With more than 8,000 lakes and other waters available, anglers sometimes face a tough decision about where to fish. Ahh good old Florida. And don’t forget to share this guide with your bass fishing buddies. I look for places where the hydrilla thins out into patchy, scattered clumps. In the fall, when bass gorge on shad, Elite pro and Palatka resident pro Terry Scroggins will throw a shallow diving jerkbait onto main channel flats and work the bait over the edge for fish holding on the break and looking up for food, Local contact: Gary’s Tackle Box (352-372-1791), TrophyCatch Stats: 329 (262 Lunker Clubs, 67 Trophy Clubs). Also, because we have fertile soil, Lake Kissimmee has excellent habitat that is a diverse mixture of emergent and submerged vegetation that is ideal for fish spawning and fish recruitment.”. Falls Lake, North Carolina 7. The Basics on Lake George, FL. What About Licenses, Permits And Regulations? So have fun and let us know how your Florida bass fishing trip goes. In the deep water, you’ll catch them on big Texas-rigged worms, Carolina-rigged lizards and deep diving crankbaits. The lake is around 46,000 acres and is Florida’s second largest freshwater lake. Florida’s subtropical climate means that the opportunities for fishing are just about non-stop. Length to Paddler Height Explained, How To Paddle A Kayak – Strokes & Techniques Explained. Local contact: Big Lake Toho Marina (407-846-2124), TrophyCatch Stats: 221 (193 Lunker Clubs, 28 Trophy Clubs). “We have good food availability, good habitat and good water partly due to mother nature and partly due to FWC management practices that preserve it even though it is under stress from human encroachment.”. About 65 miles north of Orlando and about 30 minutes east of Ocala, Lake George is on the eastern edge of the Ocala National Forest. By that criterion, Lake Kissimmee is the hottest bass lake in Florida right now. Some fisheries in many states around the country have introduced Florida bass to specific bodies of water in order to boost bass sizes by introducing the larger Florida strain to the gene pool.However, with these fish being native to Florida, you could have a higher chance of catching one since they can be found in waters all across the Florida peninsula, with northern largemouth and hybrid species being prohibited from being stocked in Florida waters. Stick Marsh previously earned that honor year after year, but other lakes are finding their place on the big, pass map. Best Wintertime Lures For Florida Bass Fishing Bass anglers should consider two key factors when picking out lures for wintertime fishing in Florida. This 35 square mile lake is jammed packed with family bass fishing action like no other! The lake is incredibly shallow and very brackish for a lake in this area of the state. Bass weighing 8 – 9.9 pounds earn Lunker Club status, 10-12.9 pounds make the Trophy Club and toads of 13-plus reach the prestigious Hall of Fame Club. You will need a freshwater fishing license for these waters but if you’re in saltwater areas closer to the Gulf Coast, you will also require a saltwater license.It’s also worth noting that using live or dead bait is forbidden within the park. Temperatures will usually start to cool down during the fall, which can mean bass start actively feeding again in preparation for winter. Do You Need A Florida Fishing License For Bass Fishing? Florida statewide regulations allow you to take no more than five black bass, which includes largemouth, spotted and Suwannee bass. List of all of Florida lakes in freshwater for large-mouth bass and peacock bass statewide in Florida. And, of course, a live shiner fished under a popping cork is a can’t-miss for big bass. The lake is big, so most people don’t brave it alone; they hire a charter. Lake Okeechobee is the largest freshwater lake in Florida and one of the largest in the United States, covering around 730 square miles with an average depth of around 10 to 12 feet.This famous lake, which is known for its excellent year round bass fishing, sits around 100 miles south of Orlando and around 100 miles north of Miami. The mouth of Shingle Creek, St. Lane is a Sunshine State native. What Size Kayak Do I Need? St. Johns River, Florida 8. Terry “Big Show” Scroggins won his first bass tournament in Florida at the age of 12. As well as being a great place for saltwater fishing, the Sunshine State is also known for its big bass. Description: Translated, its Seminole name refers to ancestors who died on the lake when fierce winds roiled its vast expanses of relatively shallow waters. Largemouth and peacock bass can be found in the Everglades but watch out for alligators and American crocodiles! One of the reasons that the fishing is unlike anywhere else here is simply because Florida is literally unlike anywhere else. Get the Top Stories from Florida Sportsman Delivered to Your Inbox Every Week, These are some of the best florida bass lakes to fish. Seminole is a 38,000 acre lake located on the state’s northern border near Chattahoochee. You can rent a boat or fishing guide at Big Toho Marina to let you get closer to the big bass. As well as being a great place for saltwater fishing, the Sunshine State is also known for its big bass. There’s also a public boat ramp at Joe Overstreet’s Landing on the eastern side. Florida can offer some great bass fishing and the warm climate means you can potentially fish all year round, with little in the way of seasonal changes. Frogs, vibrating jigs and flipping jigs also produce in and around the mats. If you are looking for a trophy-sized bass all year long, Lake Toho is your destination. Thought to have formed as a giant sink hole, Kingsley reaches 90 feet deep and its circular shape has earned the nickname “Silver Dollar lake.”, © 2021 Outdoor Sportsman Group. However, there can be cold fronts that push down cold air from the north. The FWC and its environmental partners drew down Istokpoga’s water level and removed over 1,300 acres of muck to allow native vegetation to germinate and flourish. LAKE KISSIMMEE The southernmost link in the Kissimmee Chain, Lake Kissimmee is a 34,948-acre lake located 40 miles... 