It’s now December and Paula and I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas (we’ll deal with the New Year’s salutations in next month’s edition.)
In the meantime, we hope that everyone’s nets are filled with family, friends, joy, love, happiness, and a lot of big bass!
Well it seems that this winter we may actually have cooler temps compared to last year when summer ran smack into winter in the 2nd week of January. So far in November, we have had nights in the 60’s with nothing usually higher than 85 in the day time. That has been a very good thing for these bass that had been suffering through 85-90 degree water temps for months. As of mid-November, the Winter Haven South Chain water temperature is down and averaging 73 degrees.
The fun part is that you can catch these bass in a variety of ways. With the families, kids, and people that just don’t get to fish a lot, we have a combo meal of small/medium domestic and medium/large wild shiners being trolled behind the boat. As always, there are rods rigged-up with the holy trinity of baits: flukes, swimbaits, and senkos (along with the obligatory topwater.) As for artificial baits go, natural colors like watermelon red/pearl or glimmer blue work very well for plastics. Fishing the “dirtier” lakes on the chain, use a deep junebug or black and blue pattern. If you like a topwater bite, it is hard to beat a Rebel Jumpin’ Minnow or Pop-R.
When fishing the bigger waters of the Kissimmee Chain, you will want to take a different approach to matters. Frogs and Gambler EZ Swimmers thrown thru the jungle of pads, kissimmee grass, and any hyacinth you can find are always the gold standard. If the temps stay cooler there will be a wave of prespawn fish moving up onto the flats looking to feed and prepare for bedding and this will make flipping the flats a more productive pattern.
There is also going to be a wave of snowbirds migrating down so the lakes will have more boats than usual for months to come. Common courtesy and common sense will serve us all well as we all try to enjoy a day on the water. Please respect each other and other people’s space while fishing this season. If you find people fishing a point or any stretch of shoreline, please be considerate and give each other space – there’s plenty of water for everyone. Catch, Photograph, and Immediate Release are vital to conserving our resources so please help protect this wonderful resource we have in The Bass Fishing Capital of The World.Capt.
Scott Taylor is a Bass Pro Shops Pro Staff and Mako Boats Team member for Florida, and is also the officially sanctioned guide for Polk County and VisitCentralflorida.org.
Capt. Scotty Taylor
855-354-8433
Scott@TMCGuideService.com