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Highlands Today

Practice Slow Retrieves Using Long Pauses

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 2, 2009

Hopefully you experienced a great Christmas, had the weekend off and did a little fishing on your favorite Highlands County lakes.

I found my biggest bass in very thick vegetative cover on Lake Istokpoga, getting ready to spawn. She weighed five pounds at best, full of eggs but without signs of a worn tail or stomach from maintaining her bed and a male didn't strike my intruding bait first - two sure signs she wasn't on bed yet.

The middle of the week forecast stating today is a great one starting with the fact that the affects of the recent new moon still are present and should be apparent during the middle afternoons and very early mornings.

The best hours of the day for daytime anglers to be out on the lake are from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. when the normal nighttime feeding ends and from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. when the sporadic non-developed daytime light feeding period occurs and ends quickly. I'd be surprised if anyone caught more than one fish in 30 minutes during this three hour window of opportunity - if you can really call it that.

For nighttime anglers, your best hours are from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. and this should gradually increase in duration and intensity as the first-quarter moon gradually develops and arrives on Jan 4 at 11:56 a.m. Each day this feeding migration period starts about 40 minutes later and by the Sunday becomes the daytime angler's best early morning bite period of the month.
Water temperatures are in the upper 60s in the morning and reach the low 70s by mid-afternoon. Winds were forecasted to be light and variable today and pick up slightly to 10-15 miles per hour out of the west northwest on New Years Day. This translates into anglers being able to fish all parts of the lake, and see bass spawning beds more noticeably.

Fishing Facts

During the winter season, new moons occur near the same time as the apogee of the moon cycle instead of the perigee, as it does during the summer season. Currently the full moon occurs on or around the day of the Perigee of the moon cycle and is the most influential period of the 28-day lunar cycle.

Fishing Formula

The key to my success over the past few days can be summed up in five words, "Slow retrieves using long pauses."

When I say "slow and pause" I'm talking about practically forgetting to crank the reel, and even laying the rod down in a free-spool state to work another rod. Such was the case for me this past week when I had my foot on one rod handle which I set down in order to set the hook on a "hit" on the second rod, only to have a four-pound bass grab the dormant worm on the first rod at the same time. Now that's the kind of "slow action" I like to get out on the lake for, how about you?

It shouldn't matter much what type of bait you use, just as long as the fish can distinguish it easily from everything else in their aquatic world - bait contrast is the name of the game.

Next, use the slowest retrieve possible combined with very long pauses of up to one or two minutes. At times, after a long pause, just lift the rod tip in order to make the line taunt, and gently shake it, causing the bait to wiggle on the lake bottom. Power fishing is definitely not producing, such is the conclusion of many tournament anglers I spoke with during the last week.

Fishing Fiction

"Certain wind directions shut down fish."

I have heard many anglers say things like, "Wind out of the south, you've gotta hit'em in the mouth." While this might be true during the heat of the summer season because there is a heat wave approaching from the south, in the winter months this has the opposite affect.

Fish feed when the water temperatures rise and the wind picks up in anticipation of a cold front that follows. This is the seasonal cycle they are used to and anglers should understand this and adjust accordingly. So this time of year that old saying is, false.

Fishing Feature

Last Sunday I had the privilege of fishing with Bob Domako who has fished all over God's green earth, both saltwater and freshwater but with a real zeal for saltwater angling. He's been on Lake Istokpoga many times over the years and landed his biggest Bass there at 13.8 pounds a few years ago. Since then he's landed many bass over 10 pounds, working with several local guides on lake throughout Highlands County.

Bob says, "Fishing on Lake Istokpoga is good, but no where near as good as it was back in the middle 90s from 1995-98."

He added, "That was back when Hydrilla was everywhere and all you had were lanes cut into areas so you could get in there to fish, and the ten pounders were everywhere, it was nothing to boat two 10-pounders a trip in those days."

Well, needless to say - because there is no photo of Bob holding a pair of 10-pounders with this article - we didn't boat anything larger than a heavy four pound Bass and one weighing three, and five between two and three pounds. Although near the end of the day we did happen to locate a bass large enough to bend my saltwater-blank G-Loomis flipping stick a few feet as it grabbed my bait and pulled for three seconds before ripping the hook out of the corner of its mouth, leaving me with a pile of hydrilla on my hook.

I've had many a bass well over 10 pounds on my line and this felt no different, and this was not the first time the hookset was not in a solid area of the mouth and tore free during the battle. Bob said, "That's the thing about hydrilla, you lose them like that."

All in all we had a few other strikes of what we determined were middle-sized bass - four to six pounds - that we did not get a good hookset on, but they did serve as inspiration to continue on in pursuit of the ever elusive fourteen-plus-pound trophy bass, which both of us had come close to achieving during out time on Highlands County's Lake Istokpoga.

Your Lake Manager's Contact Information:

Clell Ford Lakes Management Specialist - Highlands County, 4434 George Blvd, Sebring, Florida 33875. Phone 863-402-6545, e-mail Cford@hcbcc.org.

Vicki Pontius Parks and Recreation Director - Highlands County, 4344 George Blvd. Sebring, Florida 33875. Phone 863-402-6812, e-mail VPONTIUS@hcbcc.org.

Steven Gornak, Biological Scientist IV, Aquatic Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Sub-Section, Division of Habitat and Species Conservation, 3991 SE 27th Court, Okeechobee, FL 34974. Phone 863-462-5190 (SunCom 761-5190), Fax 863-462-5194 (SunCom 761-5194), Cell 863-697-6256, e-mail steven.gornak@myfwc.com.

Fishing Tournaments

Monday Morning Lake Jackson Black Bass Fishing Tournament is open to the public and launches every Monday morning at 8 a.m. and weigh-in at 1 p.m. Entry fee is $10 per boat with a "winner takes all" payout. One person or two per boat, three legal (over 14 inch) Bass per boat, and one Bass over 22 inches per angler. Tournament director is Paul Tardiff, his contact info is the same as the Wednesday tournament below.

The Wednesday Morning Black Bass Fishing Tournament is open to the public. Next event is Jan. 7 on Crooked Lake. 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) or 863-446-1310 (cell), email bassbutchie60@aol.com or call 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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