Wisconsin Bass Fishing

December has seen some great bass fishing action on Johns Lake, Butler Chain and the private waters we have been fishing.
Private waters have mainly been for crappie fishing the past month, and it has been producing some very nice slabs. Bait we have been using have been the SteelShad and jigs tipped with crappie nibbles.
Most trips have been 4 hour trips with us boating between 20 and 30 per trip and they have been running from 1 ½ pounds to 2 pound slabs!
Johns Lake we have spotted bass beds all over the place! Its that time of year for the big gals to show their faces and make clients very happy, as was the case with a father and son trip of Bruce and young Dave. Bruce had been tossing Gitem Warlocks and getting bass here and there, very scattered around the lake and towards the end of the trip, young Dave working a wild shiner got the wake up call of a lifetime! A beautiful and very solid 10.14 pound largemouth bass, let me tell you, this youngster handled this hawg of a bass like a pro! Our main areas of concentration on Johns Lake has been scattered and isolated grass patches, docks and a few areas of open water holding some good hydrilla.
Butler Chain has also had some good action going on, Bass beds have been spotted all over the chain. Altho the beds we have spotted have been for the most part empty right now, we have caught some very good bass in the general areas that the beds are. Areas we have concentrated on have been grass beds very close to drop offs, as the bass have been staging to hit the beds. Butler itself has been the main producer for numbers and size with several 6 pounders being caught on anything from steelshad, gitem warlocks and spinner baits.
Please remember to catch and release, and this time of year, be especially gentle with the big gals, afterall they are what make fishing in florida awesome!
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Things have been very crazy to say the least. We have had several trips to Johns Lake, Butler Chain, Conway Chain and a private lake.
Johns Lake has seen some good action, with early morning action coming from the Deer Island cut area working SteelShads and trick worms. Once the action slows in this area, we have been going into the marsh area working trick worms and brush hogs, all junebug colors, which have been producing some quality bass. Most of the action has been coming in open waters, with the baits being crawled slowly across bottom around grass beds and hydrilla. Main lake areas that have been producing for us have been the scattered isolated grass beds, once again, a single blade of grass produces a good catch. Jigs and whacky rigged senko type baits also have been producing around docks and submerged structure.
Butler Chain has also been pretty steady for us. Drop offs have been a major focus for us, tossing trick worms, craws and brush hogs into 16 plus foot of water, and slowly crawling the baits up into the shallower waters has been the ticket, most bass we have seen and caught have been suspended in 12 foot of water on the drop offs. Lake Butler and Little Lake Down have been the best producers for us, with Lake Tibet and Lake Louise also producing some good numbers.
Conway Chain faired pretty well, with once again deep waters being the big key to catching bass. Offshore weed beds were holding bass with rattle traps, steel shads and 7 inch worms catching the bulk of the bass. Several docks held some quality bass, with a whacky rig doing all the catching, as the bass would hit on the fall. Bite was light, so watching the line was big key to getting them out from under the docks.
The private lake we have been fishing on occasion has been producing very well. This body of water has seen some limited shallow water action, sitting in the middle of the lakes has been really producing some good numbers of not only bass but some 2 pound crappie. Steel shads have been the main bait for catching bass out there, and if worked like slow rolling a spinner bait, the crappie will slam this bait. Best crappie fishing action has been from 6:30am up to about 8am, then they just seem to shut down only getting a few here and there, very scattered, but you can usually get the limit by 8am. Best fishing waters have been in 12 to 18 foot of water, with bass mostly suspended in 8 to 10 foot of water, go deeper and you can catch some very big catch fish here also.
When we have gotten a good shallow water bite going, it has been mostly on brush hogs and trick worms crawled very slowly on the bottom. Water temperatures have been holding pretty steady in the low to mid 60's with schooling action going on most of the day as the bass are really starting to feed up good for the spawn. We have been seeing some scattered beds on Johns Lake, Butler Chain and the private waters so get ready for yet another great spawning season.
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The first half of October has already seen some very good bass fishing action with some good catches. Most of our time has been spent on Butler Chain this month along with some scouting of other local lakes. For the most part bass have been tighter to cover on Butler Chain. We have caught a lot of bass working grass beds and docks with some bass coming from submerged structure in deeper waters.
One bait that has once again become hot for us has been the Steel Shad. This bait has once again become a bass catching machine. This bait we have been working more around waters with deep drop offs and we have been catching the bass that are cruising back and forth from deep holes to shallow waters chasing bait fish. The Steel Shad has been a perfect match when it comes to the bait fish in size and color, with the silver one really catching some good numbers.
There has been scattered schooling action out on several lakes on Butler Chain, with Lake Tibet and Lake Sheen being the top producers for us, with Steel Shads and 1 ounce spinner baits catching quality and numbers from these schools.
Spent a few day out on a private body of water with Franky V and Eric, the guys fished half a day in the morning and we broke for lunch and returned to fish until 7pm. Open water areas had seen schooling action pretty much all day long with steel shad catching some good numbers. Franky was slow rolling a spinner bait over a brush pile and managed a few good keepers off of it. Shoreline and dock areas had seen some slower action, but a few good bass fell to the old trick worm. Water temperatures and air temperatures have finally come down to very comfortable levels, and this has triggered some very good bass fishing action and finally some good top water action. Average catches have been running between 20 and 30 bass a day now, with artificial baits doing most of the catching.
The last half of October has seen steadty fishing action. Schooling action has picked up greatly and given us a pretty good early morning top water action. Once the top water action has died off for the day, spinner baits and rattle traps have kept the action going during the day.
In my spare time after trips, I have started pouring my own soft plastics, and they have been producing not only good numbers, but some size as well, so look for my new store front on the web site, should be launched by January 1st.
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The month of September has seen some good bass fishing action, as well as some tough action. For the most part, the action has been pretty steady. Shiner bite has actually been very slow, but the artificial bite has been good. Johns Lake has been a good early morning bite using spinner baits and trick worms. Deer Island cut has produced some descent numbers, but the size has not been to my liking.

