Cold Weather In Florida

[slonezp]

Ok here's my vent

Last Saturday I packed up the truck and boat and headed to Kissimmee, FL with my son for a week of bass fishing. I planned this trip in December. After doing much research I figured this would be an ideal time to catch that "monster" bass on Lake Toho.

We drove 13hrs on Sat hoping to stay the night in Macon GA. I was not aware my vacation paralelled Daytona Bike Week. t just so happened that every biker in the U.S. was spending the night in Macon. We traveled another 45 minutes to (I think) Cordele GA. where after some searching, were able to get a room at the Days Inn (not recommended).

On Sunday we arrived in Kissimmee at 1:30pm. Check in is after 5:00pm. We drove around blind looking for Lake Toho. After locating the lake my son and I drive to Wal-mart (about 20 minutes away) and get our liscenses, go back to the launch and launch the boat. The wind is blowing about NE 15mph. I figure we'll just go out and look around. We stop at a patch of grass to fish and I realize the footpedal for the trolling motor is in the back of the truck. Back to the ramp! Finally get out and fish for a couple hours and got nothing. Oh well. We went to get a pie at Giordanos. (nothing like Chicago) and stopped off to get some Crown Royal. $32.00 on the strip, What a rip!

Monday, I get up at 6:30, get ready, and my son says he needs to sleep in as he is on vacation. He finally gets up, we go to Waffle House and sacrifice cleanliness for a cheap delicious breakfast. By the time we get on the water it's almost 11:00am. Blurbird skies and no wind 73 degrees. We fish different spots highlighted on the "Hot Spots" map. We get into a school of "snake" pickerel which is fun but we came down here for bass. Found some bass but they are hitting short, pulling the texas rigged worms down the hook, not connecting with any of them.

Tuesday, thunderstorms drop .75" of rain between 6:am and 8:am followed by wind blowing SW 25-35 with 45mph gust and a cold front to boot. Didn't get out on the water. Went driving around to bait shops to get some advice. First bait shop the guy is an 80 year old crappie fisherman who can't put me on bass but knows where the crappie are. Also doesn't have any shiners (last resort bait @ $10 a dozen) because it's been so cold and no ones been fishing. We travel to another bait shop which is closed because it's too windy out.

Wednesday, get on the water at 8:30am wind is blowing NW 15-25 with a 3ft chop on the water. Overcast with 55 degree high. We did what we could and only had 3 bites for the day, lost a 3-4lb bass at the boat. Got BEAT up by the waves, and were off the lake at 4:pm. My son talks to some local bass fisherman at the ramp and they say the bite has been off for about a week while I'm dealing with some toothless transients checking out my boat and asking a bunch of questions.

Thursday, decided to go to Lake Kissimmee as there is more northern shoreline and we hoped to be protected from the wind. NOT! Bluebird skies, 39 degrees. After the GPS took me on a wild goose chase we finally ended up at the lake. Pay 5 bucks to launch and head down the channel to the lake, find a lily pad field about 1/8 mile square and decide to fish it. The shoreline offers no protection from the 25mph winds and we decide to move. I start up the motor and suck a bunch of sand into the intake clogging it. No water out the pee hole and about 2 miles from the ramp. I limp us back to the ramp. I make an executive decision to pack up and leave. Fridays forecast is 15-25mph winds with morning temps at 32 degrees.

We get back to the hotel, pack, and check out about 1:30pm.

At 4:30pm we are about 60 miles from the FL-GA border when I feel something wrong. I look in the sideview mirror and the axle on the trailer is hopping up and down. I get out to look and can hear the air hissing out. In 14 years of boat ownership I have never had a flat. So I don't have a spare. I decide to limp to the next exit. The tire disintergrates. I make it to a tire shop (thank god I'm not in the mountains)and am able to get back on the road by 5:30pm.

What else could go wrong?

At around 11:30pm I'm around Murphysboro TN and I notice the trailer lights are not working. Loose connection.

We stop at a decent motel just north of the KY border at 1:am, sleep til 7:am and back on the road without incident for the rest of the trip.

Or so I thought.

Somewhere between KY and IL someone had hit the trailer while I was getting gas or lunch. I get home to find the fender is smashed, taillight broken, and liscense plate missing.

So much for FL

Now I'm back in IL waiting for the ice to melt.

[FL Knifemaker]

I waited until noon today and hit the local pit near my home. As soon as the water warmed up to 60 in the sunny spots, they turned on. I caught 5-6, pretty much dinks and a 3lb kicker. Then my trolling motor mount tore out

For only being able to fish for about an hour and a half, I had fun.

