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Highlands Today

Daylight offers best chance for bite

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By DAVE DOUGLASS

Highlands Today

Published: June 14, 2009

Tomorrow the last-quarter moon phase arrives at 10:15 p.m. and with it comes an increasing morning and evening bite.

This will work well with the lakes that have raised enough to cover the thick shoreline vegetation that grew and developed during the low-water period of the last two years. Fish will find more oxygen and therefore more food in healthy shoreline vegetation, especially in the early evenings.

There are two major feeding migrations will be happening over the next week.

The stronger of the two happens to be the evening migration which starts at 5:30 p.m. and peaks at 6 and ends around 8 p.m.

The 10-Scale Rating should reach 8 today and tomorrow, but decline each day after that. By midweek this bite period will need the weather conditions to be just right to make it "a good time on the water."

Remember that this time of year, the sunnier it is, or has been throughout the day, the better the fishing will be in healthy vegetative areas. The fish hold tight to cover for protection and to avail themselves of the plant's oxygen production.

The second major feeding migration of the day starts at 5 a.m., peaks from 6-7 a.m. and shuts down abruptly not long afterward. Once the sunlight becomes intense, the fish will suspend and move into cover or swim deeper if 15 or more feet of depth is available. The rating will reach an 8 today and increase to a 9 by midweek and if the weather happens to provide a moderate to heavy nighttime rain, it could reach a 10.

Nighttime bass fishing during the Florida summer is dismal at best as compared to the rest of the year. Water temperatures are in the lower to middle 80s all night long and oxygen levels drop significantly especially if the previous day was mostly cloudy.

By midweek the evening bite will gradually move into the nighttime hours but by midnight the rapid decline in dissolved oxygen will in essence, "pull the plug" on the fishes' energy to hunt for food sources and digest the prey they do find.

Fishing facts

With many of Central Florida's lakes on the rise due to the rainy season, expect fish to be harder to locate as they start moving into areas where vegetation has had a chance to advance over the past two years or more. It will seem as if al the fish in the lake disappeared, and to some degree, this is true unless you change your method of approach and perfect deep-water and/or deep-cover angling.

Fishing formula

Try using heavier weights than you usually use in order to penetrate the thicker vegetation the bass have moved into. If there is an area with four or five feet of depth and real thick vegetation, you can bet your fish is right in the middle of it.

If deep water is your preference - instead of being covered with bugs while you work with a heavy rod and braided line - Drop-Shots and Carolina-Rigs in fifteen to twenty feet of depth along underwater drops and grass-beds will produce very well. The lightest lines possible are the key here, and remember to set the reel-drag to a light setting - just heavy enough to accomplish a hook-set.

Fishing flash

Lake Istokpoga's level is at 38.15' above sea level and holding steady with just enough influent flow from Arbuckle Creek to offset weekly water releases to permitted water users and evaporation - which can amount to as much as six inches of level decrease per month if there was no influent or direct rain.

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 S.E. 27th Court, Okeechobee, FL 34974. Phone: 863-462-5190 (SunCom 761-5190), Fax: 863-462-5194 (SunCom 761-5194), Mobile: 863-697-6256, e-mail: steven.gornak@myfwc.com.

Tournament news - note changes

The Monday Morning Lake Jackson Black Bass Fishing Tournament is open to the public and launches every Monday morning at 8 a.m. with weigh-in at 1 p.m. Entry fee is $10 per boat with a "winner-take-all" payout. One person or two per boat, three legal (more than 14 inches) bass per boat, and one bass over 22 inches per angler. For information, call Paul Tardiff at 863-385-8007 (home) or 863-273-4062 (cell).

Dave Douglass is a bass fishing guide and secretary of the Florida Freshwater Fishing Coalition - FLFFC.org. He can be reached at 863-381-8474, HighlandsBassAngler.com, or e-mail him at davidpdouglass@hotmail.com.

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