Current Bass Fishing Report

Welcome to our Bass Fishing report pages,here we will be updating fishing reports from local lakes that we fish. We will do our best to always give you updated information on where we are fishing, what we are using and how the fish are responding. Please check back on a weekly basis for updated reports.

June and July Report

June and July have seen some good bass fishing action. Most of our time had been spent on Johns Lake, with a few scattered trips out on Butler Chain. This time of year is typically hot and usually with very little breeze to help keep things comfortable, so we have been doing a lot of 4 and 6 hour trips to beat the heat.
Johns Lake has been pretty good on schooling bass first thing in the morning at Deer Island Cut. Spinner baits, rattle traps and a select few crank baits have done pretty good. Smaller swim baits like the curl tail minnow have been productive, as well as a 7 inch junebug worm crawled slowly across the bottom.
Once the schooling action stops, we have been hitting isolated grass beds as well as offshore hydrilla beds just below the surface. Seven inch junebug worms with a small bullet weight worked slowly has been the main producer once the air temperatures start cooking. We did have some limited success with drop shot in 12 to 16 foot water. Senko type baits, as well as trick worms have been catching some bass off of docks, as well as the drop shot worked along the docks and worked slowly thru the passes in the docks.
Water levels on Johns Lake have come up slowly with the rains we have been having, markers are out there still, marking the sand bars to make sure people and boats stay safe.
Butler Chain water levels are still great, lots of areas with some good productive flooded wood and some very healthy hydrilla make for some good action. Early morning top water action has been ok, with some scattered schooling around the chain. Most of our bass have been coming close to deeper water drop offs, but we have still been catching bass in less than 2 feet of water in lakes Chase and Blanche.
One ounce spinner baits worked thru grasses and hydrilla have produced some serious strikes, as well as working the steel shad, typically the gold one seems to have worked best for us. Several bass have been caught working docks, big key here was to really work the dock hard, and very slowly. Drop offs have been holding some quality bass, especially around submerged brush piles.

Month of May Fishing Report

The month of May has seen some very good bass fishing action in Orlando. For the most part Johns Lake has been the place to be. Even though we have seen very limited schooling action in the mornings, we have caught some good schooling bass in the cuts, mainly Deer Island cut. Bass have been hitting on Gitem Warlocks around isolated grass patches, rigged with a very small bullet weight and worked very slowly.

Several areas in mid lake with hydrilla have been producing some quality bass using 1 ounce Sugoi spinner baits, Steel Shads and 10 inch worms. Several days of higher winds than normal had us working docks that were wind blown, which had been holding bass, some docks producing as many as 3 bass, which makes for a very good day.
Live bait has been producing ok, but we have been out catching live bait with artificial baits sometimes 3 to 1, clients really love this, as it is just that much more fun to catch bass using plastics.

Butler Chain has been fishing pretty good. Lakes we have worked have been Butler, Chase and Blanche. Butler has been a great lake to start the day out early on in the mornings, from there moving over to Lake Chase has been the ticket. Numbers and bigger bass have come later in the day on Lake Blanche, working the docks and the deeper drop offs very slow worming. Altho the bite has been what we call a “small tick” instead of the aggressive hits, quality bass have been caught.

For the most part, water levels on Johns Lake and Butler Chain are not too bad, Johns Lake, we do have a few sand bars to watch out for, one right at the ramp area, one coming off the point going into the main lake area, and one going into the Horse shoe area. Butler Chain the canals could use some water, but the levels are still safe to pass thru, and with the rains the last few days, should help out with those levels

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My tournament partner and I did venture out to Harris Chain mid month to fish a Fishers Of Men Tournament, with no free time to practice out there, we went according to old notes from years past and they paid off pretty good. With some tough fishing, we did get into some schooling bass, but we could only get them to hit very small floating Ugly Duckling crank baits, once we had our limit, we switched up to one ounce spinner baits and covered a lot of water to cull some smaller bass, with a nice 5 and change bass slamming a spinner bait, landing us in 11th place, just 2 spots from the money, which equaled out to a pound, also missing second big bass by a matter of ounces.

Waters at the ramp on Harris were very low, with only one of the ramps open, and apparently a boulder sitting at the end of the ramp making launching and pulling out entertaining to say the least. Next months tournament is State Championships on Lake Rousseau and from there we go to Southeast Regional’s the end of October, site still to be determined.

Week Ending April 30th

The last two weeks of April saw some good bass fishing on Johns Lake and Butler Chain. Schooling action on Johns had been very limited for us in the mornings, but always got the day off to a good start. For the most part on Johns Lake, our bass have been coming off some of our typical deeper water areas. Steel Shads and spinner baits being the best at catching the bass, a few have been caught on smaller series Ugly Duckling crank baits.

