people from Florida

[gatrboy53]

basslovr,bass heaven in dunnellon,you have the rainbow river,one of gods wonderful creations,which flows into the withlachoosi river,as of this spring it still has rebounded from the last two yrs. of hurricanes.which makes up lake rousseau ,flooded impoundment, the western part of the cross fl. barge canal.

[basslovr]

thanks gatrboy, am going there tomorrow Friday August 11. Sounds good to me. I love bass and I'm goin to heaven someday so maybe I'll get a glimpse of what it will be like there. Will let ya know how I make out with the bass part.

[basslovr]

hey gatrboy, You were right about the beautiful creation but unfortunately all we did was see bass. The Rainbow River was very clear and we say lots of bass, some of them were big too, 5 lbers, 7 lbers, and lots of smaller ones, but couldn't get any of them to bite. Maybe next time.

[gatrboy53]

dont know what kinda tackle you were using,but i use 6# test,sometimes 10# flouro in the grass.you wont get many of the ones you see to bite but that tells you you are in a fishy area.finess worms,1/4 and 3/8 oz. jigs.we usually fish at nite ,so they dont spook as easily.we go up river and use a drag to control speed of drift.usually if we fish during the day we'll fish the grass and the mine areas off the main river.its all about being stealth, they spook real easy.my buddy went down just before full moon at nite and they did real good,but he has fished it for yrs. and knows how.even if you dont catch anything its a pretty ride.we also like to go at nite because the pleasure people stir the fish up and they get lockjaw.thnx for the report,better luck next time, mike

[sinking minnow]

Good morning from Valladolid, Spain!

I am not a Florida resident but I was there the last summer on July.

I was living on DeFuniak Spgs. 60 miles far of Pensacola.

There I discovered the bass fishing on Driven Lakes, privates lakes, and now I am a bass lover more.

[basslovr]

gatrboy, I don't have my own boat so have to rent, guess I am out of luck on that river. I'm hoping to buy a kayak soon. Maybe then I can have better luck. Night fishing spooks me a little though. Don't gators move about at night?  You mentioned fishing the grass and mine areas off of main river, tell me more. Also what colors of finesse worms or does that really matter? thanks for the correspondence.

[gatrboy53]

basslovr,gators are more afraid of you than you are them,they shouldnt be a concern.we fish at nite mostly because of the traffic it keeps the fish spooked and you arent as visible to the bass.you can also move up alittle in line size.also, the bass tend to come out of the cover more at nite. the main ch. is to swift to fish effectively,unless you slow down or get out of the current.thats why w/ a drag we have a controlled drift down river.we motor up stream and drift back toward ramp.during the day the bass are tucked under the cover more and fishing this way is not as effective.there are several mine areas along the river,indents that are out of the main current,most are very deep w/ grass on bottom as well as emergent grass along edge.if you are stealth you can ease into these areas and soak plastics,worms,lizards,flukes,etc.

most of the grass flats and patches hold bass along the main ch.fishing these areas are very difficult because it is hard to get to the fish w/o spooking them.it requires you to set up on a spot and wait till they settle down and you present a bait to them w/o spooking them.there are some monster bass in rainbow river!!!at nite i only fish black trick worms or black finess worms,thats my preference.during the day colors w/ green in them.the lighter the line you use the more bites youll get,but the more fish you'll lose.

i have a friend that fishes there every full moon at nite.before the storms of 04 they would catch 50-100 bass up to 10lbs.but since, they catch around 20 and rarely one over 5 lbs.i only go a few times a yr.in the hopes of latching into a monster.the place is simple beautiful to me,its florida at its truest form.

[glihon]

hey guys, Winter Haven, FL here.  I like yalls posts of polk county  ;D  made me join the forum...lol

anyways im going to school up in clemson now, trying to cope with the difference in fishing styles from shallow, murky, weeded lakes to clear, deep and empty ones... fishing on keowee these days  having only decent luck.

home lakes would be lake fanny, if uve heard of it, and river lake, even smaller... lol   good lakes to grow up on though.  spent most of my time fishing secluded resivores in huge orange groves.  fater was worked in the agriculture business so had the connections.  u can pull some great bass out of some of those places.

well ill be talking to u guys.  glad i found this site.

oh btw, all u florida borns, if u havent read "A Time Remembered"  check it out, story of the real Florida Crackers.  very good.

cheers

[BassnJoe]

Hey, y'all!  I'm from Polk County, also.