We did make a venture out to Lake Rosalie, one to check water levels after the tropical storm, and to alo see how the bite was doing out there. We started the day out with Rich tossing some shiners around, and not surprised, there was no action on the in the first hour, so we switched Rich to some trick worms.
There was scattered success working grass lines catching one here one there kinda deal as we kept moving around. Working cuts where we spotted flowing water was the big key here, getting into the creek was a huge key. Bass were holding tight on the backside of the flow and hammering the trick worms, and brush hogs. Two areas in the creek there were trees blocking us, but with a little maneuvering, we made it over them and kept on catching bass. Lake did ok for us, catching 4 bass, but the creek was the place, as we boated 10 more bass there.

Butler Chain water levels are great, and the bass fishing has been holding steady. With all the new waters from the tropical storm, bass have a lot more new areas to roam and feed. Several good bass were caught on grass edges in 12 feet of water, with once again trick worms, and wacky rigged senkos getting the bulk of the action. Some bass have been coming from docks and flooded timber as well.
It is still very hot out on the waters, so please be sure to drink a lot of water, and use a lot of sun screen
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June and July have seen some good bass fishing action. Most of our time had been spent on Johns Lake, with a few scattered trips out on Butler Chain. This time of year is typically hot and usually with very little breeze to help keep things comfortable, so we have been doing a lot of 4 and 6 hour trips to beat the heat.
Johns Lake has been pretty good on schooling bass first thing in the morning at Deer Island Cut. Spinner baits, rattle traps and a select few crank baits have done pretty good. Smaller swim baits like the curl tail minnow have been productive, as well as a 7 inch junebug worm crawled slowly across the bottom.
Once the schooling action stops, we have been hitting isolated grass beds as well as offshore hydrilla beds just below the surface. Seven inch junebug worms with a small bullet weight worked slowly has been the main producer once the air temperatures start cooking. We did have some limited success with drop shot in 12 to 16 foot water.
Senko type baits, as well as trick worms have been catching some bass off of docks, as well as the drop shot worked along the docks and worked slowly thru the passes in the docks.
Water levels on Johns Lake have come up slowly with the rains we have been having, markers are out there still, marking the sand bars to make sure people and boats stay safe.
Butler Chain water levels are still great, lots of areas with some good productive flooded wood and some very healthy hydrilla make for some good action. Early morning top water action has been ok, with some scattered schooling around the chain. Most of our bass have been coming close to deeper water drop offs, but we have still been catching bass in less than 2 feet of water in lakes Chase and Blanche.
One ounce spinner baits worked thru grasses and hydrilla have produced some serious strikes, as well as working the steel shad, typically the gold one seems to have worked best for us. Several bass have been caught working docks, big key here was to really work the dock hard, and very slowly. Drop offs have been holding some quality bass, especially around submerged brush piles.
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The month of May has seen some very good bass fishing action in Orlando. For the most part Johns Lake has been the place to be. Even though we have seen very limited schooling action in the mornings, we have caught some good schooling bass in the cuts, mainly Deer Island cut. Bass have been hitting on Gitem Warlocks around isolated grass patches, rigged with a very small bullet weight and worked very slowly.
Several areas in mid lake with hydrilla have been producing some quality bass using 1 ounce Sugoi spinner baits, Steel Shads and 10 inch worms. Several days of higher winds than normal had us working docks that were wind blown, which had been holding bass, some docks producing as many as 3 bass, which makes for a very good day.
Live bait has been producing ok, but we have been out catching live bait with artificial baits sometimes 3 to 1, clients really love this, as it is just that much more fun to catch bass using plastics.
Butler Chain has been fishing pretty good. Lakes we have worked have been Butler, Chase and Blanche. Butler has been a great lake to start the day out early on in the mornings, from there moving over to Lake Chase has been the ticket. Numbers and bigger bass have come later in the day on Lake Blanche, working the docks and the deeper drop offs very slow worming. Altho the bite has been what we call a "small tick" instead of the aggressive hits, quality bass have been caught.
For the most part, water levels on Johns Lake and Butler Chain are not too bad, Johns Lake, we do have a few sand bars to watch out for, one right at the ramp area, one coming off the point going into the main lake area, and one going into the Horse shoe area. Butler Chain the canals could use some water, but the levels are still safe to pass thru, and with the rains the last few days, should help out with those levels.
My tournament partner and I did venture out to Harris Chain mid month to fish a Fishers Of Men Tournament, with no free time to practice out there, we went according to old notes from years past and they paid off pretty good. With some tough fishing, we did get into some schooling bass, but we could only get them to hit very small floating Ugly Duckling crank baits, once we had our limit, we switched up to one ounce spinner baits and covered a lot of water to cull some smaller bass, with a nice 5 and change bass slamming a spinner bait, landing us in 11th place, just 2 spots from the money, which equaled out to a pound, also missing second big bass by a matter of ounces.

Waters at the ramp on Harris were very low, with only one of the ramps open, and apparently a boulder sitting at the end of the ramp making launching and pulling out entertaining to say the least. Next months tournament is State Championships on Lake Rousseau and from there we go to Southeast Regional's the end of October, site still to be determined.
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The month of April has seen some great bass fishing action, as well as some tough action as the cold front came thru. This front grabbed a hold of us for a good two days, and after some very good bass fishing action, it really put a clamp on the action. Bass were still caught, but we did have to work harder for our catch. We had a few days of combo trips, working live and artificial baits, for the most part, the artificial baits we used were Gitem Warlocks and 7 inch ribbon tail worms, both worked with a 1/16th ounce bullet weight in and around grass beds.

