With our current pleasant weather conditions, this is the time of year to head out to Polk County and enjoy some of the best fishing around. Polk County’s 554 beautiful lakes offer a fantastic fresh water supply of bass, blue gill, and shell crackers. Stop in and pick up some red worms and crickets and go out and get ‘um! We’re currently getting reports of big fish and limits of gills and crackers on lakes Rochelle and Haines in Lake Alfred. Lake Juliana in the Auburndale area is also reporting big shell crackers. Over in the South Winter Haven Chain, the best reporting lakes are Summit, Canno and Shipp. Of course, fishing the canals always produces great results.
We’re also in prime bass season and have many reports of 3 to 5-pounds and up to 11 pounds. The best place to land the big bass at this time seems to be on Lake Alfred, as the enclosed photo of Daniel Smith shows. Daniel pulled in this beauty on Lake Alfred over the weekend using a Carolina Rigged Buzz Bait. Lake Rochelle here in Lake Alfred is also producing great results on bass. Bass reports of eight-plus-pounds are currently coming in from Lakes Ariana and Juliana in the Auburndale area. The South Winter Haven Chain is boasting 10-plus-pound bass, especially if you fish the mouth of the canals. The bass love chasing the blue gills as they come into the canals. At this time, their best reporting lakes are Cannon, Shipp and Summit.
“Tip from Ron.” If you want to catch the big ones this time of year, I recommend using Booyah Frogs, Booyah Lipless Crank Baits in Royalty Color and Bass Assassin Boss Shiner Swim Baits. Any one of those choices will bring you the results you’re looking for.
After serving our fishing community for the past 20 years, Ron’s Tackle Box Weekly Bass Tournaments have now ended. Our Thursday night slot will be picked up by long-time friend and well-known angler Rick Combee. Rick plans to begin around the end of March and will follow a format similar to our tournaments. Each week the tournament location will be advertised on “The Ledger” online. Ron’s Tackle Box will still be hosting special tournaments from time to time. Our goal has always been to host bass tournaments that are honest, provide great fishing and offer a family-friendly environment–we will continue to do so. Happy Easter!