ARCHIVE NEWS & REPORTS

First off I’d like to say Happy New Year from our family to yours!

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 November. 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.

I want to offer a word of cautions heading out to the lower Kissimmee Chain: as of this writing they are still dredging the canal entrance from Cypress up to Toho so lake levels down here are very LOW, please use caution. 

With all that said, 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 Service

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Mr. Martin from The Villages with yet another trophy bass caught in Winter Haven on the South Chain! I've lost caught of how many big bass he has caught over the years on his monthly trips down here...

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Welcome to December in Florida where the weather changes and we have all four seasons from 0500 til 1700 each day, that would be from 5AM - 5PM for all the civies out there.

According to the Farmer’s Almanac December will be milder to warm with but not as mush rain but we’ll see what happens.

These are not necessarily bad things if we know how to approach these conditions, if that forecast holds true. So, let’s figure out what will be happening this month with the bass fishing in both Winter Haven and over on the Kissimmee Chain.

In Winter Haven on the South Chain and many of the other lakes around town cooler evenings have brought the lake temps down which will mean we will start seeing the bass transition to the shallower grass lines. Keep in mind, if a big cold front crashes on us quickly, those fish will retreat and find warmer water until things stabilize again.

It’s hard to give you a concrete answer on what’s going to come about of course, but I’m going to have jerkbaits, swimjigs, and swimbaits tied-on at all times if the Almanac is correct. For me and my guests, we can work them at a variety of depth ranges and speeds, and have several colors from the natural “watermelons”, maybe something black & blue, to whatever your favorite color may be.

Over on Lake Kissimmee and the Chain, the “stable” temps will be very welcome, and the rain even more so. As of mid-November, the lakes were at extremely low water levels and caution is advised for those who have not fished here before, or been gone for the summer. There is a deriving project between Cypress and the Toho canal that boats are not able to head north and lock through right now.

I’m not going to be sitting in one spot for very long if the forecast holds true. I’m going to be on the move checking everything from the “deep water” shell beds, to the outside grasslines with - again - “deeper” water adjacent, to the thicker hydrilla mats until we know what Mother Nature is really going to throw at us.

Capt. Scotty Taylor

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Oh how I love late fall here in Florida when you can tell the seasons are changing by the different colors of the license plate. Yep, it’s an old joke and I use it every year but hey, some things never change. With that being said I’d like to point out that the Visit Central Florida Outpost & Visitor’s Information Center in Davenport on Hwy 27 just 1/2 mile south of I4 has all of the new and up-to-date information on everything to do here in Polk County along with attraction tickets to most every park. And they can recommend the best way to get out on the water too!

So to start with our World Class bass fishing out of Camp Mack on the Kissimmee Chain I expect it to be very good this month with the cooler weather as the Old Farmer’s Almanac is forecasting. I’m not really fond of the drier part of the forecast, I prefer a little rain to keep the lakes at a higher pool level while still having current with the locks open. Slightly cooler days & nights may not sound like much but on these big wide-open shallow lakes it can bring the water temps down and the big fish up onto the flats. I will still be starting every morning with a variety of topwater baits just as the sun is starting to roll over the tree lines, along with Gambler EZ Swimmers or Chatterbaits if out in open water. Honestly, the fish are going to tell us quickly whether they are roaming the open flats or up in the pads, grass, and reed heads. Always watch and listen to what is going on around you out here. The rest of the day is always a combo of black & blue senkos while still working the Gambler EZ Swimmers along with swim-jigs, and bigger ribbontail or mag trick worms.

Heading west over to Winter Haven and the South Chain of Lakes the weather is not going to change our approaches as much as it could on Kissimmee. Many of these lakes are deeper, some sit lower in a bowl, and they are spring fed so they do not change as quickly as the bigger lakes. Here we generally use smaller baits also because shad are the predominant bait. Smaller baits in natural colors will serve you very well, and when the water is extremely clear you may need to downsize your line as well. Watermelon red/pearl, whites, chrome, green pumpkin colors all work and pair them up with 10-14# fluoro or even mono.

Capt. Scotty Taylor

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

Capt. Scott is the Official Guide for VisitCentralFlorida.org, and is the Senior Pro Guide at Camp Mack, a Guy Harvey Marina, Lodge, and RV Resort on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes in Lake Wales, FL

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