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Highlands Today

Tournament Bass Moving To Nearest Cover To Recuperate

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 8, 2009

The full moon occurs Monday at 2:50 p.m., which is good news for daytime anglers because this means the nighttime effect of producing light is minimized greatly.

Adding to this good news is the fact that water temperatures are well below the winter norm, which when combined with the lack of full-moon light means fish will not feed heavily as they normally would during this moon cycle.

The early-morning bite, midday bite, and late-afternoon bite, all reach a rating of seven on the 1-10 scale. The nighttime bite falls to a four at best and most likely lower because of extremely low water temperatures, as I already said.

There will be three peak periods today, 7 a.m., noon, and 5 p.m. being the best of the three. All three peak migrations will start about 30 minutes later each day. The morning peak will increase in duration and intensity and the afternoon peak migrations will decrease in duration and intensity each day.

The weather forecast predicts winds out of the east at 10-20 mph for today and tomorrow, but decreasing to a state of mild and variable by Tuesday which will be the best day to be out on the lake.

By Tuesday and Wednesday the winds will dissipate and the water temperatures rise to create ideal conditions for optimum feeding for all fish. This is also the time that tournament bass which were caught and released today and Saturday, heal enough to start feeding actively again.

Fishing Facts

Non-tournament bass anglers have the best success from Wednesday through Friday this time of year when so many bass tournaments happen during the weekends.
Bass anglers can expect to locate released tournament-bass along vegetative cover near boat ramps used by the various tournaments. Tournament bass move into the nearest cover in order to recuperate for a few days and eventually migrate out to deeper water. This weekly process in effect stocks these parts of the lake with bass repeatedly throughout the tournament season.

Fishing Formula

This time of year, bass anglers should be prepared to use three different rigs in order to present bait at the right speed, action, and depth, which fish will be responding to as conditions change throughout the day. Early mornings require slower retrieve speeds and action.

Jerkbaits and crankbaits worked along the outside edges of shoreline structure and cover should be used to see if there is bass moving in and out in search of baitfish. Texas-rigged plastics should be used to work the inside areas of the vegetation, selecting the correct weights in order to penetrate the various densities of that cover. Topwater rigs and baits can also entice bass to strike if the correct speed is used in accordance with the water temperatures - very slow for low temperatures and fast for higher temperatures. In both cases, be sure to pause your bait at the edges of cover to give bass time to consider the possibility of an easy meal.

Fishing Fiction

"Larger bass are harder to catch than smaller bass."

This is not true but happens to appear to be true because anglers fail to learn that both sized bass respond to different retrieve speeds, action, and sustained depth bait presentations. The fact is, larger bass are lazy and will not chase down bait that is not placed within easy reach. Learning this for each specific area of the lake takes time and multiple experiments; combining just the right line, weight, color, and bait type, to keep the bait within the strike-zone of the larger bass. The bottom line is, if you put it front of them, they'll eat it, no matter what the size is.

Fishing Flash

Lake Istokpoga currently is at a level of 39.25 feet above seal level (ASL), which is three inches below the maximum high level allowed by South Florida Water Management District, (SFWMD). This maximum high is scheduled to be lowered starting on April 1 when it will begin a two-month gradual drop to a maximum level of 37.5 feet ASL for the hurricane season.

Due to the abnormally dry winter we have experienced so far, it has been necessary for SFWMD to release some water to the farmers south of the lake. The good news for Istokpoga lake users is that unlike the last three years, Lake Okeechobee is well above the minimum level of 10 feet ASL that the pumps which provide water to the farmers needs to operate.

Currently Okeechobee is at 13.25 feet ASL and normally drops about six inches per month due to water usage by agriculture and evaporation. At this rate there should be plenty of water available until the rainy season starts - if it starts and provides at the very least a normal amount of rainfall. If not, by July the pumps will run dry again, and Istokpoga would then, by default, be the only water source available.

I hate to say it, but the drought of the past three years is still not over and there are no guarantees that it will end this year. At the very least, we need an above average rainy season to make up for this present dry winter season. It will take an exceptionally wet rainy season, well above the average, to bring our lakes back up to their normal levels.

Many of Highlands County's lakes are about three feet below their normal levels and dropping steadily due to the evaporation rate which is low during the winter months and doubles once summer starts.

Fishing Tournaments

The Outback USA Crappie Tournament is open to the public and will be held monthly.

The second event will be Feb. 20 and 21. Entry fee is $5 and anglers can fish any lake of their choice and weigh-in on any day at Outback USA at 14021 US-27 South.

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