My lake's dilemma. Where are all the Bass!?! (Need help)

[SouthMiamiBassMan]

Hello everyone. I have bad news, to share with you all (at least it is bad news for me I think). I'll start of by telling you a little history. I live in a condo on a lake down in Cutler Bay (South Miami) and from my window on the third floor I can see a really good part of the lake and all the fish in it. This part of the lake has a small inlet (canal) that's 60 yards long and 25 yards wide with a lot of tall weeds at the end of it. When I moved there in December 2006, this little inlet was packed with fish, Bluegills, Cichlids, Peacock, LGM Bass, and lots of Tilapia. There were so many hungry fish in there that from shore and with a live night crawler on a plastic bobber, I could catch them all of them, all day long. And I am not talking about little dinks here, I mean at least 5 or 6 1.5 ft long Bass (no scale) every time I went out and even more Tilapia of about the same size (all caught and released). The best part was the abundant supply of Bluegills and Cichlids. The Bass would school around in 6 packs and hunt the shallows, eating the Bluegills and Cichlids up all day long. When I started using these fish as bait I started catching Lunkers.

I had a good run but since October, from my window, I never see any Bass except the occasional dink here and there. The Bluegills and Cichlid all but disappeared, and I have not caught anything worth taking my camera out or on most occasions none at all.   My little inlet is no where near as busy with fish as it was this time last year. Even the Tilapia are not as abundant.

I know it's suppose be winter down here but there has been no real cold front come down this year and the coldest it has been was 40' for like two days in January. Since then it has averaged around 75'. Like I said, this time last year the lake was packed. I don't know where they have all gone? I am the only one (as far as I can tell) fishing the lake. The Bluegills are back and there are thousand of them in the shallows. The Big Bass should be hunting them all up, but they are no where to be found. A few dinks are the only things down there now having a feast on the Bluegills. My questions to all of you are:

Where could they have gone, will they be back, or should I just give up the on this lake all together?  

Let me know what you guys think. Thanks

[Jeff C.]

does the canel  ( inlet ) go into another body of water?

[Paul Roberts]

Well I don't know Florida, but I'll take a stab at it. Two thoughts:

Florida bass are more temperature sensitive than northern LMB, so even though it hasn't felt cold, it is winter there and the bass may have gone to deeper more temperature stable water.

You should be approaching spawning time -Yes? Maybe the bass are now spawning oriented and looking for spawning sites. Your inlet may not have the hard bottom they prefer.

But, since you say fishing was good in this area until October, and the other sub-tropical species have left too, only leaving the bluegills, I'd venture that what your seeing is a response to "winter" conditions.

I'll bet they'll be back. In the meantime you should start hoofing and re-find your fish.

Interesting. Let us know what happens.

[ba7ss3in]

Do you know if there is any deeper water

[SouthMiamiBassMan]

does the canel ( inlet ) go into another body of water?

Yeah, almost all the canals and lakes here connect all the way up to the Everglades.

[SouthMiamiBassMan]

Do you know if there is any deeper water

Yeah the lake is very big lake 30-40 ft deep. There is a shallow ring around it 2-3 ft deep, that goes out about 15 ft and the drops straight down. I can't get any thing out there from shore with out it getting snagged on the wall. I have attached the picture bellow so that you get a better idea. This image is old but the inlet I'm talking about is in the upper right.

[fishizzle]

They should return, every year seasonal patterns vary based on water temps

Hopefully there were no major changes to your lake like pollution or LMB virus   :-/

Good Luck