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Highlands Today

Best Time To Fish Is Now

FIRST QUARTER MOON TRIGGERS MAJOR FEEDING

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Dave Douglass

Published: July 9, 2008

The best Florida summertime fishing week of the month of July is here. The week of the First Quarter Moon phase triggers the major feeding migration of the day to occur during the hours of sunrise, an hour and a half before and after.

Today the start of the new migration happens at 5 a.m. and peaks at 7 a.m., and ends at 9 a.m. Thursday the timing remains unchanged but the intensity and duration of the feeding session increases.

Water temperatures start out in the upper 70s and reach the lower 80s by midmorning, which means the oxygenated areas of the lakes will be heavily populated with the entire lake's food chain actively feeding.

Since it might be safe to actually say this, "The 2008 rainy season is happening and our lakes are starting to refill" and get away with it being actually – accurate. I'll go one step further and put it in print and officially go on record – risking my good name and reputation. I'm not superstitious; however I would be lying if I said I wasn't apprehensive about making the prognostication – the ending of the 1 in 100 year drought is about to happen.

Only a Florida Bass angler living through a two-year drought which happened for the first time in history, would become insanely excited over two weeks of almost daily rainstorms. I haven't been this excited since I lived through four hurricanes in two months – although the type of excitement was not the same, (I'm thinking you're on the same page with me here – more than just literally).

Ok my vision has cleared, back to the forecast. The fishing for the next three days will be fantastic compared to the rest of the month.  The coolness of the Florida summer mornings, the lakes influents flowing and the level is rising, and fish return to the shoreline's new vegetation growth to feed – the shoreline angler's paradise is coming back.

Fishing Facts
The natural lake level's yearly lowering and rising is what causes the fantastic, second to none, fishing conditions. It allows the lake shoreline to produce new vegetative growth, while exposing silt to sunlight and final decomposition. As the lake returns to the normal high pool mark, aquatic life thrives on the replenished food source. It is this by-product caused by the climate's natural weather cycle, that makes Florida the "Fishing Capitol of the World."

Fishing Report
It's worth repeating. To catch bass in the Florida summertime the angler "Must" mimic the food source of the Florida Largemouth Bass, it is the only way to experience a hook-setting event.

The problem anglers are having is caused by the lack of reaction strikes they are able to instigate – overfed fish are too full to move fast and yawn at a fast moving, darting quickly type bait.

The amount of food bass eat each night is at its highest level right now, which means they are much less likely to fall for our trickery. This is why you see far less big bass being caught, it's as if they disappeared – really they're just way too stuffed to make an effort.

Every report sounds exactly the same, "We're catching lots of little ones and can't find anything worth talking about, no matter how hard we try."

My advice is to try the opposite approach. Mimic a food source, use little to no action – allowing the bait to sit for a minute, move it a foot at a time, and most of all, only do this in an area where you already caught small to medium sized bass many times before.

This type of method works because bass feed several times during the daytime for short periods, by staying in the feeding zone longer, the chances of being considered as "appetizing" increase, giving the angler his best odds for setting the hook.

Fishing News
Lake Istokpoga provides the best lake access of all the lakes in Highlands County. With its numerous boat ramps on all sides of the lake the anglers enjoy a convenience few lakes offer. Since gas prices are going through our car roofs, it's more economical to drive as close to the areas of the lake you intend to fish to put your boat in – well, that's if your boat motor eats more gas per mile than you tow vehicle. For me the choice is easy, 5 mpg compared to 17 mpg.

For those of you who need more exercise – which happens to be 85 percent of the anglers I see daily – and don't have a lot of gas money, try fishing from the shorelines of the lake closest to you.

Some of the largest fish I have seen or heard of being caught, have been from anglers taking advantage of the lower lake levels, and their knowledge of the lake's bottom, and casting from shore points or near deeper holes, previously inaccessible with normal lake levels. The Bass are corralled into very small areas with limited food sources – like shooting fish out of a barrel.

Fishing Tournaments
I have been asked many times, why I don't provide more tournament coverage in my articles. Many have implied that I don't do my job well. When I ask what "Job" they think I have, they look at me sideways and say, "Well, you're the Highlands Today fishing editor, aren't you?" My friends, herein lies the problem. The assumption here is a reasonable one, however it's entirely inaccurate. I am not an employee of Highlands Today, but instead a contracted outside writer who is paid to provide an article about fishing. I receive the same pay whether I take 20 hours, travel 50 miles, attend a tournament, and prepare and write my article as I do to sit at my computer and simply type out a review of my normal experiences of the past three days and offer some advice.

For this fact, I would ask the tournament directors to simply use my "contact information" at the end of this article, to provide me with the announcements and results of their events. I am more than happy to include your contributions, and I know the readers are happy to read them too.

Oh by the way, if there was a position at the Highlands Today for a "Fishing Editor", I would apply for the job and you could bet I would put some serious work out.

Wednesday Morning Black Bass Fishing Tournament is open to the public. Next Event: Today - July 9 on Lake Josephine. Time: 7:30 a.m. to noon. Pay at ramp - entry fee $30 per boat. One person may fish alone if you do not have a partner.

Next week the tournament will be held on Lake June.
For information, contact Paul Tardiff at (863)385-8007 Home, Cell (863) 446-1310 bassbutchie60@aol.com or Dwight Ameling at (863)471-3305

Dave Douglass is a Bass fishing guide and Bass tournament angler, CEO of S.O.S.-Florida Lakes, Inc. He can be reached at 863-381-8474 or e-mail him at davedouglass@sos-floridalakes.org. Visit his Web sites: reds-bass-fishing-guides.com and sos-floridalakes.org

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