setomonkey Posted March 1, 2007 Report Posted March 1, 2007 I was in Florida last week on vacation with my wife, and had a chance to do some fishing while I was there. Fished for bass a couple of afternoons, first on East Lake Toho and then on Lake Kissimmee. Both are well-known bass lakes, Kissimmee in particular is on the tournament circuit and in fact there were a lot of bass boats out doing some pre-tournament fishing when I was there. It was hard to figure out what to do because both lakes are big and shallow. East Lake Toho in particular had almost no structure that I could see, just pencil reeds along the perimeter of the lake, in 1-3 feet of water, and a few canals with bulrushes and lilypads. Kissimmee had lots of lilypads, but it was hard to know what to focus on. I didn't have electronics or a trolling motor in the jonboats that I rented, so I fished "blind", mostly with plastics, though I did do some casting with topwaters & spinnerbaits as well. I did catch some bass, but nothing big. Talked to a couple of locals back at the docks and they hadn't done well either, so it wasn't just me at least! Here is a typical bass pic & some scenery pics. Took only a few photos b/c I was by myself, but I thought you'd enjoy seeing some open water right around now... We also spent a couple of days in Melbourne, on the central-east coast of Florida. We stayed at a place that had a dock and did some fishing one afternoon before going out to dinner. My wife caught her first saltwater fish on one of her first casts, a feisty jack crevalle, and we both caught a bunch of other species as well, including sail catfish, snapper, and sheepshead. The jack was part of a school that was busting bait about 10 yards from the dock, I cast into the boil after my wife hooked up but didn't get a bite. I did manage to catch my very first snook the next morning before breakfast, though it was a small one. Fishing by myself because my wife wanted to sleep more! Found a couple of places that rent boats on the Indian River Lagoon, and hope to do some more exploring & fishing the next time we are down there. We saw lots of birds, a couple of manatees, and a big 'gator that just cruised by on the creek. Mike
tinbanger Posted March 1, 2007 Report Posted March 1, 2007 Great Report Mike Your wife seems a bit camera shy ! If you're still interested in a day on the ice let me know . TB
ccmtcanada Posted March 1, 2007 Report Posted March 1, 2007 GREAT report! Although I'm jealous....LOL. Glad you got to go fishing while in Florida...nice pics!
setomonkey Posted March 1, 2007 Author Report Posted March 1, 2007 (edited) Dave, Yeah, definitely still interested in a day on the ice, let me know when you're headed out next. Only weekends will work for me. As for my wife, I wanted to post a report now that we're back but didn't ask her if it was okay to put her photo up, so I did some editing! I'll check it out tonight and maybe re-post. Mike Edited March 1, 2007 by setomonkey
1leggedangler Posted March 1, 2007 Report Posted March 1, 2007 Thanks Mike, I know what you mean about Toho, huge lake and it all looks like the same structure. I took a guide out there and did pretty well with big shiners. Both those lakes take a pounding with all the tournments and guides out there. Good on you for landing one on your own! Cheers, 1leg
irishfield Posted March 1, 2007 Report Posted March 1, 2007 Nice report Mike! Looks like you had a good vacation.
b2kptbo Posted March 1, 2007 Report Posted March 1, 2007 Mike, looks like it was a good time, great report and pic's, thanks...
Joey Posted March 2, 2007 Report Posted March 2, 2007 Nice report. I love seeing other species of fish. Cool, thanks. Joey
Master of Bait Posted March 2, 2007 Report Posted March 2, 2007 Great pics. Gotta love to be able to wet a line when on vacation like that. Nice lookin' snook! I'm sure that, when you get out on those bass lakes, it's probably tough to identify the productive areas, paticularly fishing "blind". It's never easy when there's so much cover that you don't know where to start. That said, sounds like you did pretty well for yourself. Good job.
Rizzo Posted March 3, 2007 Report Posted March 3, 2007 nice report. Those jacks can be a ton of fun when they are busting the bait like that, pretty good fighters too! Yellow bucktail jig always did the trick for me when it came to schooled up jacks.
Whopper Posted March 3, 2007 Report Posted March 3, 2007 Congrtas Mike good to see ya had a good time! Whopper
Mike the Pike Posted March 3, 2007 Report Posted March 3, 2007 Great report thanks for sharing.you need some help with photography though you cut the wife in half.LOL
sturgman Posted March 3, 2007 Report Posted March 3, 2007 So lets get this straight setomomonkey Your enjoying a fabulous vacation with your wife in sunny Florida, enjoying each others company and such, How the heck were you able to escape "alone" for an afternoon to go fishing under the curcumstances? Now that little lady is a keeper!! Thanks for the report seto
Rich Clemens Posted March 3, 2007 Report Posted March 3, 2007 Great report Mike. I too had fished Toho. Oh man, that was back in the 70's as a little tyke. My grand-father owed a house just across from the late in St. Cloud. In the evenings, I'd pull out the bike and head down to the local boat launch and fish from the dock. Loads of fun and lots of memories. I was down that way several years ago on vacation and drove around the places I had been before.
setomonkey Posted March 3, 2007 Author Report Posted March 3, 2007 Thanks guys. sturgman: I'm a lucky guy, my wife likes to fish too but she also knows how much I enjoy it and didn't have any problem with me taking off to do some bass fishing while we were in Florida. I would have liked to hire a guide to fish those bass lakes, because I didn't know where to start. I'm used to fishing lakes where lilypads, small bays, etc. are few and far between so you concentrate on them when you can find them. Kissimmee was covered in pads as far as I could see. I've downloaded some more pics, here's one of a couple of guys fishing from a skiff that cruised by one morning, I didn't see them catch anything while they were in sight. I wish I had access to a boat on that creek, I could see mullet jumping in the distance, too far to cast, and figured something big was chasing them. And a couple more species for Joey... sailfin catfish (didn't cut my wife in half in this pic!) sheepshead Mike
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