My family took our Florida vacation last week. I am disappointed we didn’t get a chance to take any guided fishing trips this year. I did fish from a pier on Lake Toho for the first time with my son.

 

 

Can you fish on Disney Property? We stayed at one of the resorts and when my friend called the front desk they informed him we could fish by par three of the golf course. We fished there 3 times on 3 different days. 1st day we asked to leave by a cast member because there was an alligator sighting on the course. Last time a cast member came up to us and asked if we were staying there. When I answered yes he told me there was no fishing allowed anywhere on property. I had caught 6 fish up until that point and it was our last day there so I wasn’t all that unhappy.

 

 

We had a great time and I was finally able to visit Galaxies Edge in Hollywood Studios

 

 

It was hot so I bought a Sprite there. This is how a Sprite looks in a galaxy far, far away.

Well, I had quite the day on the water. We will start with the best part, a 21” smallmouth 

so I launched not long after 7 and trolled for a while, only got one bite pulling a red squarebill. I kept seeing fish busting shad so I tried casting a spook for a while to no avail. Then I hear small rocks falling into the water, Iook behind me and there’s a groundhog clinging to a cliff. 

I took a picture and short video, figured he was trying to get a drink so I left him alone, then I hear the splash haha. He fell in and swam to a flatter spot, I had to get video of a swimming groundhog.

then I switch sides of the river and guess what there’s a groundhog in the water. It climbs out and runs through the grass after I see it………………

I suppose it could have been the same one and it swam all the way across the river when I wasn’t looking. Either that, or it was so hot outside even groundhogs had to jump in the river. Anyhow, after safari planet was over, I hadn’t boated a fish until about 10:30 or so when I got a dink dragging a tube. Then I wasn’t paying attention at all around noon, hot as blazes (being lazy @pdxfisher……) and my line was swimming. Tighten up without a hook set and it  was the big 21” fish in the top pics, great fight lots of jumps. It was pure luck I suppose but I don’t think I’ve ever hooked a fish that well, I had to destroy the jig head in order to get it out of the bass’s jaw. That’s probably the biggest smallmouth I’ve caught since January, I even considered going home after landing it. Well, I’m glad I didn’t because the safari planet episode continued when I captured a 41-42” dinosaur with a jerkbait (cheap 6 lb eagle claw mono and backreel) 

 

This thing might as well have been a tiny marlin the way it was tail walking and making runs 

 

Went for a few hours this evening. It was  real slow for the first couple hours, but I finally found some fish on the windy south east corner. I caught most of the fish skipping a senko along an eel grass line. The subtle approach of skipping accounted for most of the fish. Ended up with 9. 

NIce @TnRiver46

 

If you catch big fish doing it then it is being cagey and not lazy

8 minutes ago, pdxfisher said:

NIce @TnRiver46

 

If you catch big fish doing it then it is being cagey and not lazy

I was even starting to get loopy under the noonday sun haha

Got out yesterday after the rain.  The day started horribly. Lost the first two I hooked; one a 2lb, the other a dink.  If you’ve seen my thread on losing a monster, you can image I’m seriously doubting my hook set by now. Finally, after a couple of hours, I get one in the boat. DINK!  Time is running short and I’m well on my way to my worst fishing day in months. A friend invited me to go axe throwing, which I’d never done. I wasn’t really feeling it but agreed to go.  I figured it couldn’t be any worse than the day I was having on the water. So, I fish my way back to the launch (never give up right?). I set the hook on fish number 2.  DINK!  Man, what is the deal? I cast to a lay down with my TR worm and this one salvages the day. 4.74 lbs. 

 

Well, I’ll at least give myself a gold star for perseverance. I fished over 6 hours yesterday and caught 1 dink and 2 superdinks. One on a watermelon and two on a green pumpkin Senko WR. Went out this morning hoping for a change. Oh my, it’s dead. Stayed on the water 4.5 hours then it started to rain and I felt a gust front. Not good in an inflatable. All that time and only one bite. Another green pumpkin superdink. I tried just about everything and boy, they weren’t buying what I was selling!
 

