Now that December is upon us I’d like to welcome back our returning snowbirds and give a first welcome to our new snowbirds coming down to Central Florida. For those that aren’t familiar with our area we have hundreds of lakes and world class bass fishing. If you have not experienced the tremendous fishing opportunities in Winter Haven or the grandeur of Olde World Florida on the Kissimmee Chain fishing out of Camp Mack, you owe it to yourself, and friends, family, kids, grandkids, take ‘em all out!
Let’s start out at Camp Mack, a Guy Harvey Lodge, Marina & RV Resort on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes. By the time you’re reading this the lakes should have recovered from their 2nd strong storm hit in as many months. Hurricane Ian really changed the dynamics and prior to TS Nicole delivering a blow it was looking like the lakes were going to be better than before. This was due to the extremely high water levels and trying to lower the lakes quickly resulted in many areas that had muck & mud on the bottom being washed clean. The dirty water I saw scouting the day after Nicole should be clear by now.
With all that said, the fish should be primed for an early move up to the flats and along the edges of creek channels. I often like to fish spots with “deep” water nearby, preferably some shell beds, and healthy vegetation. I like to keep a full rod locker out on these lakes to include the following baits: Gambler EZ Swimmers & Buzz’n Cane Toads, Spro Frogs, black & blue stickbaits, white & chartreuse or gold spinnerbaits, ZMan flukes, Devil’s Horse for topwater, and you better have some speedworms for flipping or swimming.
Moving over to the Winter Haven South Chain the lakes have recovered from Hurricane Ian and have been less effected by TS Nicole. On trips here I’m most likely to be found fishing in waters from 8ft out to 20ft focusing on the grasslines. Up “shallow” it’s mostly swim jigs*, smaller swimbaits and Zoom flukes but as we move out deeper I’ll start to include shallow-mid cranks, jerkbaits, and smaller 1/4oz Rattle Traps. With the cleaner spring fed waters of many of these lakes natural colors are typically best in bait selections.
*Brovarney Baits in Wisconsin makes a phenomenal 1/4oz swim jig with color options for anyone and these are the jigs we’ve been throwing for close to 15 years and rely upon them every day. This is not a sponsor tease, Dan charges me the same as everyone else but wanted to take time to share his products that have helped my fishing & business immensely and I hope they help your fishing as well.
Capt. Scotty Taylor
855-FL-GUIDE (855-354-8433)
