Fishing  Reports  December 16, 2003  The Big Bass spawn time is just a warm rain and stable weather peroid away now on Crooked lake , in shallow lakes the spawn has begun. December 17,2003  Got over 20 bass yesterday , all small. Bass are beginning to build beds and will move from deep to shallow spawning areas with the weather conditions. Warm fronts 2 days after a cold front are best times to fish.   December 20,2003   Frost warnings tonite with a slow warm front to follow this coming week, should be a good time to find bass if the winds stay down. December 24,2003 Bigger Bass are holding tight to heavy grass mats , some bass working bedding areas on and off. Even though water temps. cooler than I would like to see, most of my bigger bass came on top water plastics, worked slowly. December 31, 2003  Male bass in shallow spawning areas on Crooked Lake the cycle is just starting, specks are slow and moving to spawn also.Late afternoon bass hit better after they warm up some. January 3, 2004 Male Bass are building beds now on Crooked Lake they are active mid-day on till sunset, got 22 bass yesterday. Big males are usually in deeper water in spawning areas, top water plastics working well in lilly pad areas also. January 10,2004 Another cold front here, Bass bite was good before front hit , caught a few female bass last week but most were males. Females won't spawn till weather is in high 70's or 80's degree areas and stable long enough for eggs to hatch , looking like last of January . January 14,2004 Cold front really slowed fishing here on Crooked Lake, but slow warming trend is warming shallows nicely,main lake is 62 degrees f , shallows 68 to 70 degrees mid-day. Shallows need to hold 68 to 72 degrees for peroids long enough for eggs to hatch before a steady spawn will take place.Big bass time is now till March now. January 20, 2004 Yesterday before cold front hit got limit of bass in 1 hr and 20 mins.Ended day with 38 bass. Today after cold front 5 bass one keeper size. Any steady increase in daily temperature lows a good sign , time just before next cold front best for bass and specks.   Feb. 1 ,2004    Warm front tomorrow and female bass are starting to show up in bedding areas, got 15 bass today and most came from shallow water, 2 hrs before sunset till dark they really turned on. Rigged rods with 20 lb. test power pro line on worm rod and 50 lb. test power pro line on heavy rod , great line and does not dig in on spool. Feb 07, 2004 Caught a 10.14 lb bass Feb. 04 a female 26'' long 18'' girth , photo'd and released. Missed several nice bass 8lb range or so.Lot of 14'' to16'' bass in shallow areas . Be sure to raise your trolling motor up as high as possible and use lowest possible speed, even better to let wind drift you along and fish. Never run outboard in spawning areas or drag anchor through beds ,once the female bass lays eggs the bluegills and other egg eater fish never leave the nest area, it is very easy to destroy 1000's of bass eggs and never realize it. I always thought most folks knew this but after seeing over 20 bass tourney boats motoring back and forth thru bass beds this past week I figured not everyone knows better. They made so much noise they caught little if any fish also, from the same area I caught the 10 lb'er and several other bass 5lbs . Feb.10 ,2004 Cold front gone back into warm front with calm winds , this is the time for big bass now.Low pressure storm front coming tomorrow should be ideal big bass fishing weather.   Feb. 14, 2004 Bass on Crooked Lake still in spawn mode. 20 to 30 bass a day pretty easy now.  Feb.25, 2004 Weather is the key on Crooked lake for bass, calm nice weather on a warming front should produce some nice fish.Had a good warm rain here last nite should be great fishing if winds stay down. A few bass in 10 lb. class or more been  showing up at Bob's Landing the last few weeks.  Wednesday March 3,  2004 Bass fishing on Crooked Lake still great here , caught a 25 1/2 inch 18 inch girth bass yesterday evening. Lot of 14'' to 18'' bass hitting when winds are lite. Specks/Crappies on beds now or getting ready to bed and they spook very easy. I usually do best for specks mid March post spawn off of points near deep water in the mornings, small jigs or minnows work well ,but finding them the key. March 14, 2004 Bass still on beds here a 12.30 lb and a 10.68 lb bass caught last week in tourney and released. Early calm mornings best now before winds pick up, plastic baits in jungbug or black/orange senko's working well. Bass spawn should be near 70% over, bluegills and shellcrackers starting soon ,  and crappies. Crooked lake deeper than most lakes and water stays a bit cooler than shallow lakes near here. March 25, 2004 Windy and has been for days, bass pretty much done spawning on Crooked Lake Florida, some nice bass on deep weed lines , when winds calm down. Blue gills and shellcrackers will bed now and Monday looks good on the weather part of fishing. Red worms on small hook or 1/64 oz. jig tipped with a worm works best for me on a 17' telescoping rod. A very small green float seems to spook'm less and use litte or no weight. Once u locate a spawning area back off and fish outside edges first , the fish will be very spooky in clear water and waitng and fishing with no noise will pay off. Crappies /Specks will school up on deep points and brushpiles now on post spawn pattern.1/32 oz jigs work great on a slip cork , just set depth of jig above the weeds or brush. Drifting weed lines on low wind days a good way to locate specks that do not show up well on depth finder. March 31 ,2004 Fished Ansin Garcia and water was very clear , we could easily see spawning beds on north side and around islands. Some bass still on or near beds we caught several 4 lb bass and 10 or so smaller bass 13'' to 18''. We used wave worms and trick worms.Another boat had a bass 8lbs. I hooked and missed 2 very nice bass near 10 lb class.Getting around in ansin garcia still a maze and a gps a very good idea to have along . Heading to phosphate pits Friday and I'll report here when we get back.  