Tom and Robert had a day of high winds which limited us to certain areas on the lake, the bite was very scattered and very light, as the bass would just pick up the baits and swim some with it, heart breaking moment came with Tom getting a light tick and the bass swimming under the boat, only to turn and come back out and jump right next to the boat, this beauty was an easy 7 pounder, as she spit the worm and swam away.
Doug and Todd had two days with us on Johns Lake, the first day was once again very light hits on the baits, with winds still up and weather very cool to start the day, bass were scattered as we hit several areas to get our catch. Day two we had much better action with calmer winds and warmer weather. Big bass for them coming in at 5.13 pounds.
Brian and John had some good action as well on live baits, bass were schooling some in the cut but were very scattered, as most bass caught came closer to docks, with one dock yielding two bass within minutes of each other. For the most part, the live bait action has remained pretty steady on Johns Lake, schooling action has seemed to slow down some but the quality bass have picked up considerably as Doug and Todd saw on day two, catching only one dink, with the rest coming in between 2 and 4 pounds and very scrappy.
Sorry for the delay in my fishing reports, things have been very crazy around here. First half of the month has seen some pretty good bass fishing. Most of my trips have been done on Johns Lake with a few stops at Butler Chain. For the most part most of my trips have been artificial baits.
Using a lot of Gitem Warlocks, spinner baits and of course the Steel Shads.
Johns Lake for the most part, the early morning schooling has slowed to a crawl, with a few bass being caught in the Deer Island cut in the morning. We have caught some good bass in wide open waters on the main lake, as well as quality bass around isolated grass patches.
This seems to be a pattern that has held up for well over a month now. Several bass in the 5 pound class had made it to the boat in this time frame on Johns Lake.
Butler Chain was a little tougher fishing. Most casts were pin point under docks, and to grass patches with submerged wood close by. Lakes that produced for us were Tibet, Chase and Blanche. Memorable trip out there was with Chris G. We had been plugging away for some quality bass and Chris had told me his life long dream was to catch a 5 pounder.
His previous big fish I believe he said was 3 pounds and it was not even a bass, so mid way thru the day, I told him lets head to what I call " junk lake" Lake Blanche, with all the docks and submerged wood, there had to be a big bass waiting for him. We got on a good stretch of water using the Warlocks, when Chris got hit and the bass didn't stand a chance, and yes, his dream came true with a solid bass coming in right at 5 pounds on the gripper. Great job Chris, and when your back next year, we have to catch one bigger.
The last half of April saw some good bass fishing on Johns Lake and Butler Chain. Schooling action on Johns had been very limited for us in the mornings, but always got the day off to a good start. For the most part on Johns Lake, our bass have been coming off some of our typical deeper water areas. Steel Shads and spinner baits being the best at catching the bass, a few have been caught on smaller series Ugly Duckling crank baits.

