Lox Refuge ?s

[South FLA]

Anyone been out to the Lox Refuge lately?  Going out Friday morning with my tree catching brother and was wondering how the water level was, pattern, and areas fished.  Send me a PM if not comfortable sharing.

Thanks,

Tight Lines

[bocabasser]

i was there sunday and caught a bunch of little ones. lipless crank was gettin me numbers but no size. check your pm.

[piscicidal]

I'm going tomorrow and I'll give a report later.  If anyone has some general info on the bite out there it would help.  Don't have much time to cover water water tomorrow.

[South FLA]

Went out yesterday and fished from about 6-11:00 before the heat made me surrender. Morning top-water bite was fair with most of the top-water fish coming from the edge of the flats and the transition into the canal. I fished the the pump stations on the way south from the Southern Blvd. ramp with only 1 small fish hitting a T-rig worm. Since I was not having much luck other than a few small bass on rattle trap type lures I moved back to into the flats and caught some throughout the eel grass pockets using skinny dippers and senkos. Total fish caught was in the low teens, plus an Gator and a bowfin.

My brother had a gator on that hit is CRANKBAIT! Was cranking it in and about 20 feet from the boat he thought he was hung, but Mr. Gator floated to the top with the crankbait in its mouth. He was pretty cooperative though and swam right to the boat and then under where I was able to pop the line. Too bad it was a Lucky Craft, soon after that he lost a Sebile Swimmer in the reeds after his line snapped mid air!

While on the flats from a distance I saw a BIG BASS jump out of the water as if it were chasing bait. As we trolled over to her, she jumped 3/4 out of the water as bait scattered in the thick grass, my brother was able to cast his swimming senko on top of the grass mat where the bass was exploding and a shiner jumped out when the lure landed. In my excitement I moved too close to her and she vanished to be spotted later busting bait in the grass 20 or so yards away. When I said BIG BASS, let me tell you this I have NEVER in my life seen a bigger bass while fishing then what I saw in the flats, I know its tough to say that from just watching a fish in the wild, but the girth and length of this fish in my opinion would have, put her over 10lbs easily, what surprised me was her jumping and antics, since I thought SOWS like her were lazy wait and see ambush predators not cheetahs! I even set a waypoint on my Garmin for this fish!!! I need to get back to the there soon.

Water level in the flats was high enough to get my lead sled ranger out of the hole without a problem, although sharp turns every once and a while were required to keep grass from plugging water intakes.

[SoFlaBassAddict]

My brother had a gator on that hit is CRANKBAIT! Was cranking it in and about 20 feet from the boat he thought he was hung, but Mr. Gator floated to the top with the crankbait in its mouth. He was pretty cooperative though and swam right to the boat and then under where I was able to pop the line. Too bad it was a Lucky Craft, soon after that he lost a Sebile Swimmer in the reeds after his line snapped mid air!

Thats why I stick with cheaper cranks     Must have been one heck of a surprise seeing a gator pop with with a lure in it's mouth.  Sounds like a halfway decent morning at least.  And you aren't joking about surrendering to the heat.  It's been brutal the last few days.

[GLADES]

South florida, those trophy's are out there at Lox. I have seen them jump out of the water a couple of times too. What a sight it is to see a big fat bucket mouth get air borne. My PB is 5.5 lb out of Lox. I fish there knowing that any given day a trophy can be boated. It can be frustrating (weeds) and slow when the summer heat is on. It is a nice quiet place and I have been going there for years. I read a posting a while back from George Welcome saying he caught a bass at Loxahatchee refuge he estimated at close to 20 lb in the 70's. Dam near a world record. What model sled do you have? I have a 373 with a 150 and the weeds can be a real pain if you set down in the thick hydrilla. Recently, it was so bad for me one one trip, I had to plow through the flats over to the canal to find clear water for take off when I used a 23P prop. I switched over to a 22P for Lox, and now I can get on plane more quickly.

[South FLA]

What model sled do you have? I have a 373 with a 150 and the weeds can be a real pain if you set down in the thick hydrilla. Recently, it was so bad for me one one trip, I had to plow through the flats over to the canal to find clear water for take off when I used a 23P prop. I switched over to a 22P for Lox, and now I can get on plane more quickly.

I have a 185 Intracoastal Model with a 150 Yamaha w/ a 2.0 Gear Case, I can spin a 24" or 25" Powertech TRO 4 Blade, but the 24" gets me up and out pretty quick, average about 3 1/2 seconds with a half tank and passenger, but the 25" gets me about 2mph more top end (62 MPH vs. 60 MPH, half tank and passenger).  I switch to the 25" in the winter and stick with the 24" pretty much 9 months out of year.

[GLADES]

My motor is a 2.0L 150 with 2.0 case. I tried a 25 once but it would not push over the bow to get on plane. It got a TP+ 24P, and it will barely push over after several seconds. A 23 pitch seems to work best for general use and I run 58-60 MPH at 5900 RPM. With the 22P 4 blade, the boat jumps out of the hole, but I cant run full throttle(6200+ RPM). She will go there and more(sounds cool) but I cant afford a rebuild.

My boat is a 1987 373. She sits tail heavy and low in the stern at idle, but airs out pretty good at WOT.