April 3 , 2004 Fished s8 east pit Friday and was only boat on it, fishing was poor one bass 18'' and several small ones , zillions of small crappies there. You need a 4wd on east s8 pit , the west s8 ramp is ok for 2wd. There was 6 boats on s8 west pit but did not get a chance to see how they did. Back to Ansin Garcia to guide tomorrow. April 9, 2004 Big Bass still on crooked lake and like senko's or lizzards, color matters some and junebug and garlic work ok.two tone works best though., fished slow.Green and white did well today. April 11, 2004 2 Bass Tourneys on crooked lake Saturday and less than 10lbs won both, so post spawn thing is on . Got a 10lb'r last Tuesday so they are still there in shallow areas. Small bass today went nuts before storm front . Most small but got 5 keepers. over 27 bass in all. April 23, 2004 Bait fish moving to lake side weed edges as water in shallow areas warms up on Crooked Lake. Crappies , small bass, and Bluegills hitting on minnows as they move to open water. Keeper bass fishing is best around deep grass mats from 4:30pm on till and after sundown. Senko type baits and trick worms fished with no weight working very well.Tiki 5'' worm a great bait in green/white swirl colors. May 27, 2004  The bass are going nuts at sundown  on shorelines, I've done well till 10pm or so west of Wirts Point on shore line . Throwing sinko's color don't matter. You can see'm feeding on minnows and minnows feeding on bugs and near the weed lines skeeters are bad , You need bug dope and soap to wash bug dope off of hands so you don't get it on bait. Most small bass but missed one last week over 10lbs.I have not tried very early mornings before sunrise but it should be good till 9am or so also. When this high pressure system that is locked in central Florida gets pushed to Bahamas' , then our mid day T-storms will return and Bass will move to deeper parts of the lake, usually around the first of June or so. The Discount Liqour Store on U.S. 17 in Babson Park has live shinners, minnows and red worms now. Pan fish are active in the passes all day long .  June 12, 2004 Bass are active Early and late in the day on shorelines. A 12 lb. and an 8 lb. bass reported caught on Crooked Lake last week. Mid day fish are on also on most days, bass are schooling on surface near passes and points , small jigs or top water baits and plastics work well, also rattle traps for bigger bass. Many times hawg bass will follow schooling surface bass and pick off wounded minnows , working water mid to deep range around schooling fish can pay off. Big plastic worms worked on top of grass mats and slipped into holes with no weight will put a hawg bass in the boat, best before and after sundown. Shellcrackers on live bait on weed lines near  deep water, you have to move along till you find them. Be sure to keep an eye on t-storms mid day , the storms are usually short and taking a break and going back out after storm is always a wise choice. July 11, 2004 Hot calm and dry on Crooked Lake this past month,Some nice bass still being caught in the early mornings and late evenings on Crooked Lake, mid day schooling bass north and north west of Wirt's Point. Nothing in sight on weather maps as far as tropical waves and storms ,but when they begin to form the fishing should really improve a lot. Ansin Garcia and Stickmarsh should really turn on also, before and after heavy rains, as they will be turning pumps on if rains heavy enough to fill canals. Good idea to take along some live red worms in a cooler with a little ice and be alert for shellcrackers and bluegills feeding in weed lines , when bass fishing. Also keep an eye out for mayfly hatch on any lake , you can find plenty on mayflys on and around any night lites near shore line around the lake and keep them in a plastic bag for several days in frig. or on ice, dead flys work fine as do live, use small long hook and hook'm in the hard part of their belly, small split shot and slip cork , set slip cork depth about half the depth of the water you are fishing in. The hatch can take place at different times in different places on same lake so you have to spot them or fish feeding on them in open areas of the lakes.If you have never noticed them , they are yellow/ golden brown and have a long forked tail. Worms and small jigs will work ok if you can anchor in a area where fish are schooled and feeding on mayflies that are floating to the surface or on surface.Just use depth finder to locate prime area to fish. Take plenty of cold drinks and take care with the sun and watch for those T-storms , fish bite well before a major storm hits and after, leave plenty of time to get off the lake and unload boat . Tuesday July 24 ,2004 Fished Stickmarsh | Farm 13 and bass are doing good on the bite in the heat. The storms have been rolling in about  1 pm and last long enough to have some lunch then hit the evening bite. Senko type baits fished around grass mats or drifting open areas can produce a Hawg bass even in the heat of the day. Fishing live worms on slip cork near the channel that separates Stickmarsh from farm 13 for shellcrackers and bluegills will work well also. July 28, 2004 Ansin Garcia was pretty low water level and very weedy ,Blue gills and shellcrakers were going crazy on the surface. Live worms or small poppers will do the job , very nice sized fish just about everywhere we went, they were on the suface feeding till about 11am or so. Weeds and shallow water made it tuff to move around but awesome place to fish. We headed to stick marsh around noon looking for a hawg bass. The bite was slow for bass but pan fish were active on farm 13 side in the deep east/west channel and at the pump station , never got the hawg we were looking for but the weeds at the stick marsh have been cleared out a lot.The water level is low and logs and stumps still a danger. Bass are on and off with weather changes but if you like big pan fish on lite rods they will keep you busy. I finally found clear casting bubbles in Cabelas fly fishing section .What are they? They are a clear plastic float that you can add water for weight,(up to 2 oz. of water or none at all), so you can cast even a dry fly or small blue gill jig as far as you could cast a 3/4 oz. rattletrap with 30 lb. to 60 lb.braded line. I like throwing the little foam rubber 1/100 oz. spiders with the