Butler Chain we had spent most of our time on Lake Chase and Tibet-Butler. Lake Chase has been good working Gitem Warlocks and heavy one ounce Sugoi spinner baits in and around thinned out grasses and lily pads. Tibet-Butler we did have some schooling action, and the heavier spinner baits tossed into the schools picked off the better quality bass. Docks have produced some good bass with the steady action coming mainly around grass beds and areas with hydrilla mixed with the grass. A few of the deeper water areas have held some good bass, working the Steel Shad like a spoon has been a very good way to pick up some from the deep drop offs.
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The month of March has seen some great trips out on Johns Lake. For the most part, schooling activity has been great up until the 13th when they just seemed to disappear. We are still having great success using Steel Shads in gold or silver color to catch not only schooling bass, but also bass in deeper waters in the middle of the main lake. One ounce Sugoi spinner baits have worked great around scattered grass patches and around areas with hydrilla and lily pads. When the bass have been schooling, these heavier spinner baits have been great at getting below the smaller schoolers where the quality bass lay.
Once the schooling action ends, junebug trick worms with red, green, or blue fleck with a small bullet weight worked around isolated grass patches have been key to catching the bass. Work the patches very good, to the point if you see one blade of grass, throw to it, as they have been holding bass. For the most part, the bite has been good, but the strikes have not been aggressive ones, you really have to watch your line, as several bass we had to let them swim with the trick worms a few seconds before being able to get a solid hooked.
We have not had too much success with bass around docks, but several of the areas with brush have produced as of late, fire tiger Fat A's worked around these trees have caught several good solid bass, and made for a fun fight trying to keep them out of the wood after hook up. Deer Island cut has been a good area to work a split shot rig with a trick worm. Main focus has been in waters 4 to 8 feet of water and key in on bird activity, circling or diving birds will guide you to some good fishing action.
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February has seen a lot of trips out on Johns Lake. Stan and Carol came for some artificial action and caught some good bass working Steel Shads and Gitem Warlocks. Bite was slow and bass were very scattered on this day. The following day saw us back out on Johns Lake with Grant from Canada, working some live bait and artificial baits, Granted boated 5 bass on live bait, and 27 more bass were caught working Steel Shads, these bass were just hammering the Steel Shads with TWO bass slamming the bait at the same time. Schooling action remained steady pretty much the entire day to keep the action going.
Grant fishing day 2 of three days, we headed to Butler Chain, we find the bite to be very slow out here, picking up a bass here and there, with a nice 3 pounder as the big bass for the day. We experienced a complete change in weather, going from 80 degrees to a rather chilly morning and higher winds.
Grant on day 3, we headed to Alligator Chain, again with some serious fog, and higher winds, we worked for our catch, hitting a small cove, where in order to get in there, I had to trim the motor up, and push the boat in by hand, was the ticket, as several bass were caught in here, and a monster slamming the bait, ripping drag and snapping the line in a matter of seconds.
Overall a very good week of bass fishing, tons of bass beds were spotted on Johns Lake, Butler Chain and Alligator Chain, but all were vacant. Several bass were spotted cruising near beds on Butler Chain, but with only one bass making a play for our baits, but not committing to them. All bass were caught in 5 foot or less of water, with several being caught in less than 2 foot of water. The next 2 weeks will see us on the water with clients every day, so please be patient as I try to keep up with the reports.
The last half of February has seen a lot of bass fishing action on both Johns Lake and Butler Chain. Johns Lake schooling action has been fairly consistent and bass have been caught with shiners in the cuts with relative ease.
There have been a few days, doing combo trips, where the artificial bite has out produced the live bait, as Eric and Eddie saw, with 3 bass being caught in live bait, and another 11 bass coming on trick worms weighted and worked in and around scattered and isolated grass. Doug and the crew, fresh off the Daytona 500 had some good action catching some quality bass, with one of them coming from one of the coves, this bass not only took a shot a missed one shiner, but made a bulrush for a second one as we watched her dart along a grass bed after the bait, after landing her, she weighed in at a solid 4.9 pounds and was released to fight another day. Steel shad have also been producing some very good catches in open waters.
Charlie fishing for some crappie, has caught some good crappie, but the memorable hook up, which turned into a serious battle on light action rod with only 6 pound mono and a road runner, landed a hefty catfish that wanted nothing to do with giving up, weighing in at 14 pounds. For the most part, the crappie bite has been very scattered on Johns Lake, but the ones caught have been of good quality.
Butler Chain is still producing some quality bass and some descent numbers as well. Eric and Eddie, fishing day two opted for all artificial bait, and the bass, although scattered played pretty good, as we hit lakes Pocket, Chase, and Louise to catch our bass. Once again trick worms, black with blue fleck, black with red fleck, and black Christmas catching 16 bass, with Eric catching the big gal from a school on a FinS to end the day.
All trick worms as of late have been worked with a small bullet weight and crawled very slow, as the bass would just pick up the baits and slowly swim off, so watching your line was a big key. Most all bass were caught in waters between 4 to 16 feet with grass, lily pads or hydrilla very close by. Remember, Pic, Catch and release.
Bassfishingfl.com

January has seen a mix of trips, some bass fishing and a few crappie fishing trips. With all trips being done on Johns Lakes, with one day on Clermont Chain. Johns Lake had been a mixed bag of tricks, one day you were just slamming bass, and the next you had to work for them. Limited top water action and a lot of slow worming and flipping on the slower bite days. We did spot a bunch of beds scattered around on Johns Lake so it won’t be very long now before the big gals are caught, and released of course.
Early morning action has come from Horseshoe cut and Deer Island cut, with some good schooling action going on. Once the schooling action stops, we spent a lot of time flipping grass beds with craws and Gitem K.O’s. The crappie bite has been doing good, with several crappie coming in at a pound and a half, and with a very brief cold front coming in this weekend the 19th and 20th, we fully expect the crappie bite to be good.
Clermont Chain we found water levels very low, especially in the canals, with our bass coming out of Emeralds Lakes Estate and Lake Susan, all flipping a Possum Craw made by Riverbottom Lures. Again we saw plenty of bass beds, but not even a buck in sight, with some stable temperatures next week we fully expect to see the action to really pick up out there. Water temperatures at Johns Lake and Clermont were both in the mid 60’s to start the day, with temperatures warming to near 70 by days end.
Butler Chain has been doing very good for bass fishing. Most of the bass we have been catching have been coming from deeper waters ranging from 12 to 20 feet.Bass have been sitting on drop offs as they get ready to head to the flats for the major spawn.
In previous years I was not doing the crappie trips, but have decided to do trips this year, it was normally something I did on my own as a day of rest, but I am sure plenty of people will have a blast catching these slabs like we have the past 2 weeks. Till my next report, tight lines and great fishing!
Bassfishingfl.com

