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Specks Biting Again; Bass Still Slow

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By MARK COOK

Published: December 21, 2008

After a tough December for specks, local anglers have been doing much better during the past week with the warm-up and lack of gusty winds.

Bass, however, still seem to be shell-shocked with the drop in water temperatures but will soon be staging near spawning areas and will look to start feeding heavily in anticipation of bedding season.

At Medard Reservoir east of Brandon, specks are still scattered and anglers are working hard for limits. Most fishermen are picking a few here and there but not finding the honey holes yet.

The hybrid sunshine bass bite has been good with fish up to 6 pounds fishing minnows or deep diving crank baits in the open water. One method is trolling wide open as the sunshines like fast-moving baits.

On the big lakes across central Florida, speckled perch are picking back up especially on the Kissimmee chain. Minnows as usual are doing the most damage and a few have moved up in the grasslines although a majority are still being caught in the deeper open water areas.

Grape Hammock Fish Camp reported excellent speck catches near Bird Island and also reported some being caught down river. A recent guest caught his limit working the Pig Trails area dipping minnows around vegetation and grass patches.

Bass catches are starting to pick up with fish up to eight pounds on wild shiners although most the bass caught were in the 1-3 pound range.

No reports lately from the phosphate pits, but for those lucky enough to have access, the Fin and Feather pits always produce excellent speck catches with P-6 and Barcola two of the top speck holes.

Teneroc, near Lakeland, which is open to the public, is another great speck destination with east access off Interstate 4 at the State Road 33 exit.

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