rubber legs , but you can cast anything max. distance simply by adjusting amount of water in float to work with any size line or rod and reel. 8/25/04 Well the eye of Hurricane Charlie passed within a few miles of here and we all took a bad hit , some much worse than others. The ramp at Bob's Landing is open now to put in. The floating dock broke loose and still not inorder yet. Major tip I got for the storm is, if they say there are several computer tracking models or they show different ones and you are anywhere near any track , get ready early . It means they really do not know which way it is going to go. My boat was swamped  but ok now. We were without power here for over a week . After checking on other folks near here after the storm we began to cook food and take it to folks at fire station and others who needed it and were too busy to cook.Cooking from dawn till dusk each day on an open fire with the temp. in the 90's and 90% humidity. To see folks smile to get a warm meal of fried fish , baked beans and bread and butter, made the work all worth it. And to see folk from all over the USA who left their homes and families to come here and help with the clean up and restore power, words are not enough to say thank you. I gave my guiding business cards to all I had the pleasure to meet and thank in person and offered a free day of fishing ,free food , free drinks and there is no expiration date to that offer. If you are one of the folks that helped out here, just call or e-mail  me . Many are still busy cleaning up here now and restoring power. The fishing is slow here now because high winds stirred up lake and fish are scattered and upset, fishing should pickup by this weekend. 9/9/2004 Well we have power and water here again now after Hurricane Charley and Frances, the eye's of both storms passed just a few miles of here, and Ivan has just turned into a Cat5 Hurricane, Please read the warnings of a cat 5 hurricane and do not be in it's path! Plan ahead and leave early avoid low areas inland , a cat 5 hurricane can drop 20'' of rain many 100's of miles  inland . Lakes and rivers are at record high levels here or soon will be. Protect your family and friends and others and secure your homes and boats as best as possible. If you know a good prayer, we sure could use one here. Take Care, and be safe, Hope for the best prepare for the worst. 10/6/2004 Crooked Lake water levels are high and dissolved oxygen is 4.0 with 7.0 being ideal. No fish kills and water clearing up nicely. Caught 4 1/2 lb and 4 lb bass last Sunday on a green senko and a lot of smaller bass. Stick Marsh took a bad hit and I have not been there since hurricanes hit , but being shallow and muddy it will take a while to clear up. 10/16/04 Bass fishing on Crooked Lake Florida has really picked up since the hurricanes hit, in fact it is better than before the storms hit this area. Several days before this cold front hit has been fantastic if you can locate the feeding fish. I've caught and released several bass over 8 lbs. and 3 lbs to 5 lbs bass are becoming common. What to use for bait really has not mattered much as long as it is worked near fish. Bass feeding on the surface on calm days feeding on shad, you have a better chance catching fish if you avoid running motors and drift with the wind or sit and wait till you spot feeding fish.  11/21/04 Bass Fishing still pretty good as bass work bait fish into shallow areas to feed on them. Water temp. on Crooked Lake is 71 to 75 degrees and needs to cool a bit more to get Crappies/Specks to school up for pre-spawn feeding. Mid-day bass fishing slow with bass holding very tight to cover. Sun up and sun set best times till water cools a bit more. Mid-day flipping a senko into heavy cover producing nice bass in the 3 lb to 8lb range.  12/19/04 The cold fronts have arrived ( water temp. down from mid 70's a month ago to 60 degrees now ) and bass are staging in deep weed lines preparing for the spawn. The specks/crappies are moving around a lot and the outside edge of weeds lines early morning on calm days will find you some nice slabs . The deep trench 30' deep, from Bob's Landing due North for a 1/2 mile or so holds some huge specks over 16'', they go deeper during mid-day and 1/32 oz. jigs with split shot 10'' above jig will do the trick, use the depth finder to locate the schools. Check out the new Hummingbird 565 depth finder if you are in the market for a new one it's under $200 and updates 40 times a second and will locate fish at slow plane out speeds. Although slower speeds are better. The 640 pixels make the details very easy to read. Feel free to send an e- mail with any questions. 1/15/05 Crooked lake has been awesome bass fishing till cold front just hit , but 2'' of warm rain will bring large female bass to the beds. The next calm warm front should be awesome fishing . 2/04/05 First off , if you sent an e-mail and did not receive a reply please send another, my e-mail software was blocking some addresses. Next the Bass fishing on Crooked lake has been awesome, several bass 9lbs have been caught , several 7lb to 8 lbers' and a bunch 14'' to 18''. Plastic baits or flipping jigs works well in water 3 foot to 8 foot. Colors for senko's and worms and lizzards that work best are green watermellon with red flakes or black /orange. The fishing right up to when the cold fronts hit has been great, as soon as front hits bass slow way down . A few hours before the cold front hits the bass just go nuts. We are headed into another warm front starting tomorrow and there are several bass tourneys on Crooked Lake so it will be busy at Bob's landing . Should be some hawg bass caught this weekend. 2/15/2005 Post cold fronts have slowed the fishing till 2 days into the next warm front, the approching cold front fishing is awesome fishing right till cold front hits the lake. Starting into an extended warm front now and it is Hawg bass time. I have caught and released 4 bass 8 lbs + in the last 2 weeks, had 2 bass straighten my 4/0 hook so I went to 5/0 hook new line and I'm focused on Hawg bass fishing now. Remember never try to horse in a Hawg bass , take the boat to the fish and just keep medium pressure on the bass. Have your camera and tape measure ready and get bass back to beds as soon as possible. The less you run the trolling motor the better you will do fishing, slip into spawning areas like you are deer or turkey hunting and you will do much better also. If you run the outboard or let a wake roll through a spawning area , be prepared to wait an hour or so till you get a bite. 2/24/05 I've been guiding almost everyday last few weeks and fishing has been good to great. Weather has been great and fish are in spawn patterns. 