The past two weeks has seen some good bass fishing in the Orlando area. Butler Chain we finally started spotting some bait fish pods, although small and scattered, they are showing up. We had several runs out on Butler and with cooler weather, the water temperatures were finally dropping into the 60’s. This will get the bass on the feeding frenzy to fatten them up for the spawn which is just around the corner.
Lakes Louise, Chase and Sheen had been the best lakes for us, and seen some good quality bass caught. Numbers are starting to increase as well as size, with some very limited schooling action early on in the day. Spinner baits, weighted fluke type baits and wacky rigged senko type baits have been producing pretty good. Drop offs have once again been key to catching out here. We had a few days were the shiner bite seemed to drop off, but we still managed to catch them on the old reliable wacky rig.
Johns Lake has also been producing very good for us. Early morning schooling activity has been very good, with a lot of schoolie sized bass being hooked up. Once the schooling action slows, working the grass beds has been key. Outside edges of the grasses has been producing some quality bass, with the bigger bass coming by tossing T-Rigged Gitem K.O’s and Shads into the grass beds and swimming them back out slowly. The smaller swim baits, mostly the WildEye Curl Tail from Storm has been picking up some good bass and keeping the action steady out here, one key is to locate off shore grass beds just below the surface, as the bass seem to be stacked up in these areas.
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November bass fishing has been good. I spent the day out on Starke Lake with my tournament partner for what was some great bass fishing action. The 26th we got an early start, hitting the waters at 6:30am, still dark and tried some top water action, and we got none. With the sunrise, came rain and higher winds, so what should have been a bad day on the water saw us catching 16 bass on wacky rigged Gitem K.O’s and white spinner baits. All but 3 of the bass came from the main lake working tight to shoreline and scattered off shore grass beds. The 29th we headed out early once again, with live shiners and crank baits. To our surprise we boated no bass on the live bait, but the crank baits, a Big O in fire tiger pattern, and an Ugly Duckling in shiner pattern boated the bass, to the tune of another 10 bass. Crank bait bass came on the main lake and in Deep Lake. We keyed in on docks and submerged grass beds and found the bites to be very aggressive. We had seen some very good schooling action the first day, but avoided throwing to them and opted to keep searching the deeper water patterns. Storm WildEye Curl Tail swim baits once again picked up some good solid bass in the middle of Starke Lake itself as well as at the mouth of the canal on the Deep Lake side. With the water temperatures starting a nice cool down, I have noticed bait fish pods growing in size which will have the bass schooling up and feeding good to get ready for the spawn.
The past 2 weeks Butler Chain has also been fishing pretty good the past week. Bait fish have been a little bit more active and started to bunch up better, making it easier on the bass to feed up. Concentrations of bait fish have been showing up on the graph close to grass beds and in 10 to 12 foot of water we have seen some very good bait fish pods. Medium to deep diving crank baits have picked up some good bass in both Lake Down and Little Lake Down. Fire Tiger pattern and Crawfish patterns have been a big key to catching the bass out there. Early morning topwater has produced some good action using buzzbaits and High Roller Chug Rollers as well as High Roller RipRollers. Live bait action is still doing good, with most of the action coming from slow trolled freelined medium wild shiners. Deeper water patterns early in the morning and slowly moving to grass lines as the water temperatures warm during the day. Best bet being using a 3/0 or 4/0 circle hook, not only will this improve your hook up rate, but also is great since 9 out of 10 hook ups are in the corner of the mouth, like they should be. Remember, catch and release, so our kids can enjoy the same catching action that we do with their kids.
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October has seen some good bass fishing action in Orlando. With trips on Butler Chain and Johns Lake the artificial bite has been doing pretty good. Johns Lake we had some limited early morning schooling action at the Deer Island Cut and some decent bass caught along the grass lines in the same area. After the schooling action stopped, we headed for areas with a mixture of grass and lily pads, getting several blow ups on toads and flukes swam across the pads, missing several but still getting our fair share. Most all the bass caught were in less than two foot of water and all, except for the schooling bass were holding tight to cover on Johns Lake.
Butler Chain we had seen some schooling action on lakes Pocket, Fish, and Tibet. Canal going into Fish Lake is still very shallow but you can make it in there. There is a grass island blocking most of the canal before the final bend to the lake, but we were able to get around it with no problem. Spinner baits and rattle traps were the ticket in Fish Lake, while toads and Gitem K.O.'s where catching the bass in Lakes Pocket and Tibet. Water surface temperatures were running in the low 80's with most bass being caught in four to six foot of water. Some bass were caught in deeper waters slow rolling a spinner bait. Busy season is now upon us, and with very low water levels once again in south Florida, we are expecting yet another very busy season, so be sure to book your trips as soon as you can.
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September has seen us on Butler Chain for a few days. Waters have been gradually cooling off nicely with the rains we have been getting, with water temperatures running in the mid 80’s by days end. There has been very limited schooling action with most of those bass in the 1 to 3 pound range.
Early top water action has been steady on Lakes Tibet, Lake Down and Little Lake Down. High Roller Chugroller and the Secret Weapon Lures BuzzRbait getting the best action for us. Smaller swim baits, like the Storm WildEye Curl Tail have produced some quality bass along the drop offs in Lake Down as well as swimming them along the deeper water grass lines. Spinner bait bite has been gradually picking up with cooler water temperatures and some breeze on the water. All white spinner baits worked in and around grass beds has been the key to catching the bass. The typical Gitem K.O has still been producing along grass lines as well as around docks and areas of timber in Lake Blanche.
Working wild shiners in mid lake on Blanche and around deep drop off on Lake Butler have produced some quality bass, best action has come with the shiner set between 2 to 3 feet below a float, freelined shiners have produced some bass, but has been very sporadic. Water levels have been coming up very nicely on Butler Chain which means exposed structure that is now covered with water has been producing once again. With air temperatures finally coming down, we are now back to being able to do full day trips, and with the fall feed just around the corner, we are once again expecting some great action, not only with live bait, but some good top water action .

