Planning a fishing trip down there next spring from South Dakota.  I've never been that far south.  I was wondering how the bass fishing was around Orlando and about when does the spawn start in that area?

Thanks!

Hmm...

If it were me, I'd be fishing Stick Marsh/ Farm 13 with

George Welcome.

8-)

If you don't go to with George, central Fla lakes are slamming from January through April if the water temp is in the 60's. The problem is about every 5-6 days we get a cold front that rolls through and knocks them back off the beds for a few days but you could still catch trophy bass on live bait if you are so inclined.

I would recommend the North Kissimmee area. Toho through Kissimmee all produce good numbers of larger fish if the temperature is up and the weather is stable for a few day. Typically you want to be in the flats looking for water over 65 degrees.

FD

Late February on some public lakes on Merritt Island with some good bedding baits.  I've just started seriously bass fishing in the last two years and I've already caught a couple of bedding bass over 8 lbs and more than I can count over 6.  There have been a couple of times I've seen bass that were over 12lbs but I wasn't good enough at flipping to get to them correctly.