10 to 20 bass in a 1/2 day pretty common with a  hawg bass getting on the line when you least expect it. Had one to the boat that was an easy 12 to 14 lbs and another huge fish that nearly spooled me but I never got a good look at that one. I've been using 30 lb test power pro and spinning  medium  rod and senko's. Most any good color will work.  During the spawn ,fish can turn off in a few minutes if weather changes and you can be on good fish and they just  stop till weather stabilizes. 3/14/05 Fishing slowed down some on Crooked Lake I'm going to try Ansin Garcia for hawg bass this week if weather let's me .Should be good inflow into Ansin Garcia with rains . Crooked lake always does this slow spell when weather get hot and calm , the hawg bass move in. Is a warm front coming now here . 3/26/05 Warm nights and warm days put hawg bass back on beds here . Got several bass 22'' to 24'' , missed a couple 10 lb + bass.  A bunch of bass 13'' to 18'' if you can find them active enough to hit. Flag weeds seem to be holding the better fish but water lillies edges always worth a cast or two. 4/2/05 Went to Ansin Garcia last Tues. and Wed.  First day we noticed the inflow gates were open on Ansin and fished a few spots on east /west canal as we headed to the inflow gates. The water was vey low and you need to really be careful boating there. It took just a few casts  to decide to hit the moving water at the southwest corner. After 3 bass each on 3 casts each, we knew it was going to be a blast . We had several bass 5 lb's + and most fish were over 16''. After 2 hours or so we decided to see if we could find something the bass Would Not hit. I had a bag of 9'' jerk baits so old they were stuck together and guy I was guiding for had a crankbait , they are both in the trash can at Ansin G. ramp now. Other than that most anything worked all day long. Wednesday we headed back to Ansin G. and crossing the inlet gates on highway 60 we noticed the gates were closed, but decided to fish some new areas and got 3 bass each first part of the day. We were going to head over to stickmarsh/farm13 but talked to several other fisherman putting into Ansin G. that came from the stickmarsh, they quickly told us the water from Ansin was being pumped into stickmarsh and had been pumping for days. But it was a circus with a zoo in the middle , elbow to elbow at the pump station . Having both caught that act before we decided to head back to Crooked lake and finished day with 12 bass 4/14/2005 Weather  is making the shift to hot and calm days , which means Bass will be finishing up on the spawn. It has been this time of the spawn that I have caught most hawg bass. Big bass can always be caught in very shallow areas all summer but early morning and late evenings are best on Crooked lake in the shallows .  The middle of the weed lines and deep grass mats best place to fish now and know that the bass will move more now. I like to sight fish this time of year with plastic baits, but you can use almost any style or type of bait you are good with this time of year. 4/24/05 Another cold front moving through today but weather looking ok except for winds. Next week looks great with warm front replacing cold one. Bass on Crooked Lake still on the bite in the shallows and deep weed lines , still seeing bass on the beds and shellcrackers also. Plactic baits worked slow are the best thing going for bass. 5/13/05 Hot weather has set in and bass are scattered in heavy cover with water temps in low 80's F. Tourny's have caught some nice bass 7lbs to 9lbs all on plastics used in heavy cover. Some bass on Crooked Lake are beginning to school on the surface on calm days but schools are small and spooky, schoolies should pick up as the water continues to heat up.  7/17/05 Man been a while since I have updated reports, I have been replacing roof on our home here and helping a few freinds out. I still sneak out of work and go fishing on crooked lake here though. It has been slow for me fishing because midday only time I could go fishing . Flipping senko type baits and trick worms has worked well for bass . The local tourney guys have done well on hogg bass 11 lbs. to 8 lbs. in most tourney's. Man they are killing me seeing them head out of Bob's landing at sun up as I'm dragging shingles up on my roof.. Crooked Lake water levels are near record high levels and will most likely go higher as hurricanes and storms do their thing here. Live bait a must for hog bluegills and shellcrackers here.Crickets and redworms and dry flies work great when they are active. Evening T-storms a given here now . The night fishing for Bass and Crappie can be awesome now if you on'm. 8/22/05 Still on house remodeling here but bass are on good if you can stand the heat and heat index is 110 f degrees or higher most days here. Most bass feeding in passes on small minnows , crank baits and plastics work well . Make no noise. 9/22/05 Bass fishing has been great most days when wind stays under 15 mph. Mornings have been best in water 25' to 30' deep in the passes. Junebug plastic worms with small weight works  well on bottom around bait fish. Most lakes in the area here are reporting slow fishing but Crooked lake is great. But you have to be on the fish and the fish are following the bait fish around . 20 bass in a 3 hours pretty common now here. 10/16/05 Fall weather pattern is starting to develop now with dry air and a cooling off of water temps. Bait fish are beginning to scatter some and the bass with them. Wilma is starting to build off the coast of cuba and looks like it will become a hurricane. Bass and crappies should school up and feed  this coming week. Find the bait fish and you should have no problem catching either. 