Florida Sinkhole Bass

Florida Sinkhole Bass

With the lack of spring to summer rains here in south Florida, winter water levels are a bit down, causing foliage and such as aquatic vegetation to also be sparse in places with only large patches of cat-tails or Pussy-willows to make the breaks of your drop-off lines along Florida natural sinkholes. Sinkholes too are areas if which many a gravel to coral-rock quarry are often started in Florida, as this material is sought after in roadways to highways, along with landscaping needs found at various nursery's. To either end, Florida sinkholes offer a natural flow of clean, cold, clear water, in which Florida Largemouth bass and a variety of Pan fishes can grow to enormous sizes. My son, Edwin and I spend much time on Google maps in search of gravel pits to natural sinkholes to explore and fish. As of late, Edwin found a hum-dingier too which we have been mapping out for the last couple of days. Gin clear waters where one would swear it was but only two or three feet deep, only to drop the anchor in measuring and find it actually sixteen feet deep. Other places, our twenty-five foot anchor line hung straight down, never touching the bottom but you could see fish swimming along the bottom ; now that is some crystal clear water and deep too. Out of three days, mapping out the structure of this pond, it is ¼ of a mile long and 500 feet across, at its widest gap. Having crystal clear waters too, creates problems in presentations of ones lures and ones self too. You can see the fish, so in contrast, he can see you. Though more often than not, the bass and Pan fish alike seemed curious as they would approach our canoe, look and swim away, ignoring all that was presented to them but once we found the answer to this problem, it was a hot bass bite on a cold water winter day.

 Bass 10 feet down!

Bass-Beads

Whether you are using a G-MAG, Oversize Worm hook designed by Gamakatsu to fit magnum size tubes, worms and jerk baits or your own favorite variety, slide a colored bead onto your line before tying on the hook. Your bead will slide freely on casting giving you an advantage in catching big bass over average to little ones. Depending on water clarity and temperature, combined in matching the hatch from bugs to the guppies or minnows in the water, may allow you to do a color change on your bead. An example would be if you happen to notice a hatch of frogs, I would put on a dark color like black or green, imitating the hatch. I enjoy both fishing live baits and top waters when in my canoe, angling the canals of North Port, Florida for bass to Panfish with various beads and baits. The one item you can always find in my tacklebox is the 6MM plastic facetted bead, as they work best in finessing fish to the bite. Crappie to largemouth bass, Catfish to Bream, Bass beads deliver extra action to spinner lures, top water lures and live to dead baits in fish attracting color. Primary colors generally come in clear, red, lime, purple, green and chartreuse, though if you take the time to look or ask at your favorite bait shop, I am sure they will find or order the color of your choice. From the canal behind Fines Bait & Tackle, to all the canals that cress-cross the North Port area, east of HWY 41, you will find Largemouth Bass, a whole slew of Pan fishes, Oscars, Florida Spotted Gar, Brown Bullhead, Channel, Walking and Armor Plated catfishes. All of these fish react differently depending upon weather, approaching “Lows”, water clarity, the hatch at the time, temperature and what is about them on the sides of the canal. Urban settings tend to have less squeamish fish than do canals with no development but bridges are best in approaching the use of urban bass bead fishing in the heat of the day, for the bridge offers shelter to shade and an incoming food supply. READ THE WHOLE STORY...