We went to a new location today for Phillip, but an old one for me. This is one of the great things about South Florida., there’s lots of water and fisheries everywhere. This was one of the coldest days we have had this year, we started the day throwing top water baits. The key to the bite was working the lure very slow, due to the cold front you would think the fish would have not hit top water…well they did!

 The first fish we caught was 4 pounds, so I told Phillip to change his bait to what I was throwing. It worked out pretty well, he caught a very chunky 2 pound largemouth right away. As the day moved on, we moved around a lot and had action all day. We caught over 50 fish,  40 of them where peacock bass and the other 10 were a mix of largemouth bass and snakeheads.

If you are visiting South or Central Florida for work or vacation and want to experience the best bass fishing that there is to offer then please give us a call. We can be reached at (888) 629-BASS or email me…

Capt Brett
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St. Johns River from Green Cove Springs down to the Palatka area. There’s a great bite of croakers coming off the shell bars near Green Cove Springs. The Shands Bridge has been excellent, but sporadic like most summer fishing. Bream are biting all over the river and will only get better on this moon phase. Many are just hanging around the beds after the full moon last week. But should gather back together next week on the new moon. Catfish are biting in the Trout and Six-Mile creeks.

Area lakes (Lochloosa, Orange, Santa Fe): Bream fishing is good in Lochloosa. They’re off the beds and can be found up under the docks in 3 feet of water. Speckled perch are still being caught in the deeper areas of Santa Fe.

Rodman Reservoir area, the Bass fishing is especially good for schooling fish. The Oklawaha River is the best place for some excellent catfish action this week. Fish the deeper holes, especially near undercut banks.

Elsewhere: The catfish bite in the ponds at Hanna Park is good right now. Surprisingly, there was a report of croakers being caught on nightcrawlers this week.

By JIM SUTTON, The Times-Union

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Central Florida Freshwater Fishing

If recent weather trends continue into the weekend, the fishing will be the same as it has been. But with the start of the backside of the new moon last week, look for good changes to come as we approach the full moon on the 18th of July.

Keep an eye overhead throughout for rapidly forming thunderstorms. The good news is that the influx of fresh water continues to improve things on area lakes and along the St. John’s River.

In lakes like Poinsett and Washington, try to locate areas of moving water where largemouth bass and panfish will lie in wait for small baitfish being flushed through cuts by the current.

Small swimming lures like the Rapala’s work well, but if underwater foliage proves troublesome, go to weedless rigged jerkbaits like Zoom super fluke.

You can work different levels of the water column by opting for weighted hooks. On the St. Johns, continue to look for deeper holes around bends in the river that hold fish. They may become more difficult to locate if we continue getting heavy afternoon rains.

Tight Lines,

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Today once again, that’s right. Just here in May 2008 and back for more Mike Koziol all the way from Palos Park, IL. Mike and I had a great trip and swapped several stories last time he was here. I new he would be back, but never thought so soon.

With the water up in the Everglades most other guides services are complaining there not catching fish and believe me there not. So I really wanted Mike to have another great trip with Mike, I know the conversation would be good but I needed to locate quality bass to ensure our success.

Mike met me at 6:00am, actually his wife dropped him off, introduced herself and said, “you guys are crazy getting up this early.” Boy, if I had a dollar for every time I heard that, I would take everyone fishing for FREE…ha-ha.

As we headed out, I ask Mike if he was up for adventure and of coarse he yes…that’s all I needed to hear and we were off. After a nice ride and good conversation we got to the boat ramp put the boat in and away we went. A 10 minute ride out to the first location and we started fishing.

We started with top-water of coarse and it wasn’t long at all before Mike was hooked up on a bass. Mike’s first fish weight-in around 4 lbs, it was a great way to start the morning. As the day progressed to bright blue bird skies, Mike wanted to say with topwater despite what I said. I tried several other lures with some success, but Mike stayed with top-water continuing to get strikes. As the day became brighter the fish were starting to short strike his lure, but “die hard Mike” stay with it and I am glad he did.

Midway through the afternoon, cloud cover started to appear. The cloudier it got the better the bite became. With the storms approaching we decided to get close to the boat ramp for a quick exit if needed and what a great choice it was. The rain came from all side, but only provided sprinkles at best for us. As you can imagine the fishing only got better with the cool air and added winds.