11/6/05 Well Wilma did her thing and no harm to fishing here . Bass slow mid day on crooked lake but fast morning and evenings. Just have to be on them .  11/19/05 T.S. Gamma is near Cuba now and headed Northeast and south of keys so weather should be windy but just for a few days. I have a new internet high speed provider so this site will be on the internet till end of November, I will have a new site finished soon but address will be different. Just google crooked lake Florida bass fishing on search and it should come up in December. Now on to fishing , Bass are active in the late afternoon till dark and are hitting plastic worms on the bottom with weight forward. Drop offs near deep water and passes best spots but some bass in deep grass lines in 9 foot of water. The crappies are starting to feed better on low wind mornings on jigs drifting or using slip cork floats near deep water with bait fish in area. 12/1/05 The crappie and bass fishing had been great till last 2 cold fronts and wind storms we got here. Fish are moving and staging up for the spawn and are tuff to find now ,mostly because of the wind and moving around a lot. Water temp. is 68 degrees and I usually limit out on 2 lb. crappies this time of year. But water levels are up 11 feet since 3 hurricanes hit here and their patterns have changed some. Some folks are upset because fish are tuff to find now, but I love checking out new spots finding them, I guess learning to find the fish is what makes a good fisherman better. 12/05/05 Well I found the crappies and they are nice but they will move as weather changes . Small jigs work well with split shots added to deal with the wind . You just have to drift fish areas with bait fish showing on depth finder. 12/06/05   The bass bite has been been very good this fall on  the points near deep water and in the passes near Wert's point. But now the bass bite on the weed lines has dropped off and bass are holding in the deep waters with the schools of bait fish. Break lines fished with plastic worms(june bug with sparkle) in 25 to 30 foot of water near bait fish is the best to try now. The good news is that crappies are schooled up on deep breaks and hitting 1/32 oz tube jigs ( red head with white tail works great ). Most crappies running 1 1/2 lbs. but many 2 lbs. + . Drift fishing, when winds are light, works best for both crappies and bass till you can locate a prime spot . Low to medium wind days are the best to fish. 12/18/05 Crappie fishing was very good the last few days many running 1 lb. to 2lbs. I'm  beginning to really like the blakemore 1/16 oz. jigs fished with no weight on calm or low wind days. Bass seem to like them ok also. My good friends Jack & Larry are doing well with live shinners and minnows as well though. You just have to find feeding fish around and in the bait fish, with the weather changing fast now it can be tuff to fish some areas when wind comes up but most deep holes and points still hold fish. 12/26/05 It's been windy last few days, which has been ok to do holiday stuff and take the time to clean reels and spool new line. It's time to get ready for the Bass spawn here on Crooked Lake in Florida. This week looks like a mild warm front and light winds, which should start the bass to spawn here. Crappie fishing in the mornings and bass fishing in the evenings seems to work best.  12/28/05 Got 15 Bass yesterday in shallow areas on Crooked Lake. All were between 14'' and 18''. Some beds are starting to show up and this coming warm front should produce some huge Hawg Bass. 1/5/06 Big bass are on a spawning pattern on Crooked Lake as well as most lakes in this area. With a cold front headed this way for the weekend , the bass should become very active before the front hits here. Monday temps are going to return to normal so the front should be short lived. I have been getting several 10 lb. class bass per trip here. 2 to 3 lb. bass can wear your arm out if you can locate a school of them feeding. 1/12/06 Bass fishing continues to improve along with some super nice weather for this time of year. On Crooked Lake Florida the big bass are becoming more common each day. Plastic weedless baits are working very well. I like junebug with flakes colors but other folks doing ok with pumpkin seed green and other light colors so try both. Making no noise in shallow water is more important than colors and bait style and types. 1/19/06 Windy cold fronts push bass into deeper water and the extended warm fronts put them back in the shallow areas. This time of year on Crooked lake a warm front with a warm rain can trigger bass in large numbers to spawn, this can produce a period of fishing days that are the best ever. An extended warm front is beginning today. 1/25/06 Big Bass are on now at Crooked Lake , Florida as well as most area lakes near here. A mild cold front is moving though here today but should have little effect on the fishing. The winds remain light and the following warm front seems extended. It all adds up to some great fishing for many days to come. Had Two Bass 8 lbs. yesterday and missed 2 hawgs bigger. Got 24 bass all day and only 3 were under 14''. 2/4/06 Well the first warm rains of spring have arrived here. Tampa got 15'' of rain in a few hours it was raining 4 inches an hour, that was a bit much to deal with there. On Crooked Lake we received 3'' to 6'' which is ok. In all years in the past 20 years, the first warm rains here have always triggered the bass to spawn . The spawn had already started but the rains should get the big bass working the beds longer during the mid-day. I would like to see some hot weather with highs near 80 degrees but that may be a week or so away yet. I'll know better tomorrow after I fish. I just got 2 new rods and reels and I plan to give'm a good workout tomorrow. One is a hand made 7.5 foot grafite composit medium heavy rod with a Shimino 4000 reel, the other is a Quantum 7.0 foot rod with a Quantum 4000 reel. Both spinning . 2/9/06 Bass Fishing is set to get much better if weather would become more stable. Today and tomorrow look to be a good Hawg Bass fishing weather setup. Crappies should be on with full moon also. Sunday might be a high wind day so be careful on the big lakes .