[BassHunter266]

Hello, I'm from Winterhaven, Polk county

[Xtreme Fisherman]

ME!!!!!

[ranger354]

I live in Sebring, in Highlands County.  I moved here last November from Tampa.  I moved here for all of the bass fishing, and have been enjoying it ever since.  Some days you catch them and some days you don't, but every day is a good day.

[what]

i live in miami florida lol  

[Hale]

Yay for Winter Haven, thats where I grew up. First part of youth was on Lake Pansy and the we moved to Lake Haines (Big City of Lake Alfred).

[basslovr]

hey you guys from polk county, any of you guys be able to tell me anything about lake reedy? Goin there soon and was wondering if anybody had any pointers. Thanx in advance for any info that could be shared.

[joes]

I plan to retire to the Jacksonville area in June 07 and would appreciate any advise as to where and when to fish the area for bass. I have never fished in FLA so the only thing I'm familiar with is the fishing seasons in Maryland. Most of my fishing in Maryland was at a reservoir where aluminum boats worked great. Would an aluminum boat work it Jacksonville or should I look for fiberglass? Being on a fix income when I retire I will be limited as to what kind of boat I can buy.

I will be coming down without a boat so if you know of any reasonable boat rental I would love to hear about it.

Thanks

Joe

[gatrboy53]

in the immediate area of jax. you have the st. johns river and its tributaries.there are some areas s.( dr. lake) that a aluminum boat would work.i wouldnt want to traverse up and down the river much in a alum. boat unless it was a larger one.check out floridabassforum.com most of the posters on there are from the jax. area and you can get a feel of the areas to fish from them.

[sirmo]

Chalk up another for Jacksonville.

Fish:

St. Johns and tributaries

Sampson/Rowell

Sante Fe

Kingsley

Whatever has bass....

Sirmo

[Fish4FunInFl]

Clermont area

[gtbehary]

Loxahatchee here.  Not for from Lake O, Stick Marsh and 20 Mile Bend.   Lots of fishing within walking distance from the house.

[Hale]

Hey Hey George! We will go fishing this weekend!

[RoLo]

Unless I counted wrong, we now have 56 members from the state of Florida

Several of the names I haven't seen of late, but even so that's a decent representation.

[gtbehary]

Hey Hey George! We will go fishing this weekend!

Sunday is good for me.  

[Hale]

Sunday it is then. Ill call you tomorrow or Sat.

[Keithscatch]

I plan to retire to the Jacksonville area in June 07 and would appreciate any advise as to where and when to fish the area for bass. I have never fished in FLA so the only thing I'm familiar with is the fishing seasons in Maryland. Most of my fishing in Maryland was at a reservoir where aluminum boats worked great. Would an aluminum boat work it Jacksonville or should I look for fiberglass? Being on a fix income when I retire I will be limited as to what kind of boat I can buy.

I will be coming down without a boat so if you know of any reasonable boat rental I would love to hear about it.

Thanks

Joe

Hey Joe,

I used to live in Jacksonville and the fish in my avatar was caught in Dr's Lake in Jacksonville last December. So yeah, there are some nice places to fish there.

If you are boatless may I suggest renting a fishing boat at Whitey's fish camp. They are on Swimming Pen Creek which is where I caught that 8lber on a red lipless crankbait. There are lots of boat docks and the fish will be tight to them. Fish them with a Senko type bait or a T-rigged trick worm. Junebug is the magic color on this lake as it is in most Florida lakes and rivers.

For good spawn time fishing (Dec-February) you will have to hit Salt Springs on the St. John's river. Crystal clear water with lots of eel grass and bass. Lots of anglers and tournaments going on then too.

Please release any of the larger bass that you catch in Swimming Pen Creek or Dr's lake. It gets fair to high fishing pressure and well, I am just big on catch and release. Plus, I got buddies who still live there who would be mad at me for sharing secrets about this body of water if the guy I shared it with is not releasing his fish.

Good luck to you.