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Highlands Today

Make Sure You're Out Just Before Safe-Light

Contributed photo

Esther Holloway holds a seven-pound bass she caught on shiners with Terry Dale, fishing Lake Istokpoga hydrilla.

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DAVE DOUGLASS

Highlands Today

Published: October 22, 2008

Today marks the beginning of a very good early-morning bite, which results from the last-quarter lunar influences that started Tuesday at 11:55 a.m.

On a scale from 1 to 10, today should at the very least reach a 6 or 7. Tomorrow this might drop slightly, and Friday through Sunday it will remain unchanged in duration and intensity.

The early-morning migration will occur today from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., and as usual, start about 40 minutes later each day and last a little longer due to the decreasing light of the moon each night.

Looking forward in the forecast, the new moon occurs in six days, which means this weekend should be excellent for all anglers. With the weather forecast projecting a low pressure system for Friday or Saturday, the bite might even pick up a day earlier than the lunar effects would normally trigger an aggressive feeding migration.

All things considered, every morning for the rest of this week should yield very good catches of all types of fish. So, be on the lake before safe-light to take full advantage of the classic Florida early morning bite Highlands County is famous for.

Fishing Facts

The last-quarter moon produces the best early morning fishing conditions of the month because of the diminishing moon light.

Each night fish must hunt longer, swim further, and expend more energy in order to eat enough food to remain healthy. The daytime angler reaps from this natural progression of darkness as opposed to light, while the nighttime angler must keep pace with the expanded migration routes the fish end up travelling to locate their prey.

Fishing Formula

The daytime angler should be on the lake by safe-light and at his established "hot spots" with two or three types of top-water baits ready to go: One for heavy vegetation - such as a floating frog with concealed hooks in order to work heavy cover without snagging. A second set-up using a top-water spinner or chatter blade that makes lots of noise in order to promote strikes along the outside edges of the vegetative area -- there is nothing like the strike that occurs when an eight-pound bass attacks a buzz-bait ripped by the outer point of a pencil reed patch.

And, a third rod featuring a plug, like a Zara Spook or Devil's Horse, that can sit in one spot for long periods of time and moved very slow - the largest bass in the lake take their time and need to be teased into striking, the bait must give the impression that it's barely alive.

Fishing Fiction

"Ninety percent of the fish are in 10 percent of the lake area."

I have heard this so many times that if I had a fish for each time, I'd double the total number if fish I've caught in my life, I could certainly fill my boat with fish.

This is a true saying only if the lake you are fishing has a bottom shaped like a bowl. Most lakes are not shaped this way and instead have many bowl type areas which are seldom connected.

So, really, each deeper area of the lake has 90 percent of the fish in that area in 10 percent of that particular water area. For instance, Lake Istokpoga has 10 to 12 deeper sections - some inter-connected and some not - that have fish in only 10 percent of that specific area, and a few roaming rogue females which pay attention to none of this stuff and do as they will.

Fishing Feature

Last week Terry Dale's wife, Patty, and two of her co-workers, Esther Holloway and Judy Fusco, wanted him to take them out for a day of fishing shiners on Lake Istokpoga. They wanted that trophy Florida Largemouth in a picture with their smiling faces, so Terry set out to oblige.

Terry called me for the latest fishing information and the best place to buy shiners. After he purchased shiners at Cypress Isle, he set out toward two of my favorite hydrilla areas on the south end of the lake.

It wasn't long after casting their shiners into the open areas along the outside edges of the thick weed that Esther Holloway landed a seven-pound bass. The ladies caught five large bass and lost three in just three and a half hours. Terry said the ladies had so much fun setting the hook that they thought catching bass was a lot easier than they had heard - once the fish had their fill though, the shiners took the rest of the day off.

Still, not a bad day at all.

Fishing Tournaments

The Wednesday Morning Black Bass Fishing Tournament is open to the public. Next event is today on Lake June. Time: 7:30 a.m. to noon. Pay at ramp - entry fee $30.00 per boat. One person may fish alone if you do not have a partner. 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 and 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.

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