2/13/06

One Nasty Cold snap this weekend. A warm front begins tomorrow Feb.14 and bass should be back to spawning in a day or two. Most area lakes here will have a water temp. of 58 degrees or so on the main lake  and the shallows should warm up into the upper 60 degree range late in the day, that will draw the bass to spawn .

2/19/06

Well if you are not catching bass in Florida now you are doing something wrong, they are going nuts. The weather is near perfect here on Crooked Lake Florida and will be for the next week or longer.

2/27/06

We had a mild cold front with a warm rain this weekend and high winds with the squall front that hit the bassmasters classic on Toho this weekend.  While the storm  and wind will stir up silt on large open water lakes and slow the fishing, smaller lakes will change very little. As usual the cold front is being followed by an extended warm front and the spawn should move into high gear on Crooked Lake and area lakes this week.

3/8/068

Mild cold front ending today and going into a major warm front. Light winds and warm days should put bass on the beds again . It is good to fish in deeper water as well as shallow areas at this time of year because the main lake water temps. begin to rise as the daily low temps. rise at night as well as higher day temps. Some big bass should be caught this next few weeks on all area lakes.

3/21/06

Crooked lake has been great fishing the past few weeks . The spawn should be about 50% done by now, but still big bass time of the year for a while to come. The crappies are starting to move to the points and deep channels now. A mild cool front moving over Florida this week should provide some good fishing.

4/1/06

The bass fishing still great on calm or light wind days sight fishing with plastic baits works great. Crappies in transition pattern and moving around alot. Bluegills and shellcrackers in the weeds . Weather is perfect today and I'm gone fishing.

5/1/06

Crooked Lake has been very good fishing for bass and bluegills. Mayfly hatches have started and bass are still holding on deep weed lines . A few nice size bass in deep water spots at times. Plastic baits work well for bass , crickets and worms and mayflies hard to beat for bluegills.

5/10/06

Blue Gill fishing has been a blast and great eating also . The bass are still on to but big gills and redear shellcrackers on light rods a blast now.

6/4/06

Blue  Gill fishing and the bass fishing has been pretty good on Crooked Lake. On windy days I have done best bass fishing deep water points or deep grass mats. On calm days the blue gills and shellcrackers can be found  around grass mats but some are starting to school up in 20 to 25 foot of water also. Big crappies are starting to school up in deep water also , drifting live minnows or roadrunner jigs is a good way to go until you can locate them.

6/22/06

Bass still on here on Crooked Lake.

7/16/06

The heat of summer has set in most of the USA as well as Florida. Crooked Lake Florida has some very deep water , over 60 foot deep in the main spring that feeds the lake. Most fishermen would think the bass would be piled up in cool spring water that was  60 foot deep, myself included. But the very clear waters of Crooked lake also has miles of water that is well over 30 foot deep. The bass as well as other fish not only want a safe cool spot to hold up in, they also want to be in a spot where food is near by. The key here is to find areas that have bait fish near areas that the fish can hold in. The next key is to know when the bass and other fish feed. Put these two keys together and you will catch fish in any lake. It is really that simple .

The hard part is knowing what times the fish become active . These times will change with the seasons as well as daily weather patterns. But early mornings and late evenings are the most common times . I spend most of my time fishing alone during the worst time of day when the fish are inactive when I'm not guiding. Why? Because the fish are easy to catch during active feed times and I always can put people on the fish and get them catching fish during active times when I'm guiding for them. Knowing where to fish during inactive feed times can be a very hard task at times, but  these times are when many 10 to 13 lb. bass are caught during the summer. Even with water temps near 90 degrees the fish can be very shallow in 2 to 5 foot of water many times. The bass herd the bait fish into shallow areas at times in order to feed on them. After they are fed up they can return to cooler waters.

8/11/06

With the full moon now most fish will feed at late evenings on into the nite the most. Early mornings are good shallow because the water cools over nite. Points near deep water good in the evenings when the wind puts a good chop on the water and gets a current moving. Junebug worms and black/blue craws good around the deep weed mats. The calmer the winds , the less weight you should use. I'm getting ready to pour some black worms now as I speak , they have been out fishing the senko's and zoom trick worms by 3 to 1 and I've broke off on several huge bass the last few evenings with 15 lb braided line. I've been testing my worms for the last six months and I'm more than happy with them. Dog Days are probably the toughest time to fish mid day and my worms still get a steady bite so I will probably not make any mold changes for some time. If they work well now , my worms should be a killer when pre spawn feed starts soon.

Be careful in that mid day sun and heat on the lake , it can be gruesome and dangerous.

8/21/06

Bass fishing has been really good this past week on Crooked Lake . I've been tossing the top water custom made worms on mornings when bass are active on top. Late mornings I've just moved to deeper water and slowed the fishing down using a weightless worm and have done well. Several bass have been over 8 lbs. and a bunch of bass 3 lbs. to 5 lbs. Just about the time you think the big bass are not active , you hang into one in the 10 lb class. I have to thank a few mud fish over 12 lbs . for keeping me on my toes and ready for the fight that only a big bass makes. A big bowfin test the line /reel / rod and skill of a fisherman , and I get a kick out of catching those monster sized ones.

9/8/06

On Crooked Lake here in Florida the fishing has been good for dog days. Early mornings and late evenings still the best times to fish. Overcast days with a light chop on the water is prime time for top water worms for bass. Now is a good time to keep some red worms in the cooler and a ultra lite rod set up for pan fish. The big bluegills and shellcrackers can be found in the shallows as well as near deep water. There has been several Mayfly hatch outs on Crooked Lake over the past month.

