By Capt. James McManus
I have been fishing with Florida folks lately and reminded how blessed we are to live where we live. Reports of 97+ degrees and 100% humidity don’t make me hook up the boat and head south; I am content to stay on Fontana and wear a light jacket almost every morning.
The fishing’s been good if a little unusual for early summer. The spotted bass have spawned late and apparently very aggressively. Most show signs of heavy fighting with bite marks and bloody tails but that typically heals quickly. The trout bite has been good and expect the top water bass bite to improve over the next couple of weeks. Trolling has been the ticket as everyone is moving offshore following the spawn.
I took a week off and pulled my boat north to Lake Michigan a couple of weeks ago. They salmon fish just like we fish in the summer, but with much larger boats equipped with mates, multiple downriggers, huge flashers and dodgers, and more spoons than I thought existed. There must be a thesaurus on spoon names. It would be interesting to know the origins, but everyone seems to have them memorized. Was lucky enough to catch salmon and steelhead on my boat, so I was thrilled with that.
Whether fishing north, south or right here, the common thread is that all fisheries are constantly changing. Florida waters, from reports I get, are deteriorating, while waters north are improving. I think the human element has the most to do with that, more people, more destruction, less people, better conditions. While we certainly have more folks each year it hasn’t gotten to the tipping point yet, and let’s pray it doesn’t. We need to keep an eye open and let the wildlife folks know if big change comes and hopefully stay ahead of anything detrimental to our fishery.
So, enjoy our area, and don’t be afraid to try new things; it’s a new world every day. Thank God for our beautiful waters and call if you want to catch a few. Later, Capt. James