2. Lake Murray, South Carolina 3. The following list of Top Spots for Black Bass aims to help anglers find a quality place to catch either good numbers of bass or to catch a trophy bass. Florida has some of the most spectacular fishing that you’ll ever experience from saltwater to trophy largemouth bass. The Everglades National Park covers 1.5 million acres of wilderness in Southern Florida and is probably best known for its swamps and alligators. So where are the best spots and when should you go?To point you in the direction of some of the best places to go bass fishing in Florida we’ve put together a short guide that will hopefully tell you everything you need to know before you go. Generally considered Florida’s oldest and highest lake, Kingsley perches on the eastern slope of Trail Ridge, the first part of Florida’s peninsula to emerge above sea level in the Pleistocene era. Overall, Kingsley claims 169 TrophyCatches (also including 75 Lunker Clubs and 80 Trophy Clubs). It is the second largest lake in the state (46,000 acres) and is 18 miles northwest of Deland and 29 miles east of Ocala. This was the first of two planned projects intended to facilitate navigation along the Cross Florida Barge Canal (construction halted in 1971 due to environmental concerns). You can fish all year round in Florida with much of the Sunshine State often seeing little change in the weather between the seasons, except for an increase in temperature, humidity and rain during the summer months.A lot of Florida has mild to warm winters, with Central Florida and South Florida averaging temperatures in the low to mid 70s (Fahrenheit) from December through February. How to Fish It: Productive tactics include flipping dark-colored soft plastics (red shad, junebug) into patches of emergent vegetation and pockets of submerged vegetation, working topwaters and jerkbaits around the edges of hydrilla beds or pondweed and targeting points and holes in weed mats with weedless frogs. Lake Walk In Water Bass Fishing Lake Walk In Water, also known as Lake Weohyakapka, is a 7,528 acre natural lake located roughly 10 miles east of Lake Wales Florida. Children under 16 and Florida residents over the age of 65 do not require a fishing license. South, Central, North Florida and Panhandle Florida. Of that total, the 2,000-acre Kingsley has produced the two heaviest TrophyCatch entries: Seth Chapman’s 15-pound, 11-ouncer and Len Andrews’ 15-9 — both caught in March 2015. Because many Florida lakes have little or no bottom contour changes, the key to finding fish here often lies in interpreting weedlines and bottom composition. How to Fish It: Mann’s a big fan of topwater action, particularly a noisy buzzbait fitted with a trailer hook. Yes, everyone over the age of 16 will need a Florida fishing license in order to fish for bass, whether you’re carrying the gear, casting a line or catching and releasing a fish. When it comes to fooling bass on the surface in Florida, Lane’s topwater tips and picks can help you fulfill your Florida topwater dream. This disc-shaped lake six miles east of Starke has yielded the most Hall-of-fame catches with 14 out of the 30 reported in four TrophyCatch seasons. “Also, FWC has managed this lake and the rest of the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes aggressively over the last 50 years,” Mann said. When summer finds a lot of fish following offshore bait schools, lipless crankbaits, spinnerbaits and big Texas-rigged worms will tempt the ones you want. When runoff from heavy rains send voluminous flow through the lake, current at the canals and tributaries can spark a hot bass bite. This citizen-science program rewards anglers for documenting and releasing trophy bass of 8 pounds or larger. How to Fish It: Flipping Texas-rigged worms or pitching craws and beavers is hard to beat, but keep a frog, spinnerbait and swim jig on your deck. The lakes surrounding Eustis are some of the largest in the state, including the namesake of the chain, Lake Harris. We caught 148 bass, with the largest over 8lb, 7lb 10oz and a bunch of 6's and 5's. Lake Istokpoga, Florida 5. Fished with Justen Dec. 14-16 with my best friend. Lake George is part of the St. Johns River System and is only an average of 8 feet deep. Because of the varying temperatures, it can be difficult to know where to look for bass, as they could be in deeper water during cold fronts or feeding in shallow zones as they prepare for the spawn.You may also find that bass are moving towards their spawning areas during the winter, and, depending on how far south you are, you may find that the spawn actually begins in winter, with the pre-spawn having happened in the fall. Lake Toho is one of Florida’s largest lakes and is renowned as one of the best fishing places in Florida for catching trophy bass. “Lake Kissimmee is a trophy bass factory because it is fertile, but not overly fertile, and that produces a lot of bass,” he said. Lake Eufaula, Alabama/Georgia 6. Well deserving of its Seminole name, which means “big water,” Okeechobee averages only 9 feet deep, but boasts more than 150,000 acres of productive vegetation that includes Kissimmee grass, bulrush, cattails, hydrilla, hyacinth and lily pads. RODMAN RESERVOIR TrophyCatch Stats: 348 (285 Lunker, 61 Trophy Clubs, 2 Hall of … Weed mats provide another warm-season option, so Schultz punches a heavily-weighted Yamamoto Fat Baby Craw (junebug or black/blue) through the hyacinth or hydrilla. Best Florida Lakes To Target Winter Trophy Bass If you wish to catch that once-in-a-lifetime trophy bass this winter, you need to visit one of Florida’s renowned bass fisheries. This allows bass to grow fast and increase survivorship. Lake Kissimmee has good soil. 2) Lakeland Lakes: While lots of large Florida lakes get notable publicity for giving up bass, it’s likely more lunker largemouths are caught by more people from small, virtually unknown waters. Noting that he’s chosen to live and work in Central Florida largely because of the quality fisheries, Mann said Kissimmee owes its consistency to a handful of distinct elements. The lake has multiple RV/camping sites and is home to Big Toho Marina. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The Florida largemouth bass is a larger species than the northern largemouth bass. There are also areas where fishing is prohibited. The Florida fishing experts rated lakes TrophyCatch Stats: 348 (285 Lunker, 61 Trophy Clubs, 2 Hall of Fames). The bass will hole up in inconsistent areas and are very lethargic when it comes to pursuing food. Florida’s Department of Environmental Regulation has recognized Windermere’s lakes as “Outstanding Florida Waters” for their high water quality and animal habitats.Isleworth, Lake Sheen, Lake Tibet, Pocket Lake, Wauseon Bay, and Little Fish Lake) and each has excellent freshwater fishing. Lake Tohopekaliga, Florida 4. Bass-friendly habitat includes expansive native grass communities (maidencane and knotgrass), lily pads, bulrush, cattail and hydrilla beds. While there is no minimum length for largemouth bass, other black bass species need to be longer than 12 inches in order to be kept.For striped bass, white bass and sunshine bass, the bag limit is 20, with no more than six being longer than 24 inches. Look at the Top 25 Best Bass Lakes of 2019 for the Central, Western, Southeastern and … This selection of bass fishing lures will cover just about anything that you’ll come across in Florida. Click here for more information about this Florida fish camp. Amazingly, he doesn’t have a lure sponsor. Frogs, walking bits, poppers, spinnerbaits and vibrating jigs also produce, but day in and day out, you can’t go wrong flipping/pitching vegetation with plastic crawfish or beaver style baits. The southernmost link in the Kissimmee Chain, Lake Kissimmee is a 34,948-acre lake located 40 miles south of Orlando and 18 miles east of Lake Wales. This may not happen quite the same in Florida as it does in other parts of the country, and you may still find bass in deeper water at this time of the year.However, for the most part, you can usually find bass in the shallower areas of lakes and rivers. I have fished with Justen for the last 5 years used other guides before him. While many bass will be hiding out in the deeper areas of lakes during this hot season, which can often stretch on for six months, a lot of Florida’s lakes are pretty shallow, which could make finding them a little easier. It’s best known for its largemouth, striped bass, and sunfish, and it has an average depth of approximately eight feet.. Get fishing updates, guides, tips, gear reviews and offers sent straight to your inbox! Of course, if you're looking for Large Mouth Bass, they've got you covered. With there being around 7,800 natural lakes, there are countless fishing opportunities across the state. Review of Fish Orlando Trophy Bass Guide Service. To date, Lake Kissimmee has produced 497 TrophyCatch fish — 409 Lunker Clubs, 87 Trophy Clubs, 1 Hall of Famer. When big rains returned in 2008, the new plant growth exploded. Great Bass-Fishing Lakes in Florida 1. Located to the west of Florida’s state capital Tallahassee is Lake Talquin, an 8,800-acre reservoir. “Because we have fertile soil, Lake Kissimmee produces a lot of food from zooplankton, insects to forage fish. It’s around an hour’s drive south of Kissimmee and the theme parks and there is boating access at Lake Kissimmee State Park (you can download  a park map here) on the western edge of the lake. The home of a few of the world’s greatest competitions (Bassmaster Elite Series, FLW Tour), Okeechobee is nearly 450,000 acres (730 square miles) of bass fishing paradise. Lake Okeechobee That three of the biggest bass tours in the U.S. will make 2012 stops on Lake Okeechobee says volumes... 2. With its miles of coastline, thousands of miles of rivers and thousands of lakes, Florida is known as the ‘fishing capital of the world’. Locating Florida bass -- Jay Yelas, 2002 Bassmaster Classic Champion, 2007 FLW Angler of the Year. During morning, or any low-light period, Gainesville’s Bassmaster Elite Series pro Bernie Schultz likes throwing topwaters like the Rapala X-Rap Prop or SkitterWalk around stumps and grass edges in Rodman’s main pool or near breaks in the barge canal. With hundreds of publicly-accessible lakes and river fisheries, the Sunshine State offers tremendous opportunities to stretch a line with big largemouth bass. Lake George Lake George continues to live up to its reputation as a “big fish” lake, with catch rates of .56 fish per... 3. 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