10/16/06

Crappie fishing has picked up On Crooked Lake here in Florida. 8 to 12 crappies from 14'' to 16'' in a few hours in the morning or afternoon is pretty common. Crappie fishing should pick up as the evening weather temps. are dropping. Surface water temps. have dropped below 80 degrees in the mornings, to the high 70's. Bait fish are schooling up in deep water and the prespawn feed has started. Outside weed lines drifting or trolling small jigs is a good bet to catch crappies as well as drifting deep water mid day.

Bass are moving around a lot now and you just have to find them on the feed to do well.

11/9/06

It's been really windy for fishing last week. But before the cold fronts passed the fishing had been awesome . A lot of 18 to 20 inch bass caught . This time of year the crappies will begin to feed for the coming spawn as well as the bass will. The best times to fish is during a stable weather pattern . Days with light winds and high and low temps. that are alike for 3 or more days in a row. This sets up a pattern for bait fish to follow and the bass and crappies follow along with them. These periods can be the best time of the year to fish. Weather conditions and the skill level of the fishermen are the key this time of year. Choice of baits can make a big difference this time of year depending on if the fish are beginning to feed after a bad weather period or they  have fed up and are moving deep to hold up till the weather becomes stable again.

12/15/06

Bass are schooled up tight in deep water and starting to spawn in shallows. Water temp. on main lake is 65 degrees. Shallows 70  degrees or higher near evening on calm days. Big bass are in and out of shallows with weather changes. You can fish an area with no hits and return an hour later and clobber the bass, this means they are moving alot and building beds or looking for spots to build nest. Water temps are not a factor unless there is a major cold front. The bass will move from deep to shallow with weather changes. Cold fronts, after they hit, will move the bass deeper where they will hold till the weather warms the shallows once again. Deep points near shallow areas are the key to finding big bass. The bass can be deep or shallow anytime of the day or night as long as the weather stays stable. A zig zag fishing pattern from deep to shallow and back again will help you locate the prime depth to fish. Keep in mind that I'm talking about bass fishing.  Crooked Lake, in Florida, and other lakes will be different, but most pro's say to fish the North side of the lake at spawn, forget that,  just fish slow and make no noise. If you want to fish an area on the lake it is best to enter that area with no wake, no outboard running and the trolling motor on as low as possible , or better yet just drift and cast and use trolling motor only when you must.

Leave an area the same way with the trolling motor set up as shallow as possible , the bass may be near by and it is best to fish your way out to deep water and to avoid blasting the eggs off the beds as you leave an area. I have caught many 8 lb to 12 lb bass by doing this so I know it is the best way to go on all lakes. that includes the 15.93 lb bass I caught.

What baits to use? Well that one is a pretty easy question. Use whatever you are best at using during the pre-spawn / spawn. I use my home made worms in different weights and sizes and decide which worm to use governed by the weather conditions at the time. Little or no weight will work best in the shallows T-rigged. Tube jigs work well on deep points and deep grass lines but you may not see many fish on the depth finder if you make noise . Big bass seem to avoid noise this time of  year , but they will blast bait fish that a boat has scattered after the boat is long gone.

12/30/06

The weather front that hit here on Dec. 25th was mild here compared to north of here. But it upset the fish some , as the bite slowed for crappies as well as bass. Before a major front is usually the best fishing. It takes 2 or 3 days of stable weather after a front to get the bite going again . Looked for bedding bass today and saw none finished , just starting in the areas we fished on Crooked Lake today. A warmer than normal winter can make the spawn more spread out over time.

1/05/07

Bass fishing has really picked up this last week. I've seen many beds , well lots of beds well developed. I have seen no female bass on them yet, but they will be there very soon.  The crappie fishing slowed but I will try tomorrow for them and report here. The wind speed and direction decides where I fish and what I fish for, I seldom sit for more than an hour in any area if there are few bites.

1/9/07

Cold front moved into the area today, with lows in 50's, but it will only last a few days then back into a warming trend. This is the best time of the year to hook up on Big Bass. I spent the whole day last Sunday on the water ,sun up till sundown, and seen many female bass holding on beds. The bite was steady all day and weather was near perfect. I've had reports that most central lakes are reporting 10 lb. class bass and this should continue for several months to come.

1/18/07

Bass bite has been best for me from 9am till Noon. But the bass will become more active as the spawning increases. Crooked lake as well as most area lakes are reporting bass 10 + lbs. The big bass are very spooky in shallow waters.

1/29/07

Cold front here now with frost warnings tonite, fishing will pick up on the extended warm front that is to follow the next few weeks. A good warm rain during the next few weeks could really turn the bass on if we are lucky enough to get one. For now the bass will hold in deep water till the temps. in the shallows get warmer than the main part of the lakes are. This coming Thursday and Friday look real good to me for big bass.

2/2/07

Thursday was aweful windy fishing and slow day. Friday morning was a squall line storm with twisters all over central Florida. Got 2'' of warm rain and some calm wind and warm days would be welcomed now. Got one nice bass 24'' fishing in the rain Friday. 

2/16/07

The weather has been mixed with warm and cold fronts. A frost warning for tonite followed by an extended warm front starting Sunday. The bass fishing has been good to great, with the best days being during and before cold fronts. Bass over 20'' all over spawning areas now and hooking up on some very heavy fish almost every trip now. 10 lb + bass should be on the bite for the next month or two. The crappie bite reported to be good at night in deep water with minnows under lights.

