Going to visit a friend in Florida this weekend. He is getting us out on Lake Nona near Orlando. Wondering if anyone has any tips about the lake or the current status of the Florida bass? Pre-spawn?

The stage of fish down in southern Florida is.....screwed up.  I thought we were in the pre-spawn.  Found a couple sitting on beds, etc etc.  Now there are non on beds anywhere.  The strange weather has messed them all up.  I would love to say the pre-spawn right now.  But who knows.  Eventually the weather will stabilize and the fishing should explode.  Not sure how things are looking in Central Florida/Orlando.  But I would imagine it's much of the same thing right now.

The stage of fish down in southern Florida is.....screwed up. I thought we were in the pre-spawn. Found a couple sitting on beds, etc etc. Now there are non on beds anywhere. The strange weather has messed them all up. I would love to say the pre-spawn right now. But who knows. Eventually the weather will stabilize and the fishing should explode. Not sure how things are looking in Central Florida/Orlando. But I would imagine it's much of the same thing right now.

Yep these fish don't know if they are going up or down or left or right or anything in between and one thing is for sure they aren't biting worth a @#$%. I seen a lot of spawners in January but that didn't last long. Whats worse is I have seen a lot of fry kills in some of my ponds recently. I haven't seen a single tilapia on a bed yet this year which is very strange.They normally cover every square inch of the bankline with their beds by now.I know they are very intollerant of the cold and am still finding a lot of dead ones floating. This also tells me that the water is unusually cold this year. We have averaged 10-15 degrees below average temps every single day since new years.

Over the next 2 weeks or so I think a huge % of the bass are going to come up all at once.However we can't even find them on so called staging areas right now or in shallow water for a flippin bite either.

Go fishing while its warm out and go slow and low with plastics.Downsize your baits and dead stick a lot in deeper water and/or heavy cover. The cranking,topwater,and spinnerbait bite is completely dead right now.

edit: One thing I noticed recently is that there have been very few if any big fish or reports in the outings section this year from the south. This tells ya something.Normally in this time of year it is hawg heaven and people post like crazy. I think everyone is having a little trouble down here right now.

They all have their umbrellas out now   ;D

I was going to head to Camp Mack this weekend or early next week.  With all the rain we're getting, I'm probably going to fish Lake Parker, right here in Lakeland.  It's a great lake, it's just been a bit low.........but not anymore! 

From late November to maybe mid-April, some percentage of the fish are pre-spawn, some spawning and some post-spawn.There were some fish on beds near Belle Glade in December. To me this is normal but it has been even more spread out this year due to the erratic weather. For a time there, it seemed like whenver the moon cycle (full or new) would be conducive and you'd see some fish moving up, then a wild front would come through and they'd be off again.

But, make no mistake there has been a lot of spawn and the lack of bigger females may be indicative of post-spawn funk too. Now this is more true down here and at the Lake and I can't speak that much to central FL

They still had their coats on when I left last Sunday.

With all the rain of the last two days they have gone from coats to scuba gear.

With all the rain of the last two days they have gone from coats to scuba gear.

;D

George, I'll bet you view all this as I do,

a torrid spring bite lasting through May and halfway thru June 8-)

Roger

Monday I was seeing bass on beds in the deep south area.

On the K chain they are on the beds and slamming anything that gets close.  I had 2 reliable reports today.

One guy had about 17 lbs by 10 am and another had 28 lbs by noon with 2 fish around 10 lbs each.

This is the weekend we have been waiting for.  I have a tourney tomorrow out of Camp Mack and will post up the results.

Get your waders out and fish in 3 ft or less.

On the K chain they are on the beds and slamming anything that gets close. I had 2 reliable reports today.

One guy had about 17 lbs by 10 am and another had 28 lbs by noon with 2 fish around 10 lbs each.

This is the weekend we have been waiting for. I have a tourney tomorrow out of Camp Mack and will post up the results.

Get your waders out and fish in 3 ft or less.

Thanks for the report! I have to stay sort of close to home this weekend so I'm hitting Lake Parker here in Lakeland tomorrow.  I hope they're just as active as on the K Chain!!

more of the fish are in a still pre spawn stage here in south georgia some are starting to try to bed tho(10 miles from FL)

Lee...good luck in the tournament tomorrow.

We just got in after getting the essentials done. the 2 day ride was an adventure. All good except for my shredded boat cover...it was due, I guess.

I have your mack info and will try to get to the weigh-in. Sat is unknown right now since they don't play much ball in the rain!

Go get 'em.

TJ

From Kissimee south fish are going to be sitting on beds like mad, all the fronts have been knocking them off, every 2 day warm spell sends them in like mad.

Talked to a local guy at BPS earlier today who worked over some of the Miami canals yesterday. He said he saw plenty of beds that popped up almost overnight. Depending on what this minor front does this weekend, the fishing should get better quickly. Heres to hoping....

Oh yeah, he also showed me a few pictures of some simply monstrous peacocks he caught over the last week.  Scary big.

The average temperatures in south florida are trending upward. Hopefully we have had our last cold front until next fall. I think as soon as we get some steady weather, the fishing will get hot. I think MAR - AUG will be excellent.

I have caught some solid fish in the canal behind my house the past couple of days.

Out of three days worth of fishing in the afternoon water temp. probably around the 60's I landed 5 or 6 2-3 pound bass.

The patterns are weird. One minute they hit something, the other the bite stops. Senko's and trick worms are what worked for me. The most productive pattern was a quick retrieval and then letting the senko/worm drop down near some cover.

Fished in Cypress and Toho today.  Yes, it was a tad on the breezy side (small craft advisory).  The shallow bite shut off about 9 am and then the moving water bite kicked in.  We caught a small limit by 10.  The weigh in got moved up to 1 pm because of the weather so time was at a premium.  We pulled up on out last spot at 12:20.  By 12:40 we had caught 11 more keepers, most in the 2 lb range.

I have found ZERO fish in the shallow spawning grounds as of yet. All my fish have come from the pre-spawn areas that are very close to the shallows though. Senko style baits have been all i have had luck with.

I fished Lake Parker yesterday.  I got SKUNKED on the main lake early.  None of my usual early season spots showed ANY sign of life.  No beds spotted, NOTHING

Around 11, I headed up the canal to Crago.  No sign of spawners.  The only thing I could manage was 2 dinks on trick worms. 

On beds off beds, is the story here in Palm Beach Gardens.  These record breaking rains cooled the temp a bit in my canal again, 67 F.  I expected some major waves of spawners moving onto beds, so in the next month spawn, prespawn and postspawn patterns should be the ticket.

I have been picking up a few by pitching jigs and creatures around weeds and cat tails.  They have mostly been smaller but one measured 22" and I got another that was a few inches shorter than that.  The bite has definitely been picking up lately though.

I didn't do terribly bad today.  The wind was blowing like all hell, so I didn't stay out long.  I managed to get a few Peacocks up to about 3 pounds on a Glass Ghost X-rap.

I didn't do terribly bad today. The wind was blowing like all hell, so I didn't stay out long. I managed to get a few Peacocks up to about 3 pounds on a Glass Ghost X-rap.

Yeah I tried to go out again this afternoon I managed to catch one but the wind took all the fun out of it and I went home

I made the mistake of going to BPS earlier today in hopes of having an afternoon of fishing.  I should have fished this morning while the winds were calm.  Oh well.  I think I'm done shopping for the year at least.  I've got a stack of receipts about an inch thick that I need to tally up to see what I've actually spent.  Looks like the weather for the week should be nice with the winds starting to die down on Tuesday.