magnumflag

sorry to say there is not much in the way of public access lakes in that area(not any I would be excited about). You can catch bass in all of the spring rivers around spring hill. Unless you know someone to get access to some of the ponds and lakes I would recommend hiring a guide and fishing lake Tarpon for bass. It is a high numbers lake that you should be able to catch plenty of fish. I hate to say this but unless you want to run all the way to the Harris chain or lake Panasoffkee I would take a saltwater charter and get you some snook or reds to fill your void.

Right now a great area to find monsters is the offshore bulrush near the water control structure and on the north end near the Arbuckle creek mouth. Weightless senkos and fast moving swimbaits. Also the northeast side near cowhouse road, lake blvd. to raccoon ln canals.

There are many males preparing beds on the Winter Haven Chain. Some big females have been caught lately but I have seen a large number of males caught on the 10th & 11th of February. With the temps warming up I would suspect a munchfest starting any day now for the big female fish. As of the 3rd & 4th I had found 2 beds in the usual places but never encountered any females just lots of bucks.

I like the reaction innovations product line for trailers on my swimjigs and chatterbaits and then I will use a Keitech on a-rigs because they make a good pulse when you pump the a-rig in deep water. The big EZ is a great single to throw...I also will use the big EZ as the center bait on my a-rig when I am burning it a little faster. The yum money minnow is still my favorite to use except for trailers. Compared to shadalicious I have less prep time in skinning the whole bait and ill get maybe a couple more hook ups out of a money minnow. With a money minnow I can pull the two tabs of rubber out of the split belly and be on my way......... I don't need to spend a whole day to skin down 2 packs of shadalicious.

The Yum Money Minnow is definitely not a disappointment when it comes to catching fish. Every time I rig one up with a gamakatsu swim bait hook or pop one onto my A-rig set up I know it is a good day. Now for the disappointment you will tear these things up quick when the fish are biting keep the super glue and the net close. A dangerous combo for me is a 5" minnow on 6lb fluorocarbon using the mustad push lock swim bait hooks weightless. You can jam it through cover very slow but any heavier line will cause the bait to float up. As you can imagine 6lb fluro will sometimes have you beating your rod on the boat....but high risk comes with high reward.

I have had good luck with the 130's. I use the; I know it, yellow head and phantom shad. I don't see the point in using the 90's when the 130 brings the big bites. Several times the plopper put kicker fish in my bags that gave me a huge boost. The hook up rate is great with this bait the hooks keep the fish pinned every time. I primarily use this bait as a culling tool.....like many big fish baits it requires a lot of dedication. To avoid its brick like entry I just bomb it out past my target.... another tip I have found with these baits is to not let your line drag the water in front of it....rod high line out of the water and it will get smoked.

I don't think that water temperature and visual cues are at the utmost importance when locating fish. More important things to focus on will be light penetration and nutrient loads the right mix of the two will always have you finding the largest fish of that body of water. Water temp is a broad variable that mainly relates to the metabolism of the fish in that range (eating good or lethargic). Bass follow food....... light penetration, nutrient load and wind direction control the location of zooplankton which is what most baitfish consume which in turn bass consume.