The past two weeks have seen some good bass fishing action on the Butler Chain, as well as a few other Central Florida Lakes. Butler Chain, the artificial bite has been holding pretty steady, with wacky rigged Gitem KO’s and Gitem Shads catching some good numbers as well as quality. Little Lake down has seen the best action, with Mike and his son getting a nice double, with Mike having his bass follow his shiner all the way to the boat as we were going to make a move. This bass struck at his bait twice, before finally getting hooked up, and his son immediately getting his hook up, had these two fighting side by side.
Lake Down itself, seen some good action in the north east corner, with some scattered schooling action, small Storm swim baits catching some good numbers in the deeper drop offs. Lakes Sheen and Tibet have held the same pattern now for several weeks, whacky rigged and T-rigged Gitem KO’s catching bass in and around scattered grass beds.
Most of the bass being caught are currently in the 8 to 18 foot depth range, with a good majority of them suspended right along the drop offs in 10 foot of water. There has been some schooling action on lakes Tibet, Sheen and Lake Down, but for the most part, this action has been limited and usually early on in the day. Watch your electronics, as we have come across some big bait fish pods on lake down, with some good quality bass being caught in those areas.
I have also been scouting an old lake I used to fish years ago, a small Orlando lake, this lake is only 205 acres in size, but has some good bass in it. Early morning top water bite has been with the Secret Weapon Lures BuzzrBait and the Original High Roller 3.25 inch. Top water bite has been around the coontail in deeper waters with some very aggressive hits, with the top water bite dropping off by 8am. From there, moving into deeper waters and working the Storm swim baits have been the ticket to catching some good bass.
Scattered grass beds have been a good ticket also, catching several schoolie sized bass through out the day with Gitem KO’s and Shads, deeper water coontail beds have been good with 10 inch worms with ¼ ounce weight pegged for the quality bass. Being a line watcher is a big key, as the bass have just been picking up the baits and swimming off slowly, usually heading to the deep water drop offs.
Bassfishingfl.com

The past 2 weeks has seen some great bass fishing action on Butler Chain, and has seen 2 days, where the bass just did not want to play fairly. For the most part, the action on artificial baits has been producing not only good numbers, but good size as well.
Gitem baits K.O. has been the top producer over the last two weeks, rigged wacky and Texas, working in and along the grass beds. First part of the two weeks saw most of the action coming from Lakes Sheen, Tibet and Pocket. Grass beds and some docks produced several bass to 4.6 pounds, as we found the bass were not aggressively hitting the baits, but just picking them up and swimming towards the deeper drop offs. As the rains consistently dropped water on the lakes, they had started to muddy up, which towards the end of the two week period, saw us moving to works Lakes Down and Little Lake down.
The Bay, as well as Lakes Butler, Down and Little lake Down currently have the cleanest water on the chain, and some of the better fishing action, with some schooling action being spotted on several of them. Schooling action we have come across has usually been mid morning, from 9:30 till almost 10:30 with some good bass being caught off them.
The kids as of late have been the big bass catchers, and they have had a blast, with several of the youngsters catching bass on soft plastics and really showing some great skills, at not only casting their baits, but working them properly and setting a hook that would make a Pro proud of them.
Electronics have been a big key, as most of the good bass being caught are coming from deeper water, ranging from 9 to 23 feet deep. With the water temperatures starting the day out in the upper 80’s, deeper waters will be the big key to catching quality bass especially as the day heats up. Top water action has been very limited early in the mornings and the spinner bait bite has all but disappeared for us over the last two weeks.
Afternoon showers have been a blessing, helping maintain and slowly bringing water levels back up, just keep in mind, if you hear thunder, lightning is also there, so be safe, and hit the ramp until the storms pass. Most storms have been coming later in the day, from 2pm and on, so you can still get in a good days fishing before the storms hit.
Be safe and drink lots of water, and don’t forget the sun screen!!!
Bassfishingfl.com

Top water bite has been doing ok, with Lake Louise seeing the best top water action for us. Secret Weapon Lures Buzzrbait has been a good do to bait, as well as High Roller Chug Roller. Hits have been aggressive. With the consistent rains, Lake Louise has been dirtied up, waters going from clean to coffee brown.
Soft plastic bite has been doing good, with a wacky rigged Gitem K.O once again catching not only good numbers, but good size as well. Lakes Sheen, Pocket and Chase have yielded the numbers and size, up to 5 pounds for us as of late. Working grass beds and scattered docks has been the key to catching bass, as well as working your baits very slow.
Did make a run into Fish Lake, a lake which I have not been in since early January, waters back then were so low in the canal, the bottom of my boat was banging the canal bottom. Going thru the canal, which is a ¼ mile long, I had to use the trolling motor, holding it up just below the surface of the water to get back there, and there was a tree blocking the canal toward the end, which saw me and my partner standing in the canal, him pulling the boat, and me pushing it around the tree to get to the lake. We finally made it back there and started to work the lily pads, swimming lizards across the lily pads getting several blow ups, with him missing a hook up on the edge of the pads, with what would have been an easy 6 pounder.
Rains have held the water levels pretty steady, finally getting water back into the lakes, with water temperatures holding around 84-86 degrees by days end. Limited schooling action in Lakes Pocket, and Tibet the last few days.

My old tournament partner and I hit Butler Chain for a few hours, one to get him out on the water, and two so I could experiment with some new lures. We had started the day out on Lake Louise working a Buzzrbait from Secret Weapon Lures. This lure worked great thru the water and made a ton of commotion and after 5 casts I had the first blow up and what I thought was a solid hook up. Working the bass to the boat, she suddenly let go of the bait, what would have been a nice 5 pound catch, turned into a 5 pound heart break, she apparently had grabbed the small willow leaf blade that was attached to the Buzzr. A few casts later and another crushing blow up, a solid 3 pounder was in the boat.
From there we made a move into Lake Pocket, working the spinner baits from Secret Weapon Lures, and Gitem K.O’s wacky rigged. Switching up blade combinations on the spinner bait from a double willow to a double Colorado blade landed two more very solid bass, along with several others being boated off the wacky rig set up. These spinner baits made life so much easier, not having to always retie a new one on, just having to change the blades out, which was done in a matter of seconds. Bass seemed to relate once again to grass beds with deep water drop offs close by, and after getting a hook up, the were running to the drop offs. Lily pads were holding some bass of good size, as we had one in the 6 to 7 pound class break off just on the edge of the pads. Swimming a lizard slowly across the pads seemed to get the most hits.
Waters were running in the mid 80’s when we pulled off and did notice the levels have come up some, not much, but a good sign. Bass were holding in 5 to 8 foot of water and hit very aggressive, which made for a great day on the water, with us boating 12 bass, and missing/breaking off about 6 others.
Bassfishingfl.com