Got all my gear together and it appeared to blow over. I grabbed a finesse rig and tied on a 3/0 round offset hook and a Zoom Mag 2 purple worm. I started walking the bank and almost had another superdink lol. I had to redo the worm on the hook and cast it back out, and it stopped dead on the retrieve. I felt a tap and set the hook. Didn’t bother to weigh it, but was happy to at least catch something that put up a fight!

 

Skunked for the first time this season. Fishing my first tournament next week.

Stayed on Beaver Creek, and floated it.  We stayed in a cabin on there fantastic camp grounds.

 

The smallies weren't in the eating mood, only caught two on a ned rig.  Last time we were here I caught 20+ on a ned.  I threw a red squarebill to get them to react, and caught most of my fish on it.  Caught 6-10 fish.   I was sight fishing for gar with a jerkbait and caught a walleye from the river, which really suprised me.  The walleye was going crazy, so he didn't get his picture. 

 

Biggest on a silent storm arashi squarebill from@BoatSquirrel

Swimming War Eagle Finesse jig with a Yum Craw Chunk trailer.  He followed it to the rock, turned around, I dropped it down and he gobbled it up.

8 hours ago, HaydenS said:

Stayed on Beaver Creek, and floated it.  We stayed in a cabin on there fantastic camp grounds.

 

The smallies weren't in the eating mood, only caught two on a ned rig.  Last time we were here I caught 20+ on a ned.  I threw a red squarebill to get them to react, and caught most of my fish on it.  Caught 6-10 fish.   I was sight fishing for gar with a jerkbait and caught a walleye from the river, which really suprised me.  The walleye was going crazy, so he didn't get his picture. 

 

Biggest on a silent storm arashi squarebill from@BoatSquirrel

Swimming War Eagle Finesse jig with a Yum Craw Chunk trailer.  He followed it to the rock, turned around, I dropped it down and he gobbled it up.

Looks like my kind of trip, nice job. 

Went out Friday evening for about an hour and a half the second the storm blew through.  Caught 1 on a power worm and 9 on top water.  Bunch of 2s and this 3.5 which hit the buzzbait so hard I thought it was a 5 for a second.  Great fight.  Didn't get any good pictures because the hook was stuck in there good and it took me longer than I wanted to get her back to the water.

 

 

Some of the 2s

 

 

My little guy and me went to our favorite pond to troll some baits for panfish, as he just loves doing that.  While we were cruising around the pond perimeter, I noticed a very fishy looking irregularity in the weed line that I just had to toss my watermelon red flake Stik-O at.  Bam!  Didn't measure length or weight, but it was definitely my best for the year.

There  was a buzzbait bite going on this morning .

Hit two spots right across the road from each other last night with a buddy, and we fished hard before the lightning chased us out. No LM for me, but I racked up about 10 Walters on a Livingston Bullnose, which is a bait worth your consideration as it gets bit a lot, and a hard fighting pickerel on a Gantarel Jr in RT Bluegill. For some reason I've neglected to throw this particular color Gantarel Jr, mostly because its yellowish hue didn't make much sense to me. Since I decided to put more time on it, starting a several weeks ago, it's been money.

 

PS: Two Fridays ago I had a great night with this bait, Towards the end I bumped in to a few guys I know, and fished next to them in a wide cut. I was mindlessly casting while we we talking, then had a small fluff up at the end of a cast, but neglected to fully flatten out a loop in the mono. On the next cast I heard and felt the zip of that loop slapping against the reel's frame. I thumbed it to stop the line from paying out, but it was too late. My RT Bluegill Gantarel, that had just bagged me a near 6 pounder, sailed off into the lake with about 100 ft of 20lb Big Game trailing it. I really gave it a heave, so it went way, way out there. We couldn't see it because of ripple, but still tried to snag it. No luck. I was buzzing from the catch, so I just chalked it up. I bought another one the next day.

