Loxahatchee Federal Perserve, Saturday 4/30/16

[geo g]

Loxahatchee Federal Preserve,  West Palm Beach County, 7-12:30, Partly sunny, Temp 88*, wind 15-25 ESE, water light stain.

 

I went to Loxahatchee today Saturday 4/30/16, with Rick.  We arrived at the ramps at 7:00 and stayed until 12:30.  We fished the spoil bank wall on the north side, along the massive flat.  I began casting a jigger craw and swimming it back.  Rick worked his Hollow body frog walking it to perfection.  He did stir up a few hit and misses, tight to the cover.  Rick and I both turned to swim baits with a few hits but no takers.  I turned to my old faithful the senko type bait and started bring in a few fish.  We stayed with plastics the rest of the day.  We finished with about 18 bass caught between the two of us, and loads of hits from baitfish, gar and pickerel.  Fishing was not easy, but Rick did manage to catch some bass, and the big pickerel, where he had been skunked before, twice.  We both missed some big bites in the thick vegetation.  I actually hooked a real biggen, and had her for a short fight, until she became unbuttoned.   I was happy for Rick, I think he enjoyed the Lox experience.

The wind became a real problem around 10:00.  It was supposed to be 7-10 and it turned out to be 15-25.  We had to drag the sea anchor behind the boat or our fishing day would have ended quickly.  As usual it worked like a charm slowing us way down, and allowing us to work our baits.  In a four foot deep flat, with thick vegetation, it worked flawlessly, skimming right over the thick stuff.  This is one of the best, inexpensive, fishing tools I ever bought.  It has saved many gnarly day.

Thanks Rick for making today so enjoyable.

 

 

[Gotfishyfingers?]

Sounds like a fun day. I haven't been fishing in a while, argh..lol. I've been wanting to hit up the Holiday flats before the water drops back to normal levels. I used a drift sock before but it wasn't as effective as I needed it to be. I tried different length rope, tied it off to different spots but no different. Although I'm sure it was user error.  I assume no news is good news with the vultures?

[SFL BassHunter]

As George mentioned above I did indeed have a good time! We fished a part of Lox I had never attempted to fish myself. Both times fishing Lox has been deeper into the vegetation opposite the spoil bank. So this really helped me understand were fish could be a bit more centralized and less scattered. 

Took a few pictures out there but was mostly focused on fishing and maximizing my time. 

 

Thanks for the invite George! 

[geo g]

On ‎5‎/‎1‎/‎2016 at 8:23 AM, Gotfishyfingers? said:

Sounds like a fun day. I haven't been fishing in a while, argh..lol. I've been wanting to hit up the Holiday flats before the water drops back to normal levels. I used a drift sock before but it wasn't as effective as I needed it to be. I tried different length rope, tied it off to different spots but no different. Although I'm sure it was user error.  I assume no news is good news with the vultures?

Fingers, the drift bags come in all different sizes.  In thick vegetation you have to keep the bag on a short line so it stays on the top of the water column.  We had it 5 feet behind the boat and  it never got stuck one time.  The size depends on size of the boat your using.  It saved our day of fishing.

I think the dam vultures have gone back to southern Illinois.  I saw no signs of these pests.

[BassinLou]

Thanks for the reports guys.. Looks like both of you had a good outing. 

[SoFloBassFiend]

On May 1, 2016 at 8:23 AM, Gotfishyfingers? said:

Sounds like a fun day. I haven't been fishing in a while, argh..lol. I've been wanting to hit up the Holiday flats before the water drops back to normal levels. I used a drift sock before but it wasn't as effective as I needed it to be. I tried different length rope, tied it off to different spots but no different. Although I'm sure it was user error.  I assume no news is good news with the vultures?

From what I've heard the Holiday flats have pretty much dried up. Levels are getting low and most fish are in the canals. 

[geo g]

21 hours ago, SoFloBassFiend said:

From what I've heard the Holiday flats have pretty much dried up. Levels are getting low and most fish are in the canals. 

It hasn't happened yet.  We have been waiting a long time for the levels to drop.  We just had some super heavy rains down here so we will have to wait a while longer.

[SoFloBassFiend]

4 hours ago, geo g said:

It hasn't happened yet.  We have been waiting a long time for the levels to drop.  We just had some super heavy rains down here so we will have to wait a while longer.

Is that mostly from the storms last week? Couple guys I talk to that fish the KOTG series said most of the water had finally gone down last weekend and only a few were able to fish the flats. 

[GLADES]

I caught a large pickerel (4-5 lb) at Lox 5 years ago. It was my first there.