The past two weeks has seen some good bass fishing out on the Butler Chain. The two main lakes that I have spent most of the time on have been Lake Sheen and Lake Pocket, they have not only been producing some good numbers but some descent sized bass on a pretty regular basis. With the water temperatures on the rise, the bass have gone full swing into their summer pattern, with the early mornings still getting some top water action, before having to really slow down your approach to catching the bass. Most of my recent trips have been using soft plastics, either wacky rigged Gitem K.O’s or 7 inch worms rigged with a Spot Sticker or Spot Remover worked in and around grass beds with deep water drop offs close by. The more quality bass have come with the deeper water drop offs close by, with a few good bass in the 4 to 5 pound class coming on a drop shot.
Two week period ended with Anthony having a good time on Butler, mixing it up between wacky rig K.O’s and some top water action, catching some good bass on top water and he was amazed at how well the bass fought him, and how strong they were, thinking he had a 5 to 6 pounder on, but when he landed her she was just over 3 pounds. We had to work hard for our catch that day, but Anthony caught some good bass and even mustered up some top water action in the heat of the day.
The chain as a whole, has not had the typical schooling action like we had last year, but the top water bite has still been there in the early AM and late afternoon. For soft plastics, watermelon and watermelon red have been the dominate colors.
This past week on Butler Chain has once again seen some great bass fishing. I had spent two days out there by myself mainly doing some scouting working shallows and deeper waters, and to check water levels in all the canals. Canals are getting very shallow, having found myself having to trim the motor way up to navigate thru them, only lake I did not go into was Fish Lake. This canal is ¼ mile long and is usually the first canal to dry up when we go through a drought like we are and I was banging bottom out there back in February. Only canal you need to really be careful in is the canal going from Lake Louise to Lake Butler, just past the overpass, there is that concrete slab that you will hit as it is very shallow to one side.
Main areas that I had fished were once again Lakes Pocket, Sheen and Tibet. I had tosses a few crank baits with very little success, higher winds had pushed me to working calmer sides of the lakes and some slow fishing using T-Rigged Gitem K.O’s and wacky rigged K.O’s. Bill Thomas and the gang were out there Friday with me with shiners in tow and the artificial bite blew away the live bait, 4 hours and only one bass on live bait, but they did get a few hits and a couple misses on top water, with Bill getting hammerer on a High Roller ChugRoller only for this big gal, once again shake off on us. I’ll have to call this particular bass the Possessed bass, as Sid from last week and myself have hooked a bass in the same area with the same results, this gal has a lot of attitude.
Following that miss there was maybe 2 other bass landed on top water, along with a Gar and a Pickeral when we made a move and switched up to the wacky rigged Gitem K.O’s and they guys started catching the bass, with Wes getting hammered buy a sweet one, looking to be every bit of 5 to 6 pounds, she danced and made a mad run right under the boat and broke off. Day ended with a total of 17 bass caught n 4 hours of fishing!
Saturday was a total flip of the action we had seen all week long, higher winds and the look of rain all morning long had the bass bite way off, only catching one here and one there, with several missed hook ups. Most all of the bass caught this past week were on a wacky rig working real slow, with the key being grass beds with deep water drop offs very close by, grass beds were generally in 4 to 6 foot of water, with a drop off of 8 to 22 feet within 10 feet of the grass beds. Most all of the bass would just pick up the baits and make a run straight for those deeper water drop offs, so you really had to keep an eye on your line.
Bassfishingfl.com