[piscicidal]

I went out in the morning yesterday (6:30-10:30). Pretty slow day for me...I spent the day trying some new spots and never went into the flats at all. I caught a few fish early morning with frogs/flukes (actually caught one on first cast). Later I ran west toward the pump house, catching a few out there. I ended up catching ~10 with the two biggest being 16". I

[bocabasser]

i was out sunday morning from sun up til 10. caught around a dozen and most were small. lost a nice one on a popper in the thick grass in front of a flats entrance. big fish was 3 pounds. very hot and no wind. last week of school for me so i wll be spending lots of time out there. we should have a little br outing one day this summer.

[SoFlaBassAddict]

we should have a little br outing one day this summer.

Mini South Florida Roadtrip?

[piscicidal]

South Fla, I have seen some monsters out there also. About a month ago I went right over one with the trolling motor that had me do a double take...thought it was a carp at first. I had a double digit bass follow a frog about a month ago also.  He left a wake about 6" tall...it was a calm clear morning and I could see him perfectly. My brother in law has a 9.5lber from Lox. I've been in the boat with George Welcome three times and have heard first-hand the story of the 20lber from Lox.

Speaking of "monsters"...yesterday morning the current was going pretty good in my first spot. There were big tarpon swirling all around me. I was surprised...I've fished Lox alot and I've never seen a tarpon out there. I had my saltwater stuff with me (was at Flamingo two weeks ago) and tried hooking a couple but no luck.

[I.rar]

we should have a little br outing one day this summer.

Mini South Florida Roadtrip?

im down.  8-)

[South FLA]

we should have a little br outing one day this summer.

Mini South Florida Roadtrip?

im down. 8-)

Me 3x, may have backseat available for other BR member or we can flip a coin to see who is boater amongst the BR clan  ;D, I live up in Gardens, so I usually take off from the Southern Blvd. ramp, weekdays are best for me.  If we all pitch in we can have a mini catch and release tournament with some prizes  (i.e. BPS or Gander Mountain Gift Cards), bocabasser gets a handicap though, cause he is off school and out there too often 

[SoFlaBassAddict]

Rofl.  5 lb penalty to start the day.  I'm game though.  Sounds like a good plan for the summer.  Kids are getting out of school, gives me a good reason to get away for a little while...

[GLADES]

Count me in.

[never enough]

went to lox yesterday afternoon (stupid mistake). got caught in one of the worst thunderstorms ive ever been in. was rainin so hard i could see the front of the boat and the rain felt like bb's. as we were loading the boat on the trailer lightning struck that big tower right there it sounded like a bomb went off....atleast i no the float switch on the bilge pumps work!!...

fished outa belle glade saturday, and tore em up. water is still really muddy

kenny

[I.rar]

call me stupid but what/where is lox?  :-[

there was a small tourny in NC while i was up there for a local fishing forum. then entry fee was a hard bait between $5-15. turn out was so-so , but the winner went home with something like 15 new baits. two man teams. each catch was to be measured or weighed and photographed then released.

[GLADES]

At the Broward / Palm beach county line on SR7 (441), turn west on Lox Rd. Head west about 7 miles to the Arthur Marshall (Loxahatchee) refuge. There is another entrance west of Boyton Beach (Lee Rd). It is a marsh surrounded by a perimeter canal. There are boat ramps and parking($5).No other facilities.

Hope this helps.

[bocabasser]

we should have a little br outing one day this summer.

Mini South Florida Roadtrip?

im down. 8-)

Me 3x, may have backseat available for other BR member or we can flip a coin to see who is boater amongst the BR clan ;D, I live up in Gardens, so I usually take off from the Southern Blvd. ramp, weekdays are best for me. If we all pitch in we can have a mini catch and release tournament with some prizes (i.e. BPS or Gander Mountain Gift Cards), bocabasser gets a handicap though, cause he is off school and out there too often

not fair. the bigger fish are getting harder to come by. i am going tomorrow around 10ish until dark. i am thinking about putting in at lee road.

we should start throwing out dates so we can get as many br members as possible. i have an open back seat if anyone wants to fish with me when we meet.

[SoFlaBassAddict]

So that's two boats with potential for a backseat. Bocabasser and South FLA. Glades said he'd be interested, don't know if he has room on his rig or not. I'll shoot a PM to Evrgladesbasser and see if he's interested. Hopefully he'd be able to drive his boat up there. I could bring my small Jon, but that thing is probably far too small to run around with on Lox. I'd need to find an outboard anyway. Gotta shoot a PM to Piscicidal as well to see if he's at all interested. Don't know if he's a boater or not though. Theres also a new member to the forums who posted in this thread about fishing out at Lox, so that could well be another person.

Best case scenario, we could have anywhere from three to five boats. Later tonight I'll start writing down the names of everybody thats interested so we can have a running count of how many people.

Like Boca said, right now we need to start tossing out dates.

[piscicidal]

I'm definately in.  I do have a boat (Hewes Bayfisher) and may have a seat available, depending upon what day we end up doing this.

[basschaser]

Count me in sounds like fun, have back seat for anyone that needs a ride

[cool breeze]

I go out to the lox all the time with a buddy of mine in his jon boat, I'd be game if I can talk him into it....

[SoFlaBassAddict]

List so far

Boaters:

SouthFLA - possibly has an empty seat

Glades - unknown about back seat availability

Bocabasser -  back seat available

Piscicidal - possibly has an empty seat

Basschaser - back seat available

Non Boaters:

SoFlaBassAddict

Sqhertz

PM's sent to Evrgladesbasser and Never Enough.