The Coming Florida Spawn

[MrPerfect]

I know in the Central Florida area the spawn seemed to come early last year and I was wondering if any of the more knowledgeable fisherman on the boards have an idea of when I should expect to see the bass start spawning in the Orlando area.

[gar-tracker]

With all the rain you guys had this summer I would say an early spawn would be in order, the water temps were cool and the fish fed like mad all summer.

I have a tourney on 1-7-11 at Toho Ill be in the skinny stuff like a mad man.

[Bassn Blvd]

Between now and March and as late as April. Heck, some will spawn yaer round.

[Gotfishyfingers?]

By this time next month, there will definitely be 10lbers on beds. The full moon for this month just happened this past weekend.That will start to bring them up. Cold fronts and warming trends will also be a factor when planning a trip. I've seen plenty of beds already on Okeechobee, but I've yet to see big mommas on them yet.

[FD.]

I was on Kissimmee, Cypress and Hatch on Saturday. Water temps were in the mid 60's, overcast, with a light wind. I expected to see a heavy pre spawn feeding frenzy and could not find any fish. Late in the day in protected waters there were a few fish cruising but not eating. I would say the first weekend in January with good weather would be the first major spawn.

[South FLA]

There was a mini spawn or attempt at spawning already on the Big O, the big phase will get here very SOON, but as Gotty pointed out cold fronts can quickly make them swim away!

[BasskingKeith]

I am highly anticipating the spawn this year, or next more likely. Hopefully it's real SOON!

[MrPerfect]

Any recommendations on bait to use from the shore? I intend to go out and rent one of the boats at Turkey Lake during the spawn and hit Toho with a friend of mine, but until there your recommendation would be much appreciated.

[FD.]

Right now i would throw a swimbait or a swimbait or a swimbait. Big EZ, Skinny Dipper, Super Fluke.

[salmicropterus]

I pretty much suck when it comes to pure sight fishing on beds. My strategy is to go to known bedding areas and long cast senkos, lizards, 10" worms. What I am seeing is that most of the fish at the Lake are in pre-spawn staging positions but I'm thinking that could change soon. The really good sticks can do what I can't do and when they come in with 30#+ bags. I am sure they are on bedding fish.

[SirSnookalot]

Up until about a week ago the bite from shore was hot, anything was working. It has slowed down considerably and I've been using senkos that last few days, no question about it, even when it's slow senkos produce.

[MrPerfect]

Does anyone have a good source on how to wish swimbaits? I have worked really hard on improving my technique, but I just never feel like I'm getting the hang of it. I've still never caught a bass on one. I typically do a lot of jig, grub, senko, or creature fishing. I'm also pretty good with the majority of hard lures.

[gar-tracker]

Does anyone have a good source on how to wish swimbaits? I have worked really hard on improving my technique, but I just never feel like I'm getting the hang of it. I've still never caught a bass on one. I typically do a lot of jig, grub, senko, or creature fishing. I'm also pretty good with the majority of hard lures.

You have to see if their chasing, sometimes they'll just explode on them, and sometimes you have to stop it at a hole and let it sink. Like any bait the fishes mood dictates the presentation and retrieve.

The really good sticks can do what I can't do and when they come in with 30#+ bags. I am sure they are on bedding fish.

This isn't always the case, many of times the big bags are caught on staging fish. Grouped up females waiting to go in. Either buried under cover or feeding on the outskirts.

[FD.]

I never sit on a bed and sight fish. I always fish for the staging fish either on the way in or out. Bass hate blue gill because they are always around the beds trying to get the fry so a swim bait works well. I start on the first hard break between deeper water and the spawn area and work my way in with a search bait (usually a skinny dipper or a swim jig).

[salmicropterus]

I think you two are on to something. Think about it logically: this time of year and for the next several months there are going to be three types of fish: the pre-spawners staging, the actual on-bed spawners and the post-spawners. Looking at it the way Gar and FD say, you are working with 2 of the 3 groups at worst and all 3 at best. Thinking about it further, when I have my good days, it's pretty much doing what you are saying to do. I just won a club tournament doing that all the while wishing I was sight fishing. Duh!! Where's the emoticon for hitting one's self in the head with a hammer?

[salmicropterus]

PS- course none of this explains why when I was fishing 150 yds from Brandon, he's catching 6s and I'm catching 3s LOL. At least I knew I was in a good spot

[gar-tracker]

I would guess he was flipping or hitting key spots that he might have been aware of.

There's always a pattern within a pattern, hence the reason I get a kick out of "Information", to me its useless, if you don't know what little idiosyncrasy ones doing then being near fish that someone told you about is almost useless, unless they went on to tell you this as well, but to my experience somethings always left out.