The past 2 weeks have seen some good bass fishing action out on Butler Chain. Starting with the Patterson clan, with shiners and artificial baits we worked Lake Butler and Lake Chase, with Steve tossing a spinner bait to get the “wildest” hook set award of the year. Steve was tossing a spinner bait in and around grasses and docks, when he gave her a toss to a dock, spinner bait going over the dock walkway, back into the water around a PVC pipe sticking up and under a boat. Thinking this was going to be a mess, he was right, as he tried to shake the lure loose, the line got pinned between a post and the walkway, when it looked like the rod got tugged on.
Steve assured me there was nothing there, and as he popped the line to shake her loose, we hear a splash from under the boat in the boat slip, Steve popped the line free from the walkway and the short lived fight was on. Stepping onto the dock, Steve had reeled up as far as he could, while I was hanging off the walkway, reaching for a bass that was not only hooked up solid, but was also tangled in someone else’s braided line left behind, after a few minutes of me teetering on sliding off a dock into the water, I did manage to just barely lip his bass, which weighed in right at 5 pounds. I honestly can’t remember the last time I had to work that hard to lip a bass.
The next day, Tuesday the 10th, saw Dave Fonder and his girlfriend back out on Butler, giving it a go with some fly fishing! Well needless to say, they gave it one heck of a go, before sitting down the fly rods and tossing around Steel Shads in the deep holes and drop offs to catch their bass.
Wednesday, Rod, coming from Canada gave it a run out on Butler with shiners and had a pretty darn good 4 hour trip, catching some good quality bass on Lake Butler and Lake Chase. Once again bass were caught in the areas where there was a deep water drop off close by, boat set up in 6 foot of water, and the bass coming from waters in 10 to 16 foot.
I have been enjoying the last few days off, still hitting the waters working with new lures. I have been catching bass out on Butler using a ChugRoller and a PopRoller with today being capped off with a nice 3.4 pound bass on a PT Spoon from High Roller Lures.
This past week has been yet another very busy week, with some very good and solid bass being caught on everything from live bait to artificial lures. With the bass spawn all but over, bass have moved for the most part away from shallow waters and have staged more towards deeper waters, close to drop offs. There has on some days been some very good schooling activity going on, some days the schooling bass will just hammer the live bait, while other days they seem to prefer t-rigged worms with a small screw in bullet weight.
Monday started the week off with Ken and Chris hitting Butler Chain with some live bait action. Lake Butler and Lake Chase were the definite lakes for the best bass action as these two guys caught some good quality bass with some very aggressive hits as the bass were doing some good schooling action in the cuts. The better quality bass where caught just off the grass bed edges with Chris getting the big bass of the day just shy of 5 pounds.
Kurt fished on Wednesday working nothing but artificial bait. With a high sun and no cloud cover to speak of, we spent a lot of time pounding grass beds, Kurts first hook up was on Lake Butler, using a High Roller PopRoller in Blue Shad color. From there it was a lot of slow worming using purple and black Christmas colored worms, with one other bass coming on a Yozuri Rattlin Vibe.
Some bass are still being caught in less than 3 foot of water, but main areas of focus have been in the 4 to 6 foot range with deep water drop offs close by. Rob from Fish-Hawk.net came down to fish Thursday with his brother and father to catch some Florida bass and the blue bird skies and minimal breeze did make things pretty tough on the guys, but being very persistent the guys did manage some good bass, with the two biggest looking like twins, one weighing in at 4.14 and the other coming in at 4.13 pounds on the digital scale.
Friday saw Sam and his son out on Butler Chain, this youngster was very impressive with his casting skills, working bait casters like a true pro, starting the day out catching the first bass in the first 10 minutes working a spinner bait thru the grass beds on Lake Butler before switching up to the worms and catching several more. Sam kinda hung out on the back of the boat and had a blast watching his son fish, and even had his son coaching him on where to toss his lures, with his dad getting a good bass on a rattlin vibe out of the deep waters on Butler. Weather was better today, with what should be our last cold front. Very minimal schooling activity was seen on the lakes that we fished today, but it’s only a matter of time before the waters start to really heat up with what will be a great top water bite.
Saturday I ended the week with Alan and his son out on Butler Chain for a 6 hour live bait trip. Alan is a local guy that wanted to hit Butler as he said he had little luck out there. We started out the day VERY cold for this time of year, water temps were down to 71 to start the day, with strong and cold winds. This was the perfect day for lock jaw, and the bass were very tough to catch as expected. Starting out on Butler and working grass line and thru the cut, Alan missed a few hook up, with his son landing 2 nice bass and having a beauty come unbuttoned as she danced on the water. From there we moved over into Lake Chase, I did spot some schooling action but no takers as we slow trolled along the grass beds, when Alan tossed his bait out, the second it hit the water it was hammered and the fight was on, with Alan landing a beauty of a bass coming in at 6.3 pounds on the digital scale. Happy Birthday Alan!!
In all the week saw some very good and solid bass being caught, with this front that is moving thru right now, water should hold to the mid 70’s for the better part of the week and that should help kick in some good top water action. Hope everyone has a safe and Happy Easter.
Bassfishingfl.com

This past week on Butler Chain had its ups and downs. Monday and Tuesday saw some good top water action on Lake Butler. During the early morning we saw a good amount of schooling action. Tuesday turned out to be the best day with bass being caught on High Roller ChugRollers in Fire Tiger. Big bass for the day came in at a solid 3.8 pounds, and just slammed the ChugRoller.
Wednesday I had the great pleasure of having Kathy Barker from ProBass Networks out on Butler Chain. Kathy surprised me thou, when we met at McDonalds she had Skip Collins from High Roller Lures there with her. What I thought was going to be a great top water action day on Butler, was anything but that.
The bass did not want to play fairly, as we did see some schooling action going on, but they avoided any and all top water lures thrown at them, Skip did manage 2 bass on his secret lure, while Kathy caught two more bass, with her landing the big bass for the day and the bragging rights. Only 5 bass made it to the boat, as the blue bird skies seemed to have just shut down the artificial bite.
Thursday I had the McClain duo, husband and wife out on Butler. We started out with Margarita working live bait, and Carl with top water baits. There was very limited schooling action once again, but Carl was very determined to nail a nice bass on top water. He started out with an Original High Roller, but then switched to a ChugRoller. A very solid bass, in the 4 pound class came up to slam the bait. Carl said he felt her hit the lure so he set the hook, but she was gone. That, unfortunately was the end of the top water action for the day. Margarita continued to work the live bait, missing her first bass as it chased the shiner to the surface. She got too excited and the hook up was missed. After a few coaching words, Margarita didn’t miss another bass. We actually had to keep an eye on her, as she never said a word, we only knew she had one on when we heard the drag. Her big fish of the day came in at 5.1 pounds.
Mean while Carl was tossing around a Gitem Shad in watermelon red, with a small screw-in bullet weight. Flipping to grass bed edges, Carl managed some good quality bass, with his big bass of the day coming in at 5.2 pounds on the digital scale. These 2 had a great time on the water catching as Carl said “some good quality bass.”
Saturday we ended the week with my son wanting to head out to Butler and do some relaxing fishing using live bait. We hit Lake Butler and right off the bat he had the first bass of the day in less than 5 minutes of us being on the water. We pretty much just slowed trolled the live shiners around the grass beds with deeper water drop offs close by. My son landing 5 good solid bass caught within 2 ½ hours on live bait. A quick switch to a Fat A and he missed what looked to be close to a 4 pounder right by the boat. When he decided he was more than happy with his catch for the day, we headed back in.
Bassfishingfl.com