Nighttime Fishing At Its Best

The prospects for fishing over the next four days are below average to say the least.

With the full moon occurring tonight at 1:16 a.m., the best bite period of the day is between safelight and 10 a.m.

The chances of hooking into a monster Florida largemouth bass, however, are slim because they feed all night long in the light of the moon.

For those of you who are nighttime fishermen, well, you have the best time of the month for catching your largest stringers.

Be out on the lake at 10 p.m., chart your course from one side of the hole to the other, and get ready for four hours of Florida nighttime fishing at its best. The chances of setting the hook on an early giant finned Christmas gift are excellent.

The barometric pressure projections for the next four days - if accurate - indicate Christmas morning as the best feeding migration; however, this changes with the wind - literally.

Fishing Facts

The best bait colors for clear skies and clear water are the colors of Christmas, and don't forget to use those bright reds, greens, and blues, with lots of silver or gold tinsel colors to create flash.

If skies are overcast, and the water is cloudy or stained, keep the tinsel, but add some coal to those color combinations. Sometimes the baddest bass in the lake insists on the coal - it knows it hasn't been nice - so don't insult her and throw her a big black and blue Yum Dinger with a 3/8th oz. silver weight.

Fishing Report

After talking with all my deep-water angler friends, it's clear that using a Carolina rig with plastic worms on a 16- to 20-inch leader in eight- to 15-foot depths works best. Everyone reported catching their limit at least twice, if not more in a six- to eight-hour period.

Using sonar to locate vegetation and lake bottom transitional structures, they set out markers about 100 yards apart and drifted or trolled very slowly dragging and pausing often. When the bait sat motionless, the bass would suck them in.

Istokpoga conditions remain the same with one change - the Hydrilla growth has slowed down significantly. Look for the areas where the weed appears like a fresh-cut Christmas Tree, which appears bright, vibrant green. The best areas are where the evasive thick weed is healthiest and still a foot or two below the surface.

Now, factor in the lake-bottom changes in elevation and wind affects, and if factored correctly, a large bass will be challenging your rod and tackle combination to the maximum as it pulls through vegetation to safety.

Other News

Lake levels are going to decline steadily - barring abnormal winter weather of more than three inches of rain a month - over the next five months.

Many of the lake's access ramps are already hard to use and require great care, using trolling motors to access deeper water. A four-wheel or all-wheel drive vehicle is required to pull the boat from the lakes where the ramps don't extend far enough and the trailer wheels sink into the sandy lake bottom.

The good news about this is, the fish have less lake to hide in, and once the angler locates the area they have been forced to reside in, many great days of fishing lie ahead.

The angler also should use this situation to learn the lake bottom better, so when the rains to return, they have a more perfect understanding of the routes the fish will use to get to shoreline areas.

Dave Douglass is a bass fishing guide and teacher, bass tournament fisherman and also an officer of SOS-Florida Lakes, Inc. You can reach him at 863-381-8474, e-mail davedouglass@sos-floridalakes.org or visit reds-bass-fishing-guides.com and sos-floridalakes.org.