[FD.]

150 yds might as well be five miles. I find that if you look at 1000 yds of shore line, there will be a spot 10 yds wide that will produce more fish than the other 990. I use the search bait to find the fish, then hit it hard with a worm, and finally pitch a bug at every thing that looks good. Most of the time I catch 2 or 3 without moving the boat. Last January, the wife and I caught 25 2-3 lbers out of a little pocket in the Kissimee grass that was not 10 yards wide.

[South FLA]

150 yds might as well be five miles. I find that if you look at 1000 yds of shore line, there will be a spot 10 yds wide that will produce more fish than the other 990. I use the search bait to find the fish, then hit it hard with a worm, and finally pitch a bug at every thing that looks good. Most of the time I catch 2 or 3 without moving the boat. Last January, the wife and I caught 25 2-3 lbers out of a little pocket in the Kissimee grass that was not 10 yards wide.

I would guess he was flipping or hitting key spots that he might have been aware of.

There's always a pattern within a pattern, hence the reason I get a kick out of "Information", to me its useless, if you don't know what little idiosyncrasy ones doing then being near fish that someone told you about is almost useless, unless they went on to tell you this as well, but to my experience somethings always left out.

I agree 100%, Mike and I were discussing the other day how awesome we did on the South side of the lake about 2 months ago. We noticed other fisherman around us that were not doing nearly as well, but we had this one pattern that was limited to a very specific area within the area and tore them up.

I will disagree with information mentioned by Gar Tracker, since I still believe that information tends to get someone into a general pattern or area and its up to the fisherman to do the rest.

[salmicropterus]

Good stuff all that. Just to clarify, we were in a spot in an area and the mentioned angler came in later, obviously not coming in on us. We didn't have information-we just went to an area we thought was promising. My joke was based on the idea that we were all doing the same thing-flinging dippers. I totally agree with all said. In a team tournament up at Lake Kissimmee about a month ago, we worked a 300 yd area back and forth for two days. Within the area, there were three spots, 5-10 yds wide and within that a very specific type of varied vegetation, that consistently produced quality fish. We won the T by 14+ #. Let's just say we were dumb enough not to outsmart ourselves and move out of there. We locked in on 2 patterns that changed as the day progressed. Saved a lot on gas too.

[FD.]

Would ya care to share that spot with a brother?

[gar-tracker]

When I use the term information I mean fishing areas based on what other fisherman told you.

I understand at times some info can be helpful as far as the general pattern or what the fish are doing but there's fisherman that spend more time trying to find out where people are catching fish rather then just go and finding fish themselves.

IMO, it just brings you to worn out fish that have been beat up, if someones telling you about it then 5 other people already know about it. Have you ever noticed many of times that the good fisherman are in another new spot while a crowd of people are where he was the last tournament.

Salmicropterus I didn't mean to insinuate that you went in on him I was just using that situation to comment on the topic of "information". I apologize if sounded that way. It probably deserves its own thread.

[salmicropterus]

"Salmicropterus I didn't mean to insinuate that you went in on him I was just using that situation to comment on the topic of "information". I apologize if sounded that way. It probably deserves its own thread."

Gar, I didn't take it that way at all. We were at opposite ends of a large flat and they were moving one way and us the other. When we recognized who it was we said "we must be in a good area" .

BTW, I agree that information, if it means spots, is fairly useless. I used to chase information too and if I made any improvement at all this last year in my thinking it's in listening to the feedback from the fish and not the dock talk. The "spot" I mentioned in my post above at Kissimmee was a first stop on Saturday where I told my "non" I thought we could catch a quick but small limit and we did. Then inexplicably, the fish just kept upgrading all day-same phenomenon Sunday. If I told any of you the spot, you would laugh and say that you have been there many, many times as it's usually a community hole. But, for some reason, no one was there but us the entire weekend. We did have a rocket-launcher on board just in case.

[GLADES]

If I may chime in. I think that the 'T dock information' can be useful or counter productive. Sometimes ms-information can ruin your day. You have to use your head and let your instincts guide you to search for your own spots while pre-fishing or while entering a T blind.

To be fair, a couple of my BR brothers have put me on bass, with exact instructions! I always try to do the same. I appreciate that good stuff, but tourneys are another story.

I have won a couple of club T's, and in every case I went against the prevailing thoughts at the dock because I want to fish areas that are clear of other boats that are spooking the bass.

Just my .02

[BasskingKeith]

Had a dream that bass were spawning everywhere. It was mayhem.