TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Spawning Fish Ready To Show

ADVERTISEMENT

By MARK COOK

Published: February 8, 2009

After an unusually cold and strange winter, bass and speckled perch have been busting at the seams to spawn.

With a warm-up forecast combined with a full moon, many anglers are expecting this week to be the first significant spawn for both specks and bass.

Over the past week, not many fishermen were braving the windy conditions, but those willing to challenge Mother Nature found fairly decent catches. A few 10-pounders have shown up on the Kissimmee chain and the speckled perch that have been caught were all full of roe.

Fish camps around the Kissimmee chain are getting lots of calls about availabilities, so this week speck anglers should be out in force. Kissimmee Grassy and Bird Islands should see lots of fish in the shallows on the beds. Not many ways to go wrong fishing for them during the spawn, although one mistake people can make is using tackle that is too heavy.

When I was a guest on Captain Mel Berman's radio show a couple weeks back, a caller asked about equipment. Usually a bass or inshore fishermen, the caller asked if the 12-pound test and larger reels would work on specks. Though you may catch a few, you certainly can increase your productivity by scaling back to 6-pound test.

I also told him my favorite way to speck fish during the spawn is to use a cane pole and small cigar Styrofoam bobber and dip in holes in 2-5 feet of water with a live minnow on a gold hook. A lot of times you will find the fish back behind the first line of vegetation like cattails.

I like to push the boat as deep in as possible and dip my minnow in the pockets. With spawning specks, if you don't get a bite fairly quickly, keep moving. Eventually you'll find the productive hole and load your cooler.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT