't be more than 10 dollars then you have nothing to worry about. On the subject of wardens..I have been stopped and checked 3 times this year. Once on Harris, once on Kissimmee, and once on Istokpoga. All 3 times they were very professional. All I had to do was produce the required coast guard gear and a license and I was on my way again.

Fish with braid with your rod tip up. When you see the strike drop your rod tip and reel up the slack just like worm fishing and then a short but hard hook set. I also use an attractant so they hold it a little longer.

El Salto for a boatload of DD's Great lakes for smallies

We went to fish for specks but wound throwing worms for a while and this is what Nicole came up with.. I only had a catfish but it was a nice afternoon...

Saddle Creek -East Lakeland - West ramp behind playground. Lake Gibson - N Lakeland - the canal is tight but the lake is up. Lake Hartridge - Winterhaven - fish from the ramp to the south into that cove before you go anywhere else Lake McCloud - Eagle Lake - East shoreline there are sunken docks left over from the hurricanes. I have a 21 ft Stratos and have fished all of these in the past month..

Ok, who here fishes tourneys and which ones do you fish? ABA Harris out of buzzard beach. My goal this year is to qualify for the National Championship. Accent Marine out of Camp Mack. I fish this one with my son, mostly because I like Ted.

Jan 4 - Lake Gibson Air- 60 Water-55 Wind out of the ENE at 10 Fished from 4 till dark... Gibson is a small spring fed lake in Lakeland...Water was clear, 4-6 ft of visibility. I could see fish, lots of them in scattered pad in 3-4'. They were also up in the edge of the k-grass in 3-4'. No bites today. I caught 1 last week on a shallow crank at dusk. 12" but almost a pound, fat little sucker that fought like a 5 lber. Not used to clear water, this one may take a while to figure out.

Welcome John C.

Man was it cold this morning! Wonder how bad it slammed the fish. With it warming up this weekend I'm thinking shallow pads on the North side of the lakes that have been protected from that cold north wind all week. Any other Ideas?

I just changed it to fishindaddy. For two reasons. A-I realized I could actually change my screen name and 2. That's what I am. A fishing Daddy. If you have read my posts my fishing almost always involves my kids or my wife.

As a non-boater I bring EVERYTHING that I will need for the day, at least to the ramp and then ask my boater what he wants me to bring onboard..and what he has room for....most boaters don't have 4 square inches of extra space on their boat... As a boater I have extras of everything my non-boater might need including storage space... but that's just me

dec 22- Fished in the am dec 23 -Fished in the am dec 24- Caught a 4 lber on the first cast dec 25- Drove 3 hours to fish the Farm dec 26- Worked, but read a fishing mag at lunch dec 27- Worked, but thought about fishing all day dec 28- Worked, left at noon on the water by 2 dec 29- Fished am, Taylor caught a 5.5 lber, Speck fished in the evening dec 30- cleaned the boat and watched fishing shows, fished in the pm dec 31- pre fished, hard, all day jan 1- fished all day with nicole jan 2- worked all day, no fishing, don't know what to do with myself Do I have a problem or is this just a side affect of living in sunny Fl?

I use a frog that is somewhere between rootbeer and chartruse with red, black and silver flakes. I is called "lane toad" and is made by gambler.

Camp Mack Dec 31, fished from sunrise until noon... overcast air temp 70s water temp 70s spent most of the time in the k grass patches in 4-5 feet of water SW of Jacks Slough. The fish were there 1-4 ft from the outer edges but could not get them to bite.. 1 solid bite all day with a half a worm and a strait hook to show for it.

LBH, We have caught a few larger fish this week in the 2.5 to 5.5 lb range and they have been very thin. The water temp is still in the 70s here in most lakes and I thought maybe they are still thin from a higher metabolism like they are in the summer. The only chunky fish have been smaller 10" to 14". The lake Roger is in and the ones I normally fish are full of Hydrilla so you would think there would be plenty of food.

This is the best one I have found.... http://www.lakelandbassmasters.org/LakeLevels.php

Steve, That was us...weird weather day huh? I caught one down that ditch and then we moved over to the east levy and fished just north of the outfall structure and caught 4 before the gators showed up and then we caught 2 in 3 casts on that point when the big boy got a little to aggressive..

Yes I forgot my phone and the camera.... And Taylor, the 11 yr old, caught her first LMB over 5 lbs... This morning at Saddle Creek, a 5.5 lb, 24" monster, slow dragging a T-rig worm thru the hydrilla...

Avid, Right at the end of the center levy between the farm and the marsh, 5" flappin tail in junebug. Sit west of the point about 30 yd off and cast right on the point. 3 casts, 2 fish and then the gator got too close...

The wife and I headed out to Stick Marsh Farm 13 late Tuesday morning, got there about lunch. It was raining and windy. After 2 hours of fighting the weather, we finally got on fish... And then the local resident moved us from HIS honey hole... He was about 14 feet and chasing our fish to the boat....we decided not to argue... Any way, fished for only a few hours, caught seven, and the day ended like this....... PS unless she is in the pic my wife is the good photographer!

Stick Marsh Dec 25 Got to the ramp about noon - heavy overcast around 70 degrees First time there so lots of idleing and charting bottom By 1 pm the rain is blowing sideways out of the SW By 2 pm no rain and dead calm fished the E levy on Farm 13 near the middle inflow gate picked up 5 fish in about an hour on 5" paddletails and attracted a lot of attention from the gators and moved got 2 fish in 5 minutes at the end of the main levy between the farm and the marsh on 5" paddle tail junebug, had a 14 footer try to come in the boat chasing a 2.5 lber I had on and decided it was time to go home. 5 dinks and two over 2.5 for a total of 7 fish in about 3 hours total fishing time, would have had more if the gators were not so aggressive.

The wife and I hit out local spot, Saddle Creek, this morning before all crazyness starts and this was the first cast.....