2/26/07

The back to back cold fronts slowed the bass bite down along with high winds. Most bass moved off the beds . The extended warm front we are in now will bring the bite back on.

2/28/07

The Bass are in the middle of the spawn now with cold fronts moving them deeper and off the beds after the fronts hit here. Warm extended fronts put the fish back on the beds.

Putting a plastic bait near the sweet spot around active bass on the beds is the ticket to catch big fish.

Location of beds are all along most shore lines. On any given day some beds will be active with fish on them and other beds will be inactive. There are probably 20 reasons why one spot will be active and another will not. As to what baits work best this time of year I tell folks to use what they are the best at using during spawning times. I use Zoom worms and worms that I make in different weights and sizes to match the weather conditions.

3/30/07

Bass fishing is good and calm winds coming  the next few weeks should be great.

4/15/07

• High winds and a storm front here today. Winds dropping tomorrow and fishing will get back to normal with the post spawn patterns working well. Bluegills are active on the surface eating black ants and shellcrackers also on the feed now. Some schooling bass on the surface on calm days. Bass over 5 lbs. pretty common now.

11/30/07

I was away from the fishing for a while because of a car crash. I was a passenger and of course the impact was on my side,  t-boned they call it. I spent a week in Icu unit and those folks know little to nothing about fishing at the hospital so I left as soon as I could . Unless you live in the arms of an angel I recommend ya'll to be very safe out there in all that you do.

I'm just getting back to fishing now and folks are getting some really nice crappies here on Crooked lake some 3 lbs most 1.5 lbs but still very nice fish, Minnows at night in deep water with lights mostly, but jigs drifting with wind works well also during the day time. The bass are cruising the shallows early morning but mostly sunset looking over spawning areas. I'll have more reports coming now that I can get my busted up butt back on the lakes where it belongs.

Ya'll just be safe out there because the hospital I was at had no fishing magazines or beer , and who the hell would want to stay in a place like that  if they don't have to?

12/16/07

I got my boat out Thursday ,Friday and Saturday. Thursday was the best day hot and calm , I tried for specks for 2 hours or so and got one hit and missed the fish. I was beginning to think that I was too rusty and weather was too nice for fish to be on the feed. Plus it was now mid-day and never the best time to fish, I was wrong . I went out fishing because the weather was great and I knew a cold front was coming and fish always feed up before the front hits. I needed to run my motor anyway from sitting for a month and a half or so and I headed for a point and right on the deep side of the break 18 foot of water the bass and bait fish were stacked up. From noon till sundown ended up with 53 bass and 2 over 5 lbs. Most were 14'' to 16 ''.  C-rigged  homemade plastic worms is what I used and color did not matter.

Friday was the same as Thursday . Saturday was 5 bass on 5 cast then they stopped as soon as the wind picked up from the front starting to move in.

We did not get enough rain Saturday night and Sunday to raise the water level On Crooked Lake but it should help some to slow the drop. I never made it to south end to check out the county ramp there. But I'm sure it is shallow in the pass from Little Crooked lake to the main lake.

 1/7/08

Week ago cold front dropped temps. here to 26 degrees for one nite, pretty cold for Florida.  Main lake water temps dropped from 75 degrees to 64 degrees. Warm front now with air temps 80 degrees and it should continue for a week or so.. Bass should be in areas to begin spawning and crappies also. Both will move from shallow water during warm fronts and to the deep water during cold fronts.

Water levels still dropping and will keep dropping till rains come. Bass fishing has been good and big bass will be on the bite with this warm weather front.

1/17/08

First warm rains of this new year have arrived now. Air temps. in the mid 60's to 70's with 1'' to 2'' of rain expected and raining now as I type. While the fish would spawn if there was no rain during the spawning season, a warm rain triggers the fish to group up and get the beds ready. While the fish are getting things ready to spawn the warm rains will cause the fish to focus more on the beds. The fish will still stage up in deeper water as others will be shallow, but the warm rains will  put all the fish on the same page so to speak.

Cold fronts and high winds will slow or stop the spawning process and can and will make fishing hard. The worse thing is dropping water temps. and windy conditions that stir up the lake bottoms this time of year. As long as the weather stays stable we should see some awesome fishing this time of year with most of the biggest bass of the year taken from now till April.

1/29/08

The water temp. probe on most depth finders only measure the water temp. a few inches below the surface , unless you have a model that can be lowered deeper or shows thermocline layers. You can spend and waste a lot of time running all over a lake looking for the warmest water in hopes of finding a good spawning area. Only to find warmer water but few fish. That is because the fish need the right type of hard bottom as well as cover. Old spawning areas are always a good place to look over but a change in water levels can make fish few and hard to locate.

Bass will move to shallow dark bottom canals and coves after a cold front and at the beginning of a warm front to warm up , only to leave and search out a bedding areas. Look for calm waters during and extended warm front of 5 to 10 days and you will find fish. Watch the weather daily low temps. not the high temps. When the low temps. average out around 55 to  60 degrees or so it is a good time to look for the major part of the spawn to begin.

3/9/08

Spawn is on  now with an extended warm front here  now and  3'' of rain last week. High winds will slow up the spawn but just for a few days. I got a new Triton 19' skiff and I have room to spare now and can slide through a foot of water at will. Some of biggest bass of the year should be hooked the next month or two.

3/24/08