Early Birds Get The Largemouths
It’s all about the T’s: tide, time and temperature, and of the three the most important is the time. Although tide, or current, and temperature are factors, time deserves the most consideration.
This time of year you can pretty much set your watch by the Bass bite. From the time the sun rises, until 10:30 a.m., the bass bite is outstanding. At 10:30 the sun begins to shine on the River and the bite stop’s as if someone threw a switch.
Recently we’ve had several very productive trips. Pictured below are three of our most recent clients showing off their catch.
See You On The River
Good Luck
Central Florida Fishing Guide Captain Nick Bozman
This Ocklawaha Fishing Report Is From Ocala Florida Fishing Guide & Ocklawaha Fishing Guide Captain Nick Of Slick Charters
- Mrs. Cheryl with an Ocklawaha Largemouth
- Mr Larry with a fine bass
Mr. Dennis Hutchinson On The Ocklawaha
Fishing Florida’s Little St. Marys River Is Working For A Living
I Got My Meal! It took an hour and a half but I got it.
The Red Bellies are bedding and I was needing something to do on a Sunday afternoon so I decide to go fishing on the Little St. Marys like I did years ago, 33 plus years ago.
The Little St. Marys for those of you that don’t know as a tributary to the Big St. Marys that separates Georgia and Florida in the North East part of Florida. Her water is colder and she is narrower than the big St. Marys and almost the whole river is covered with a canopy of river birch, oaks, willows, cypress, sweet gum, bay trees and other stuff. So unlike the Big St Mary’s throwing a lure in her little sister is a task left to the best of you, that’s why I decide to go old school and use worms on a cane pole and worms on a rod for the deeper holes.
I went up to the Twin Bridges Store on 121 and bought 20 worms for $4.99, tax not included. I was shocked, the first thing that popped into my mind was “man Obama needs to check into this“.
I started fishing with my daughter and at about 12;45pm, she was after bass and I was after something to eat. She throw a yellow spinner bait in a deep hole and on about the fourth cast she got a bump and on the next cast hooked what I think was about a four pound largemouth. We got a glance at it when she got it almost to the bank and before it through out the lure.
Of course if she had caught it we wouldn’t dare keep it, there aren’t that many bass in the river and to me and to others I’ve talked to there aren’t as many deep holes as there was years ago and this may be a reason why numbers seem down to an old timer.
I placed the worms I had bought in some beds and soon had four red bellies, enough for a meal. It was interesting to see some of the fish grab the worm and take it to the edge of the bed and drop it. Those were the ones that lived. The ones that ate the worms are the ones I’m going to eat.
I had forgot what it was like to walk along the bank of the river fighting horse flies, yellow flies, wow-vines and walking through the saw like stems of the palmetto bushes with shorts on. But it was fun and I beat the otters to a few fish so it was worth it. I went back later in the day and caught five more so I guess tonight its fried fish, baked beans and baked potatoes.
This Little St. Mary’s fishing report is from me.
Steve Jones
The Tackle Boxes Fishing Report
10-20-09
The strongest cold front of the fall season probably brought big changes to the fresh and salt water fishing landscape in North Florida . We say “probably” since the wind that accompanied the chill was sufficiently strong to keep most would-be anglers at home—greatly reducing the weekend reports that could have confirmed our speculation.
We do have one “before” and “after” catch comparison from a small area lake. But, since each was fairly impressive, we can’t yet say that the cold really changed things—at least for speckled perch fans.
Friday, just ahead of the front, George Dekle and Larry Nutt fished for specks on Little Orange Lake, near Hawthorne . Drifting crappie jigs in deeper water, the men caught five specks while rain showers threatened. They stopped by the store to weigh the biggest two—slabs that pulled the needle on our State-certified scale to the 2-pound and 1-pound, 12-ounce marks.
Dekle and Nutt returned Monday, after the worst of the cold front had passed. The weather on their return trip was very different—bright, dry, and windy. The anglers drifted minnows and jig/minnow combinations through the white caps in deep water to take 14 nice specks. Again, the best of the fish were thick slabs weighing from a pound-and-a-half to two-pounds. A seven-plus-pound catfish topped off the fish catching for the Gainesville fishermen.
On Lochloosa and Cross Creek, both specks and bass remain active. While standing on the small island in front of Twin Lakes Fish Camp Monday evening, Mark Goldberg hauled in eight bass in the two-pound class. The Cross Creek resident made his fine catch while casting Storm WildEye Shiners in a sparkly green finish.
With overnight weekend temperatures down to about 40-degrees, the gulf shallows must have chilled measurably. Usually, such a sudden drop will push speckled trout into Big Bend tidal creeks. A small drop in water temp can, too, fire up the mackerel bite out a bit deeper. So far, though, we’ve not been able to locate a trout fisher that has given the creeks a try since the chilly spell…or a mackerel seeker that’s braved the chop to check out Seahorse Reef or Spotty Bottom. Mild, stable conditions are forecast for the rest of this week, so the angling answers are likely to come soon. Stay tuned…
That’s this week’s report.
Good fishin’ from The Tackle Box.
Bass Alert From Captain Nick
I got this email last night from Captain Nick Bozman of Slick Charters. Remember TS Fay came through & flooded us a week and a few days ago. Steve Jones
Hey Steve;
Got a Big Bass Alert
Caught and released this “Hog” on the third cast ,Monday 09/01/08, O.K. River.
PS; The picture doesn’t do her justice , but she was 28 inches long and weighed 12.0 l
Captain Nick says water is over the dock at …
Ray Wayside Park also known as Ocala Boat Basin on East Hwy 40, Silver Springs.
Captain Nick says the river needed tropical storm Fay.
He’ll keep us posted.