I thought Tracker advertisted NO wood in the construction of their boats?? The entire front deck area, ahead of my trolling motor panel is WOOD > Anyway, now I gotta get me some of those rubber molly thingies and screw it back down. My son and I crunched the motor pretty hard last week but it seemed fine...............NOT!! :-/

[EricBev]

Yeah tell me about it guys. I spent the whole week in Camp Mack getting beaten down by cold temperatures, relentless northern winds, and rain. I packed 6 pairs of shorts in my bag and not one of them made it out into the sunshine. In fact, I am glad than I had brought some cold weather gear because it sure got a workout! Going across the water at 65mph at 6am was bone chilling to say the least. Monday the 1st was the one nice day we had all week and it was sunny and calm. I was able to get down to a t-shirt and jeans but that was as good as it got. Even then....the bugs around the grass on a breezeless day are insane! They came in swarms of about 15 million a piece and were all in my face and driving me batty. Every single other day that we were there was definitely less than satisfactory.

The general consensus at the camp, from what I could gather, was that the fishing sucked....Especially on Kissimmee. The wind made anything other than anchoring extremely frustrating and the cold temps and lack of sunshine sure didnt help the mood. There were quite a few shiner fishermen in the camp that couldnt even get bait. I am not sure if the stores were buying them up or the cold weather had them hiding safely away from cast nets or what but it seems all forces were against us fishermen.

This is the second year in a row that I have gone down to central florida with high hopes of catching a trophy bass. This is also the second consecutive year that I have been beaten down by weather, and to me, horrid fishing. Everybody keeps telling me that shiners are key to a HUGE bass but I refuse to catch fish that way. You would think that the smaller fish, male or female, would still be semi-active and biting. These lakes are suppose to be full of bass right? I tried fishing slow, fast, horizontal, vertical, in grass, in pads, in bullrush, through hydrilla, in dark water, in clear water, dead sticking, ripping, flipping, pitching, cranking and everything in between to get a few bass and a few pickerel out of 5 days of hard fishing. I am not asking for a 10lber every day or even a 5lber... but going a whole day at a time without pulling a bass over the side of the boat is down right demoralizing! I do not consider myself an "expert" fishermen but I can hold my own pretty well. In hindsight, catching dinks all week would have been great compared to what I went through!

There were some good fish on the scales the day of the tournament and it make me wonder what the hell I was doing wrong. I know these people are most likely locals with tons of lake knowledge but it still doesnt help me. I pry for any knowledge that people can give me, but they rarely tell me something I dont already know. I guess I am going to have to suck it up and get a guide for a day or two next year to see what I can learn. :'(

The two best fish... they were both 18.5 inches and 3lb 6ozs. Both were caught on Monday, on Toho, one on a huddleston weedless golden shiner swimbait in about 4ft of water and the other was caught on a Karu Vibraspin, also in 4ft of water. The first was caught near North Steer and the other around Big Grassy Island. Sure wish I would have gotten a few more!

Does this look like clothes one should be wearing in March?! in Florida?!

Any tips or words of encouragement would be very much appreciated.  My fish catching ego has taken a good beating.

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

Welcome to Florida winter 2010! (making a fart sound in my hand) >

[SoFl-native]

Wow sorry to hear about your trips guys. That sucks big time. Catching fish in the cold in FL is tough. Bad timing.

[6mile]

Ok here's my vent

Last Saturday I packed up the truck and boat and headed to Kissimmee, FL with my son for a week of bass fishing. I planned this trip in December. After doing much research I figured this would be an ideal time to catch that "monster" bass on Lake Toho.

We drove 13hrs on Sat hoping to stay the night in Macon GA. I was not aware my vacation paralelled Daytona Bike Week. t just so happened that every biker in the U.S. was spending the night in Macon. We traveled another 45 minutes to (I think) Cordele GA. where after some searching, were able to get a room at the Days Inn (not recommended).

On Sunday we arrived in Kissimmee at 1:30pm. Check in is after 5:00pm. We drove around blind looking for Lake Toho. After locating the lake my son and I drive to Wal-mart (about 20 minutes away) and get our liscenses, go back to the launch and launch the boat. The wind is blowing about NE 15mph. I figure we'll just go out and look around. We stop at a patch of grass to fish and I realize the footpedal for the trolling motor is in the back of the truck. Back to the ramp! Finally get out and fish for a couple hours and got nothing. Oh well. We went to get a pie at Giordanos. (nothing like Chicago) and stopped off to get some Crown Royal. $32.00 on the strip, What a rip!

Monday, I get up at 6:30, get ready, and my son says he needs to sleep in as he is on vacation. He finally gets up, we go to Waffle House and sacrifice cleanliness for a cheap delicious breakfast. By the time we get on the water it's almost 11:00am. Blurbird skies and no wind 73 degrees. We fish different spots highlighted on the "Hot Spots" map. We get into a school of "snake" pickerel which is fun but we came down here for bass. Found some bass but they are hitting short, pulling the texas rigged worms down the hook, not connecting with any of them.