Mike ended the day with a 5 and 6 lb largemouth bass back to back, on topwater of coarse. In bass fishing, every day is a new day and on this day presidency paid off!

I had a another outstanding day with Mike, we fished hard and worked for every bite but it was worth it in the end.

I can’t wait till next time…thanks again Mike for another great day.

Tight Lines,
Capt Todd
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 Yes, you guessed it…this is the honeymoon couple back for another try. Leaving tomorrow to go back to Brazil after several weeks in Florida. Alex wanted one more chance at catching these South Florida bass in the Everglades.

After taking a week in the Orlando area, they were back in the Miami area and could not resist fishing again after our last trip. The difference in this trip verses the last one, was he purchased several new rod & reel combos while in Orlando at the Bass Pro Shops and really wanted to break them in on some of these Everglades large-mouth bass.

Loaded with 6 and 8 lb test line and extremely ultra lite travel rods, I wasn’t sure my heart was up to this kind if excitment. Seems Alex, took little to no neglect to all the lilly pads. Alex got in the zone and started to boat bass after bass on his new rod & reel combo.

Different then our last trip which was on a Tuesday, this time it was a Saturday during a bass fishing tournament day. So, to say the least there was a lot of pressure on these fish today. Several people reported tough fishing for that day, but I am happy to report Alex and his ultra lite equipment boated over 60 bass all by himself. As you can see in the posted picture he had several good quality bass in the 3 to 4lb range and a chance at one lunker which the ultra lite equipment just could not hold up too.

It was a great day and in Alex’s own words, “This was the best fishing day of my life.”

I look forward to talking fishing with all of you!

Tight Lines,
Capt Todd
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Today was a very eventful day fishing for Peacock bass in South Florida. I fished with Bill & Rodney from the Jacksonville, Florida area. They are avid fishermen, Rodney fishes mostly for largemouth bass, while Bill fishes mainly for trout and redfish. Both are retired U.S. Navy and we were honored to have them pick bassonline.com as there very first fishing guide service experience.

They had heard about the hard fighting Peacock bass through one of our T.V. show that aired recently. So, with a five hour drive from Jacksonville, FL they decided to stay the night near the fishing lake at the Miami Airport Hilton to get an early start. Knowing they wanted to experience the full realm of what the Florida Peacock bass had to offer, we decided to fish a complete 12+ hour full day of fishing.

I picked them up early and headed south to one of my favorite peacock bass holes. Started off with top water, of coarse…and three cast later Rodney had a 3 1/2 pound peacock just destroy his lure. As you can guess this started the day out right as we continued to adjust lure presentation and fish the rest of the Miami water system. With the idea that we were fishing the hole day, I want to give these guys a treat…really make the trip an adventure. So, we pulled the boat out and headed to one of my favorite T.V. filming holes where things only could continue to get better.

After catching several on top-water, hard jerk baits and live-bait we decided to move again to area called Snapper creek to finish out the day. The day ended with a little fury, as Bill lost a giant Peacock bass on topwater…not his fault, the fish just pulled off the hooks. These fish do that kind of thing, they have an incredible head shake when there hooked with unbelievable speed.

When I asked, “how many fish did we catch today”…they replied, I have no idea…a lot. Then Rodney replied, “I know I missed 15 to 20 myself” as he laughed and we all agreed.

Good day of fishing, with a good couple of guys. Hopefully, when they return we can even make it better next time.

If you are interested to trying your luck at the mighty Peacock bass or largemouth bass fishing in Central or South Florida, give me a call or send me an email.

I look forward to talking fishing with all of you!

Tight Lines,
Capt Todd
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Heavy winds the last few days on Lake Okeechobee. Today, I fished with John and Mary Rogers from New York.

We fished a few shiners, but ended up using mostly plastics. I sure enjoyed fishing with them today, the bite started a little slow at first with just a scattered bite. As the morning passed the bite picked up a lot.

Today we fished 6 hours and caught about 35, lost a bunch of the fish that were biting softly.

As we approach a new moon there are still a few females that have not spawned but not a bunch. Today we saw a nice school of bass come up with the bass being brought to the boat on swim bait.

Come catch ‘em on World famous Lake Okeechobee!

Capt Mark Shepard
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