Butler Chain we had spent most of our time on Lake Chase and Tibet-Butler. Lake Chase has been good working Gitem Warlocks and heavy one ounce Sugoi spinner baits in and around thinned out grasses and lily pads. Tibet-Butler we did have some schooling action, and the heavier spinner baits tossed into the schools picked off the better quality bass. Docks have produced some good bass with the steady action coming mainly around grass beds and areas with hydrilla mixed with the grass. A few of the deeper water areas have held some good bass, working the Steel Shad like a spoon has been a very good way to pick up some from the deep drop offs.

Week Ending April 13th

Sorry for the delay in my fishing reports, things have been very crazy around here. First half of the month has seen some pretty good bass fishing. Most of my trips have been done on Johns Lake with a few stops at Butler Chain. For the most part most of my trips have been artificial baits. Using a lot of Gitem Warlocks, spinner baits and of course the Steel Shads.

Johns Lake for the most part, the early morning schooling has slowed to a crawl, with a few bass being caught in the Deer Island cut in the morning. We have caught some good bass in wide open waters on the main lake, as well as quality bass around isolated grass patches. This seems to be a pattern that has held up for well over a month now. Several bass in the 5 pound class had made it to the boat in this time frame on Johns Lake.

Butler Chain was a little tougher fishing. Most casts were pin point under docks, and to grass patches with submerged wood close by. Lakes that produced for us were Tibet, Chase and Blanche. Memorable trip out there was with Chris G. We had been plugging away for some quality bass and Chris had told me his life long dream was to catch a 5 pounder. His previous big fish I believe he said was 3 pounds and it was not even a bass, so mid way thru the day, I told him lets head to what I call “ junk lake” Lake Blanche, with all the docks and submerged wood, there had to be a big bass waiting for him. We got on a good stretch of water using the Warlocks, when Chris got hit and the bass didn’t stand a chance, and yes, his dream came true with a solid bass coming in right at 5 pounds on the gripper. Great job Chris, and when your back next year, we have to catch one bigger.

Week Ending March 31st

The past two weeks has seen some great bass fishing action, as well as some tough action as the cold front came thru. This front grabbed a hold of us for a good two days, and after some very good bass fishing action, it really put a clamp on the action. Bass were still caught, but we did have to work harder for our catch. We had a few days of combo trips, working live and artificial baits, for the most part, the artificial baits we used were Gitem Warlocks and 7 inch ribbon tail worms, both worked with a 1/16th ounce bullet weight in and around grass beds.
Tom and Robert had a day of high winds which limited us to certain areas on the lake, the bite was very scattered and very light, as the bass would just pick up the baits and swim some with it, heart breaking moment came with Tom getting a light tick and the bass swimming under the boat, only to turn and come back out and jump right next to the boat, this beauty was an easy 7 pounder, as she spit the worm and swam away.

Doug and Todd had two days with us on Johns Lake, the first day was once again very light hits on the baits, with winds still up and weather very cool to start the day, bass were scattered as we hit several areas to get our catch. Day two we had much better action with calmer winds and warmer weather. Big bass for them coming in at 5.13 pounds.
Brian and John had some good action as well on live baits, bass were schooling some in the cut but were very scattered, as most bass caught came closer to docks, with one dock yielding two bass within minutes of each other. For the most part, the live bait action has remained pretty steady on Johns Lake, schooling action has seemed to slow down some but the quality bass have picked up considerably as Doug and Todd saw on day two, catching only one dink, with the rest coming in between 2 and 4 pounds and very scrappy.

Week Ending March 16th

The past two weeks has seen some great trips out on Johns Lake. For the most part, schooling activity has been great up until the 13th when they just seemed to disappear. We are still having great success using Steel Shads in gold or silver color to catch not only schooling bass, but also bass in deeper waters in the middle of the main lake. One ounce Sugoi spinner baits have worked great around scattered grass patches and around areas with hydrilla and lily pads. When the bass have been schooling, these heavier spinner baits have been great at getting below the smaller schoolers where the quality bass lay.

Once the schooling action ends, junebug trick worms with red, green, or blue fleck with a small bullet weight worked around isolated grass patches have been key to catching the bass. Work the patches very good, to the point if you see one blade of grass, throw to it, as they have been holding bass. For the most part, the bite has been good, but the strikes have not been aggressive ones, you really have to watch your line, as several bass we had to let them swim with the trick worms a few seconds before being able to get a solid hooked.

We have not had too much success with bass around docks, but several of the areas with brush have produced as of late, fire tiger Fat A’s worked around these trees have caught several good solid bass, and made for a fun fight trying to keep them out of the wood after hook up. Deer Island cut has been a good area to work a split shot rig with a trick worm. Main focus has been in waters 4 to 8 feet of water and key in on bird activity, circling or diving birds will guide you to some good fishing action.