Central Florida Inland

Forest fishers, we definitely got the rain we needed this summer.  I surely hope everyone out here stayed safe during Hurricane Irma.  I feel fortunate that I didn’t receive much damage to my house with all these huge trees around me.  Our power even came back quickly, considering the magnitude of that thing.  With all this new water and fallen branches , anglers will have plenty to search through.  Targeting older, more established cover will help you get bites, until the new areas start growing algae.

Bass should be the first species to explore the new areas.  On overcast days, they will swim around the shallows and search for anything that moves, so swimbaits would be my bait of choice then.  On blue-bird sky days, they will hold close to their deeper, shaded spots; that is when to slow down and fish a trick worm.  Halfmoon Lake is setting up for good fishing this fall.  October produces some fat bass, due to their feeling the change of the season.  I fished Ocala’s “city ponds” (Tuscawilla,YMCA, etc.) recently, and they are healthy and full of bass too!

The other fish species that is going to love all this new “wood and water” is warmouth.  Warmouth love shallow brush-piles, just as much as bass do.  Use a long rod or cane pole to reach out to the brush, and bump small “crappie jigs” through it.  If there are warmouth there, you will usually get a bite within the first few seconds.  Always remember which tree limbs you caught fish under, or got bites, because they will reload quickly.  Warmouth are one of our best tasting fish and they are aggressive, hard fighters.  Shoreside anglers can walk along the Ocklawaha River at Sharpe’s Ferry Bridge, while boaters can find warmouth on any lake or river in the forest.

Panfish and catfish are still biting good at Rodman Dam.  Beef kidneys are my favorite bait to catch both, because you can cut off any size piece and it stays on the hook better than chicken livers.  Live worms work great as well.  A simple weighted bottom rig will get plenty of bites, especially if you have multiple rods set up.  If you’re searching the Ocklawaha River by boat, be sure to try all the new “eddies” that are swirling behind the fallen trees.

I’m really excited about the fishing to come.  It’s looking like it’s gonna be a really good “speck” season this winter.  Make sure to get out there now and start finding some new “honey holes”!

John Freeze, 352-216-5798, Swampsurf@embarqmail.com