Tuesday, thunderstorms drop .75" of rain between 6:am and 8:am followed by wind blowing SW 25-35 with 45mph gust and a cold front to boot. Didn't get out on the water. Went driving around to bait shops to get some advice. First bait shop the guy is an 80 year old crappie fisherman who can't put me on bass but knows where the crappie are. Also doesn't have any shiners (last resort bait @ $10 a dozen) because it's been so cold and no ones been fishing. We travel to another bait shop which is closed because it's too windy out.

Wednesday, get on the water at 8:30am wind is blowing NW 15-25 with a 3ft chop on the water. Overcast with 55 degree high. We did what we could and only had 3 bites for the day, lost a 3-4lb bass at the boat. Got BEAT up by the waves, and were off the lake at 4:pm. My son talks to some local bass fisherman at the ramp and they say the bite has been off for about a week while I'm dealing with some toothless transients checking out my boat and asking a bunch of questions.

Thursday, decided to go to Lake Kissimmee as there is more northern shoreline and we hoped to be protected from the wind. NOT! Bluebird skies, 39 degrees. After the GPS took me on a wild goose chase we finally ended up at the lake. Pay 5 bucks to launch and head down the channel to the lake, find a lily pad field about 1/8 mile square and decide to fish it. The shoreline offers no protection from the 25mph winds and we decide to move. I start up the motor and suck a bunch of sand into the intake clogging it. No water out the pee hole and about 2 miles from the ramp. I limp us back to the ramp. I make an executive decision to pack up and leave. Fridays forecast is 15-25mph winds with morning temps at 32 degrees.

We get back to the hotel, pack, and check out about 1:30pm.

At 4:30pm we are about 60 miles from the FL-GA border when I feel something wrong. I look in the sideview mirror and the axle on the trailer is hopping up and down. I get out to look and can hear the air hissing out. In 14 years of boat ownership I have never had a flat. So I don't have a spare. I decide to limp to the next exit. The tire disintergrates. I make it to a tire shop (thank god I'm not in the mountains)and am able to get back on the road by 5:30pm.

What else could go wrong?

At around 11:30pm I'm around Murphysboro TN and I notice the trailer lights are not working. Loose connection.

We stop at a decent motel just north of the KY border at 1:am, sleep til 7:am and back on the road without incident for the rest of the trip.

Or so I thought.

Somewhere between KY and IL someone had hit the trailer while I was getting gas or lunch. I get home to find the fender is smashed, taillight broken, and liscense plate missing.

So much for FL

Now I'm back in IL waiting for the ice to melt.

You were a week too early... sorry.....

[slonezp]

Isn't that always the truth. A week early, a week late. What bothers me most is 40+ hours of driving for maybe 16 hours of fishing. I'm over it now. A local powerplant lake opens for fishing next week. I've never been disappointed opening week @ this lake. My son and I normally catch 50-75 large and smallmouth bass in the 2-4lb range.

[EricBev]

Yeah I here ya man. I got burned last year as well. I am now waiting for the ice to melt so I can get out there The cooling lakes will suffice for now.  I may head to Braidwood tomorrow.

Yeah Ill be at Lesalles opener on Wednesday. Probably at about 4am so I can actually get a decent spot in line. Ill probably be by myself. I need to try and heal my wounds by catching some fish.

[South FLA]

Fish down here are like locals they only come out when the SNOWBIRDS leave 8-)

All kidding aside its been tough, but its ON now everywhere from urban canals and lakes to the BIG O.

[florida strain]

yea im going to fish the south chain this weekend ..its warming up.. the water temp last weekend was 57 -59 were i was.. but i think it should be better ..now the only thing the news say its going to be windy again.. the wind is good at times but im tired off dealing with it and the cold

[FL Knifemaker]

I fished my local pit lake again today.  The only thing that I could get bit was trick worms around the bank.  The dinks were out but nothing big.  Not a single bedded bass spotted.  The water temp went up to 62 during the peak of the day.  The lake was dead, NOTHING jumping or breaking the surface.   I've had enough of the small lake scene this week     I'll be off to Camp Mack or maybe Walk in Water this weekend, weather permitting.

[IwillChooseFreeWill]

Sorry, got the front moving through your way so it will be a good day to get out now through Friday, then this weekend will probably be terrible fishing once the cold front moves through.

[FL Knifemaker]

Sorry, got the front moving through your way so it will be a good day to get out now through Friday, then this weekend will probably be terrible fishing once the cold front moves through.

Here in central Fl, we're going to get rain on thurs and fri.  There's a front coming through but it will stay in the 70's through the weekend.