I am going to Orlando, Florida this summer with my girlfriend. Going to Disney and take a day at the beach. We were really interested in going fishing, but would it be better to hire a guide and go out a few hours with him or should we rent a boat and bring stuff with us? Any ideas?

If you want a good chance at a 10+ I would definitely hire a guide on Toho. Let me know if you need some info.

Go see Mickey...The girlfriend will love it. Trying to take in Disney and fishing will leave both of you loosing an experience. Do one or the other. And get fast-passes beforehand. Then come back and fish on another trip. Maybe to Lake O with a guide.

Hire a guide for sure. Those lakes in Florida are just endless grass fields that you could fish all day and never get around a fish. 

12 hours ago, Florida Cracker2 said:

Go see Mickey...The girlfriend will love it. Trying to take in Disney and fishing will leave both of you loosing an experience. Do one or the other. And get fast-passes beforehand. Then come back and fish on another trip. Maybe to Lake O with a guide.

Lake O for a long weekend after the Mouse House, Guide, Lodging, dinning and drink right there. 

Lake Okeechobee.  Hire a guide.  

Every bass fisherman should get at least one day on the big O. Weed bed bigger than most lakes.

My opinion if you want a better chance at a 10+ Toho beats big O hands down if you're using live bait.

I just looked at Toho (tohopekaliga) on GoogleEarth. Looks like it connects to other large lakes south of it through lockage canals (even Lake O). I wouldn't mind checking that area out someday. I could probably run a boat all the way there from my house.  Only about 160 miles.

It would be an interesting houseboat/trawler vacation trip.

Harris chain lakes isn't too far away and they have some monsters in there. Okeechobee is a great lake too. I would definitely hire a guide if I were going to the bigger lakes.

I lived in FL for a while. Don't he shy about wetting a worm in some of the retention ponds. I caught 7 fish over 6 lbs, including a 10 lber, out of retention ponds.

Have fun!

On 3/28/2016 at 7:03 PM, ataris41 said:

I am going to Orlando, Florida this summer with my girlfriend. Going to Disney and take a day at the beach. We were really interested in going fishing, but would it be better to hire a guide and go out a few hours with him or should we rent a boat and bring stuff with us? Any ideas?

contact John Pate- he's a great bass guide.

kingoftheeverglades is his site.

 

Tell him Chris from NY says hello!

On my last trip to Toho in 2008, I hired a guide..........without him I would have gotten lost out there. I hired him for a full 8 hours, and we spent the morning fishing shiners. I didn't catch a super sized hog by Florida standards,  I caught one over 8lbs, and a bunch more 3-5lb fish. It WAS NOT fast and furious fishing, probably just average. About half way through the day I said "dude............I can't take it anymore, sitting here watching a bobber. Give me a flipping stick and lets get to work."  He complied with my wish's , and we went to flipping worms and creature baits. Caught a bunch, and another one over 6lbs. All in all it was a good day, and positive exp. I'd do it again. The guide was a super nice guy. Picked me up at the resort, and dropped me back off. He had a "no fish, no pay" policy, and like I said, he let me do "my thing". The first hour on the lake or so with him was a little dicey.................#1 I am NOT used to running 70MPH in a boat through dirt shallow water with cattails whipping by my head like and angry swarm of bee's LOL, #2 It had been 15 years since I used shiners for bass (actually never for bass only pike) so there was a slight learning curve, and #3..........I imagine he gets a ton of clients who are 100% not fisherman, it took him a little while to realize he didn't have to "dumb down" things (other than the shiner fishing 101) for me. By the end of the day we were both on the front deck flipping and punching, talking trash to each other, and joking around like long time tournament buddies. His name is Steve Boyd, I just did a quick google search, and he popped right up and is still guiding. HTH.

Even if you don't have time to get out to a big lake I would still recommend trying to fish some of these other ponds and lakes from the bank. There is tons of great fishing all over the Orlando area. I catch tons of nice fish in downtown Orlando. There are big all over and you can't catch then unless you try.