I'm going to get a day of bassing in late September while visiting the Kissimmee area. The drawback is it will be from my pontoon boat. It is set up for fishing except I don't have a trolling motor on it. Knowledge of where best to fish and put in within an hour of Kissimmee is what I need, along with how to fish. Right now, my plan is to shiner fish while dropping anchor somewhere. Exactly how to do that, I don't know. Seems like I remember seeing balloons used as a float before. Do you just tie them onto the line above your hook? Any certain type of balloon needed for it to stay inflated? What size shiners? How quickly do they die? How many do we need. We're looking for size over numbers but will resort to numbers fishing later in the day if not catching anything. Yeah, I know it's not February or March. What other techniques are good? What lake should we try? Right now, I'm thinking Toho but am willing to try anywhere in the area. Thanks.

Caught my PB January 5 on ToHo. Fished minnows on top of grass with a balloon.

Hook & minnow were fixed at about 3'. 4-6" minnows, but you have to keep them

alive!

 

That's a huge minnow to me!

9 hours ago, eyern1 said:

That's a huge minnow to me!

My bass was 12.4 lbs

On 8/31/2020 at 8:36 PM, eyern1 said:

That's a huge minnow to me!

Golden shiner would be my guess . They get big 

Lake Toho and the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes are some of the best bass lakes in the Southeast.  Shiner fishing is very productive. What you want to buy are wild native shiners about 5-6 inches long.  I hook them through both lips.  These shiners are expensive.  Don't buy 3-4" pond raised shiners, they die too quickly.   You must use a live well with good circulation.

 

Small balloons work great as shiner floats.  Use 20 pound mono and a 3/0 to 5/0 weedless hook.  Blow up the balloon to about 2-3 inches in diameter.  Tie a knot in the balloon to seal it and tie it on your line.  Adjust the depth of the shiner by sliding the balloon up and down the line.  I normally run the balloon about 4 feet from the shiner.  If a fish runs with the shiner, the balloon will not hang up.  

 

Toho is full of fish.  Look for pods of green straight reeds.  Reeds are not cat tails.  They are straight buggy whips with no leaves.  They grow on hard ground and bass hold in these areas.  It's hard not to find fish in Toho.  In the summer, big fish hold out in the Hydrilla.   I suggest you hire a guide the first time out.  There are many good guides in Kissimmee.  

This is exactly how I was rigged January 5, 2020 on ToHo. 

PB 12.4