It normally doesn’t take me 17 attempts to write an opening line for this article but we’re still spending our days trying to put the pieces back together from Hurricane Irma (it is still mid-Sept. writing this). For those that stayed and endured, you know exactly what I mean. For those who are tourists, or people just returning to Florida, be thankful you were not here. I’m hoping that by the time this is in print most of us have gotten back to “normal.” So, let me try to get us into the bass fishing here in Polk County.
The forecast for Central Florida this month is calling for an average fall with daytime temps in the low to mid-80’s and nights in the upper-60’s, which is good for fishing. The lakes surface temps should gradually drop with the cooler nights and days that are not so excessively hot that it warms the waters a lot. What I really like about that scenario is that it’ll mean increased activity each morning when the sun breaks and hits the waters surface. It’ll get the baitfish moving which in turn gets the bass active and feeding.
With that said, for our trips here in Winter Haven we’re really going to focus on the early morning topwater bite. The fish will always tell us what they want and how they want it presented, and watching for surface activity is key. Will the fish be schooled up chasing bait balls still or are they feeding more independently? Time will tell. Always be ready with a stick bait and a pop-r so that you can fish in varying speeds. I also like having flukes because you can fish them faster up top or let them sink down into the schools of bait and pick up fish that way. As the day moves along and the sun rises I’m most likely to start passing out the jerk baits, weighted swimbaits, and crankbaits. Just the same I make sure that there is a topwater rod within reach should the bass keep busting on top.
Moving over to Lake Kissimmee and the newly revamped Camp Mack’s River Resort we’re looking for roughly the same conditions and scenario. But we’ll approach it differently depending upon which parts of the lake we are fishing. And a lot of that depends upon the experience level of our guests. For family trips with kids or those less experienced, I’ll stick to open pockets where we can strategically place shiners on the edges of the grass, pads, and boat trails. For those who are (more) experienced and want to get into the jungle with artificials, we’ll have frogs, swimbaits, and even flukes (just use a heavier leader). Flipping is always productive but I like to turn-n-burn given the chance.
Capt. Scotty Taylor
TMC Guide Services, llc • 855-354-8433
Scott@TMCGuideService.com • TMCGuideService.com
Capt. Scott is the official guide for
VisitCentralFlorida.org & Camp Mack’s River Resort