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Went to the Hillsborough River with my dad, uncle, and a good friend this morning. I really didn't expect too much with the water being colder but I have never been more wrong in my life. We put in at 7am and was out by 1:30pm, during this time we caught about 100 bass between the four of us. I caught about 40-50 myself. Pretty much all of the fish were small 1lb-2lb bass, but a few went 3-4lbs. I've never caught bass like this before. It was funny watching my friend get used to his kayak though. He spent some time in the trees trying to paddle and fish. But he finally got the hang of it about half way through. Well, on to the pics...




Me and my friend, it was a little cold this morning.


My uncle


My friend with the biggest fish of the day.


My dad and his whopper fish




Me and a decent sized fish.

Nice. I have not caught a bass in years. but the last one was a monster. 7lbs i think and about 20"??? maybe. ill have to check the plaque my grandfather had made up for me.

Pretty place, where to do you launch?

Nice report. Thanks for sharing.

Todd wrote:Pretty place, where to do you launch?

This was at Trout Creek off of Fletcher.

Thanks Catfish. I have been wanting to get out and fish some fresh water, I know little about it though. How does the winter cold temps affect bass fishing? I have access to a private lake in N. Tampa that has some big bass in it, I personally saw a 6 lber caught on a damn hot dog, but know little about bass fishing and their patterns.

Bass tend to slow down in the winter and therefore won’t spend much energy chasing food. Your presentation needs to slow down to allow the fish time to bite. Rubber worms and jigs fished around structure or a spinner bait slowly reeled in works well. Bass become more active when the water warms up and you can fish faster (this is when I like to use top water baits). Just about anything that you would use for redfish will work for bass.

Sunday we all used a Zoom Finesse Worm rigged weightless on a 2/0 wide gap hook. I fished mine slow which seemed to produce the most. I would throw it out and let it sink and then give it a small twitch and let it sink. If nothing happened after a couple of twitches, I would reel it in and move on.

For the lake you have access to, I would focus on structure around the edges like trees, cattails, and brush with a worm or jig. If there isn’t much around the edges then find any humps or drop offs and fish those with the same or a spinner bait.

I personally am a rubber worm guy and will fish that just about the whole time anywhere I go. If you want to head out one day let me know. I’m sure I can put you on fish at Trout Creek, they may not be very big, but there are plenty. In fact, my uncle went back today with his son and I got a text saying they are still biting.


Eric

Nice.... I do miss Bass fishing as well as Crappie,Titty Brim, Shellcracker....ect ect.......

Where I learned to fish.

I live 10 minutes from both Sgt's Park and the Temple Terrace boat ramp on Fowler. I go fishing there after work when I need a break. Fresh water fishing brings back memorys of fishing with my Dad on the St Johns River!

Hey that's my brother in laws old kayak. I recognize the team reaper logo we designed it. Hope it treats u well. Nice fish.

catfish308 wrote:Bass tend to slow down in the winter and therefore won’t spend much energy chasing food. Your presentation needs to slow down to allow the fish time to bite.

That is pretty much true with all fish, they are cold blooded after all. Usually a smaller presentation or bait will help too.

Hey that's my brother in laws old kayak. I recognize the team reaper logo we designed it. Hope it treats u well. Nice fish.

My friend really likes it. I took it for a paddle and have to say I like it a lot better than my Scrambler. I don't have to paddle all the time just to keep moving.

That is pretty much true with all fish, they are cold blooded after all. Usually a smaller presentation or bait will help too.

Yep, a smaller bait will definitely help this time of year. Specs are the only fish I can think of right now that become more active with the cold since this is when they school up and spawn. Too bad my favorite spec lake got drained