 

During the following Wednesday I was out fishing with my SIL when I got a call from a bud who was at the very lake where I lost that bait. He was there with his nephew, and trying to turn him on to fishing. He casted out a spook as far as he could, then let his nephew reel it in. The kid started shrieking with with glee as he cranked in his first fish, but it was my Gantarel Jr! My bud couldn't wait to tell me. It must've hung up in a weed bed about a 100' feet out. This place gets hammered with pressure, so I'm amazed that no one else had gotten to it first, especially because five days had passed since I'd lost it. He cut off the Big Game, then kept it for me. Now I have two.

 

I got these fish yesterday, and 2 of them were on my new fishing pole! Fishing yesterday was tough until around 5, then it picked up. 

Got out today 730-130. Caught 11 total on a mix of baits; spinner and buzzbait, popper and plopper as well as 3 on a yum woolybug with 2 of those weighing 5-1and 5-6 about 6 casts apart. 

9 minutes ago, keagbassr said:

Got out today 730-130. Caught 11 total on a mix of baits; spinner and buzzbait, popper and plopper as well as 3 on a yum woolybug with 2 of those weighing 5-1and 5-6 about 6 casts apart. 

Nice fish...and shirt

11 hours ago, keagbassr said:

Got out today 730-130. Caught 11 total on a mix of baits; spinner and buzzbait, popper and plopper as well as 3 on a yum woolybug with 2 of those weighing 5-1and 5-6 about 6 casts apart. 

dig the outfit you are wearing,

Back out last night on a mission with the new Megabass Magdraft Freestyle.  Few casts in and got slammed by this 2-2.5 pounder.  Hook point buried directly in the top of his mouth.  Love it.

 

 

 

Saw another fish smack it at the bank but it was probably sub 2 pounds.  Started to walk the shore.  There's one entire section of the pond that's basically inaccessible because of cattails.  I've tried to make a little path in one area that I can cast through and get fish back to me but it's difficult.  Stopped there to make a few casts.  First one reeling in and I thought I hit some mucky stuff or something.  Gave the rod a couple pops and didn't realize I had a fish until I saw a 3 or 4 pounder jumping 18" in the air and my lure flying back at my face.  Few more casts and moved on.  Continued down the edge to where I could cast parallel to the bank but I was still dealing with cattails.  Had a few fish wake on the bait and either short strike it or I was too excited and was setting the hook quicker than normal.  Finally had two chase at once and another giant strike.  I ran to an open area, rod held high while keeping pressure.  Thought I cleared all the reeds while I'm walking into the pond and the fish is splashing around close to them.  Lean into the fish and realize my line is through the reeds instead of over them.  I did everything I could to keep some pressure on the line but also try to let the fish work me free.  End result was my hook coming back bare and my PB swimming off.  ?

 

At the end of the night my results were the poorest I've had while fishing this pond but the quality of fish that bit and the strikes from those bites were the best I've had.  I'll be ordering more of these baits for sure and just need to execute better on my end.  Sometimes I really hate bank fishing lol.

 

Took the Ranger out this morning, hot and humid. I've been trying to focus on bigger fish when I'm in my boat, the bite was tough, but managed to boat one chunky. Tons of bait in the water. So I resorted to confusion tactics and threw a Cranberry Wacky.

Out again last night with the Magdraft.  First cast, bass hit it so hard it knocked slack in the line and was running at me.  Took me a few seconds to catch up to him and finally set the hook.  Nothing special but lots of fun

 

 

Following two casts got bit as well but no hooks up.  That seems to be the only downside with the bait.  Short strikes.  Went cold for a little bit before I got one more on it for the evening

 

 

Caught 5-6 more on a power worm.  No dinks for the evening but nothing over 2.5# either.  Probably been doing myself a disservice not throwing a buzzbait or frog more the past couple weeks but experimenting with new stuff has been a lot of fun.  Probably it for me for the week, tight lines and enjoy your views!