ARCHIVE NEWS & REPORTS

Well this has been one wild and crazy winter so far from early November up until now.  And looking at the Farmer’s Almanac along with multiple weather sites they are calling for cooler temps (low to mid 70’s) this month instead of the back-and-forth 80’s to 60’s.  If it means less drastic swings in temperatures and just a steady ride I’m actually happy with that. The fish can stabilize and they will be less traumatized by harsh fronts. That being said we have to be prepared for anything “funny” Ma Nature wants to throw our way just for giggles, so let’s go fishing.

Let’s start with the Winter Haven South Chain and smaller stand alone lakes.  These are ideal bodies of water to fish when Ole’ Girl has gone off the deep end and forgotten that we live down here in Florida for a reason, especially in the winter.  There are many deep spring fed lakes with deeper vegetation which have thermoclines that the fish and baitfish can use as protection when the air temps drop 10-20 degrees in a short period with the wind howling at 15-30mph out of the N/ NE.

This is when patience and persistence pay-off.  It’s called slow yourself down, then go even slower.  As for artificial baits, speed worms excel, along with belly weighted flukes, smaller swim baits, and sometimes it calls for a dead-sticked senko.  When fishing shiners, I’m partial to dragging them slowly along the grass but always look around to see what the lake it telling you.

Fishing out of Camp Mack on the Kissimmee Chain, it’s going to be a methodical approach taking wind and lake temps into consideration.  There are going to be a lot of confused fish wanting to move up to spawn and if the fronts keep coming through a lot of these fish may stay out in the staging areas.  I can’t give you a magic bullet on this one as the weather is one huge unknown and these lakes have a ton of shallow acreage to them.  Look for birds and baitfish around grass points, pads, and bulrush heads that have a drop or deeper water access nearby.  Slowly worked speed worms, flukes, and vibe worms are always hard to beat.  And take a swim jig or two along for luck and don't’ be afraid to crawl them over “deeper” grass and hydrilla.  If we get a couple of steady weather days out here, grab the Gambler EZ Swimmers and head for the outside hydrilla and pads and slow-roll that puppy along the surface and let it drop into any holes you see, then hang on for the ride!

Capt. Scotty Taylor

855-FL-GUIDE (855-354-8433) or TMCGuideService.com

Senior Pro Guide at Camp Mack, a Guy Harvey Lodge, Marina & RV Resort - GuyHarveyCampMack.com

Official Partner & Guide for VisitCentralFlorida.org

#OrlandoBassFishingGuide #WinterHavenBassFishingGuide #RussMattBaseball #CampMackBassFishingGuide #FloridaBassFishingGuide #CentralFlorida #KissimmeeBassFishingGuide #IFishFlorida #LakeWalesBassFishing #FloridaBassFishing #FishingGuide #Florida #FloridaFishingCharters #DetroitTigersSpringTraining #Lakeland

First off I’d like to say Happy New Year from our family to yours.  Paula and I had a “different” Christmas in our new remodel project old home that we are putting every extra blood, sweat, tear, and penny into in between every fishing trip, but we escaped to the beach for a couple days at New Year’s. Gotta keep Mama happy or else ain’t nobody happy!

 I’m really hoping that the world-class bass fishing we have here in Central Florida keeps rolling like it did for the majority of December despite the crazy cold fronts we kept having earlier in the month. January is supposed to be warmer and a bit more stable (but always watch that 3rd week when Ma Nature likes to slap us around) which should bode well for our days on the water.

With all that let’s go for a ride out of Guy Harvey Outpost’s Camp Mack on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes. This is the time of year I really like being on the big lakes because there are so many options for styles of fishing. I always love fishing the shallow flats around points and creek channels with topwaters but every once and a while we might go into some back corners and bays and just push thru the jungle with Gambler EZ Swimmers and frogs.  There’s a huge rush when Big Mama launches out of the pads or grass with your bait while you are staring into the freshly cresting sunrise over the trees and you do your very best to wait to feel the weight of the fish before you set the hook.

 I expect to be able to keep it simple with baits: besides the afore mentioned baits I’ll be rigged with a topwater “walker” or stickbait, a rattle trap or shallow crankbait, swimjigs & chatterbaits, senkos & a ribbontail worm, and a creature/craw jig for flipping.

 Moving back west to Winter Haven it’s going to be a great time to be on the water. These are lakes I really like for family trips because we can typically get the kids into the game as soon as the trolling motor drops down. I have a lot of repeat clients that want to fish in “Olde World Florida” out of Camp Mack for a day or two but they will always make sure to book a date in Winter Haven. The deeper spring-fed lakes with vegetation that can work out to 20+ feet of water make these lakes unique in their own ways. At first glance people are like “You caught that big bass on a deep diving crankbait in Florida?!” and I smile and say “Yes sir (or ma’am).” Always have an assortment of swimbaits, swimjigs, flukes, and senkos available also and you’ll have a good time.

 Capt. Scott Taylor’s Central Florida Bass Fishing Guide

#KissimmeeBassFishingGuide #CampMackBassFishingGuide #CampMack #BassFishing #BassFishingGuide #WinterHavenBassFishingGuide #FloridaBassFishingGuide #LakeToho #DisneyBassFishing #LakeWalesBassFishing #OrlandoBassFishing #LEGOLANDFlorida #BalmoralResort #SandyDunes #LakelandBassFishing

First we’d like to welcome back a lot of the snowbirds as December seems to be the main push south for many, and with such a cold November up north I’m sure this is a nice change.  It’s going to be interesting to see just how Ma Nature treats us this month as The Old Farmer’s Almanac is forecasting a “warmer” month on average than last year but with more temperature changes and swings.  Fortunately, we have many options if we do have drastic changes in the weather, the Kissimmee Chain can get dicey but there are lots of deeper lakes in Winter Haven to keep the action going.

Starting out on the Kissimmee Chain fishing out of Camp Mack I’m expecting a very fun month with the cooler temps moving the bigger fish up onto the flats and closer to their spawning areas.  When the temps are stable I’m going to make sure to have some bigger topwater baits like Spooks and a Devil’s Horse to imitate the bigger wild shiners that a lot of these fish will be feeding up on.  It’s not unusual for the topwater bite to carry a little later into the day this time of year.  Make sure to have your Gambler EZ Swimmers, spinnerbaits, and swimjigs at the ready also.  And never leave home without some black & blue senkos and bigger ribbon-tail worms.  This is typically when the Zoom Speed Worm bite starts to pick-up as well.

Over in Winter Haven on the South Chain and several of the stand alone lakes we’ll be looking for fish moving up into the intermediate to shallow grass lines.  One of the bonuses to these smaller lakes is that it is easier to fish in higher winds and colder temps because many sit down below the houses and hills.  Knowing where you can find the grass flats that extend from 3ft out to 14-15ft with deeper water nearby is key, especially if we get hit with a harsh quick cold front.  When the fish put the feedbag on you can throw pretty much anything you wish but always have the basics on hand to give yourself the best chance for success.  Jerkbaits, flukes, senkos, and Gambler Little EZ Swimmers are all mainstays in natural colors as many of these lakes are spring-fed with clear water and higher visibility.  Keeping an eye on your electronics is important when fishing here, not so much for marking fish as for finding bait.  You find the bait and the bass will be close by.

#orlandobassfishing #campmackbassfishingguide #lakewalesbassfishing #winterhavenbassfishing #legolandflorida #balmoralresort #visitflorida #visitcentralflorida #floridabassfishingguide #floridabassfishingreport