Bass Tournaments and Crappie Fishing
I’ve had the opportunity to spend quite a bit of time on the area lakes since the last edition of the Coastal Angler, fishing for both bass and crappie, and both have been tough situations.
Last month, the Lake Placid Team Trail fished on Lake Okeechobee. We launched from Harney Pond and of course, winds were blowing 15 mph so our ability to fish many areas exposed to the wind were limited. My partner, Nick DeSanta and I worked the Dyess Ditch and Fisheating Bay area, catching a number of 13-14” bass on topwater flukes and frogs and by the end of the day, weighed in our five fish at around 10 1⁄2 pounds.
Everyone struggled with the wind, but the team of Lee/Cody won the event with 5 bass weighing in at 15.95 pounds, earning them $660.00. Second place went to the team of McDuffie/Wood with 15.25 pounds, winning $400.00, and Third place went to the team of Karoll/Huber with five fish weighing 14.49 pounds and a check for $270.00. Big bass for the event, worth $170.00, weighed 6.27 pounds and was caught by the team of McDuffie/Bass. Our next tournament in November will be on Lake Placid.
Another tournament that I fished with Gary Wilkes was with the Oakview Baptist Church Christian Team Trail. I had never fished this trail before and although they generally have between 50-75 teams participate, the tournament is very well run. Again, we fished Lake Okeechobee, only this time we launched from Okee-Tantie State Park.
Gary and I fished the Northeast corner of the big lake, and I caught two bass in the first 15 minutes, before the bite just died. We flipped miles of reeds and bulrushes, only to come up empty handed. Out of desperation, we eventually went up the Kissimmee River and fished the west shoreline with similar results.
But as always is the case, someone always finds the fish and this tournament was no exception. Larry Wright won the event with 5 fish weighing in at 21.06 pounds. He also had the big bass of the day at 8.12 pounds. Second Place went to Mike and Elizabeth Woods with 5 fish weighing 17.53 pounds, followed by third place winners, Mark Hester and Chuck Stamm with 5 fish weighing 17.31 pounds.
55 teams participated in the event. The trail consists of 6 qualifiers and a season ending Classic. Teams must fish 4 of the 6 qualifiers to be eligible for the Classic. The events are held on the 1st Saturday of the month between October 2015 and March 2016.
The Christian Team Trail, known locally as “The Christian” is not a fund-raiser, but is a ministry of Oakview Baptist Church in Okeechobee. For the ministry, fishing is a means of bringing people together and spread the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus himself said, “Come unto me and I will make you fishers of men.”
The past week, my brother came down from Jacksonville to fish for crappie with me. Typically, this time of the year the crappie will group up into large schools and it’s not that hard to catch a limit of these feisty, good-eating fish.
For the past seven days, I’ve fished Lake Glenada, Lake Lotela, Lake Jackson, Lake Buffum, Lake Walk-in-Water and Lake Istokpoga, all in search of crappies. But the heat, combined with almost windless days made our search for crappies more difficult. My favorite way to fish for crappies is drift-fishing, but with a lack of wind and 90+ degree temperatures, it makes it really tough to stay out there all day. We did try one night of fishing on Lake Lotela, but from 6-9pm, we only caught two crappies.
Our best results, using a weight at the bottom of our line with two snelled hooks and fresh minnows was on Lake Istokpoga. Although far from limiting out, the dozen or so crappies we caught were all 13-14” inches making for slab- sized filets.
Lake Walk-in-Water produced the worst results. Drift fishing there from 9am to 5pm we only caught 7 crappies, with only one in the 13” range. Lake Buffum produced the most fish, but for every keeper, we threw back at least three small ones.
Lake Glenada, which we fished a couple of times produced some nice crappies but we probably averaged only one fish an hour.
Normally, this time of the year is one of the best for drift-fishing and catching loads of crappies. Our experience this past week may have been affected by the lack of wind, but I suspect the warmer than average water temperatures may also have influenced the bite. Temperatures ranged from 82 degrees to 86 degrees depending on the lake. And daily highs were pretty much in the high 80’s and low 90’s every day.
Cooler weather, along with high winds is forecasted for this weekend which should help in cooling the water off.
I suspect the crappie fishing will improve over the next month or so and for those of you who enjoy a nice leisurely day on the water, and the ability to bring home dinner, you might just want to give it a try.
