Fishing Report


Monster Bass and Book A Trip Now!!!! 11/15/2011
Well if the next time I pick you up to go fishing I have one of my sons with me, after this you'll know why!!..LOL!! Well I had a few days off and with a few trips coming up at the end of the week, I thought man, it was a great day to go and do some scouting and try and locate some big fish! Well my oldest son Kanon attends CFC here in Ocala and I knew he had Tuesdays and Thursdays off, so I called him up and we made plans to go! If you remember last time I did one of these reports talking about a trip me and my son Brice had on October 7th we boated 19 fish with the 4 largest being 7, 7.5, 9lb 10 oz, and a gorgeous 10 lb 8 oz'er! Well guess what it happened again!!!! We started working an area I was hoping to find some fish in and we were having a really great day. I believe we had about 17 beautiful fish. My son then cast a shiner up to a little point where we had just watched an ENORMOUS boil when POW! A fish slammed into his bait and started to ease the cork back under the weeds! He said "She's got it!", and I said "SET THE HOOK!!!!", he rared back on her and the Shimano Teramar Rod he was using just buckled!!!! He said "Oh My Gosh It's Huge!!!!" He was having trouble moving this fish and then to make matters worse she ran straight to a log and wrapped herself around it!! I told him just to keep pressure on her and he did just that and eased her around that log!!!! Well now I got the first look at her head and knew she was a GIANT!!!! In the course of fighting this fish he brought her over or around at least a half dozen other logs and the Berkley Trilene XT 17 lb mono held like a champ! We got her up to the boat and lipped her! It was only then that I realized how big this fish was! I grabbed the Boga Grip and she pulled it down to 13 lbs!!!! What a beast!!!! And this fish while she had huge shoulders and head, if caught another 2 months from now could have probably easily pushed over the 14 lb. mark. With roe and the way they begin to gorge themselves this time of year, trust me, she had plenty of room to grow!!!! In total we ended up with 21 bass today. Guys I continue to say it, with the drawdown coming this could be an absolutely unbelievable, out-of-this-world year!!!! Noted outdoor writer Frank Sargeant just did a piece on Rodman and for the interview I tallied up all the big fish we've boated since the first of this year (this is an updated total as of today 11/15/2011) and the numbers are fairly staggering: Myself and my clients have boated 3140 bass total. 131 bass exceeded 7 lbs, 71 bass have exceeded 8 lbs, 46 bass have exceeded 9 lbs, 20 bass have exceeded 10 lbs, 9 bass have exceeded 11 lbs, 4 bass have exceeded 12 lbs, with one just under 13 and the one today just over 13 lbs!!!! Guys I keep saying it but this is an amazing trophy bass fishery, and this could be an amazing year!!!! With the drawdown here this year running from the beginning of December until the end of March, if you're thinking about coming it might not be a bad idea to reserve your dates as soon as possible! Everything is pointing towards a STELLAR, busy year here!!!!


Continued Awesome Fishing and 2011-12 Drawdown!! 11/10/2011
The fishing continues to be nothing short of fantastic! The last 3 trips have netted us totals of 32, 17, and 24 bass! All of these trips we had blown thru 10-12 dozen shiners and were done fishing by around 12:30!! The fall bite is on and in full swing and is without question one of the most exciting times of year to be out on the water fishing! Also for those of you that don't already know, this is the year that they are doing the drawdown!!!! Every 3 or 4 years they draw Rodman down 7-9 feet. There is a couple of reasons for this: 1 it kills of any excess vegetation that may have taken root and firms up the shallow expanses of shoreline. This is a wonderful way to control the aquatic vegetation and when raised back to full pool the hardened bottom provides magnificent spawning areas for the bass! 2 they do maintenance work on the dam and locks and also the Manatee protective devices. Bottom line for us fishermen though: YOU TAKE THE LAKE AND RIVER AND ALL THE BASS IN THEM AND CONDENSE THEM INTO AN AREA MAYBE ABOUT HALF THE NORMAL FISHABLE SIZE AND LOOK OUT!!!! The best fishing trips I have ever had on Rodman and the Oklawaha were during these conditions! Thank goodness they make it catch and release for bass!! I recall the best day I had out there one drawdown was 144 bass!!!! It was complete bass insanity!!...LOL!!!! For those of you interested it will start Dec. 1 and then end March 31, with the main 2 months the water will be all the way down being January and February. If you are wanting to reserve a trip for this time period it might not be a bad idea to do it sooner rather than later as I would anticipate a busy year here with the drawdown!!


Continued Excellent Fall Fishing!! 10/19/2011
The 11" of rain we got here over the course of 2-1/2 days around last weekend I will admit definitely had me nervous! It brought the water level in the river up a good 16" or so over the course of just a couple of days and gave a definite tanic tint to the water. These conditions can sometimes make the fishing slow some. The crazy thing is that this time it didn't happen and in fact seems to have sent the fish into a minor feeding frenzy!! The last 3 trips this past week have produced totals of 30, 31, and 28 bass!! Most of the trips we blow through our bait nearly as fast as we can put them in the water!! We blew through 8 dozen today before noon!! This is some of the best action of the year to date and the high water we experienced has cleared some of the water lettuce blockages that had been in place for the last couple of months and opened up some areas of the river and Rodman that should be dynamite in the very near future!! If you're looking to have a truly exciting trip with some superb action, you might want to think about coming now. The sunshine we're supposed to get over the next week or so ought to make conditions even better as the water starts to clear. The time is now!!!!