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Bass Steady, Specks Spectacular

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By MARK COOK

Published: November 9, 2008

With fairly cool nights, water temperatures are hovering in the 60s and occasionally reaching the low 70s by mid-afternoon.

Bass action has been good on most area waterways, while speckled perch fishermen are already filling their freezers with the tasty panfish fillets as specks are biting everywhere.

Medard Reservoir has seen excellent speck catches on Hal-Flys, small jigs, and live minnows. Some are being caught fishing the man-made islands southwest of the ramp, although most are being caught in the deeper open waters south of the ramp.

Medard speck anglers are particularily tight lipped, but it seems the boat concentration has been in this area.

The Kissimmee chain is still on fire as limits are common dipping minnows around the grass lines and lily pads early and late, then the open deeper water as the sun gets higher.

Marker No. 6, Rabbit, Grassy and Bird Islands are seeing the most anglers, although those working farther south are also reporting decent speck catches.

Bass have definitely moved into their fall patterns, which push them to deeper water near staging areas in anticipation of the upcoming spawn. Larger females are starting to eat, although a few days after a front passes they are slower to bite.

A live wild shiner suspended on a cork near deeper vegetation is a tough thing for a largemouth to resist and the larger fish have been chewing up shiners on Kissimmee and Teneroc in Lakeland.

Also had a report of several large bass coming out of some old phosphate pits near Nichols, although the fishermen didn't want to give up their exact hole location. The father-son duo I spoke to were throwing spinnerbaits and junebug plastic worms.

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