Thread: Lake Lochloosa

Originally Posted by flslabhunter1

I realized when I went back and looked at the post you were talking about bream. It has gotten to the point now that I am even ready to fish for bream. How you guys catchin em? Grass shrimp?

flslabhunter

Slow (very slow) trolling crickets. We would probably do better with grass shrimp but we are both too lazy to catch'em.

Tom

Thanks! Might try it this week.

My fishing partner and I fished Lochloosa yesterday. Bream for most of the day, but we hit some crappie trolling for the last hour or so before we got run off the lake by a storm.

Bream were slow and smaller than we have been getting. Crappie were scattered and we only had a bit over an hour to fish for them but we got 5 nice ones.

Lake is slowly coming up. Water is a bit higher each week now for the last four weeks.

Tom

Well, we're going again tomorrow. I'll post the results. Weather patterns this time of year make the trips dicey... afternoon thunderstorms are almost an everyday occurrence.

Tom

Fished Lochloosa again today.

Things were slow but steady most of the morning. We got about 20 keeper Crappie (they are still on ice, I've got to go fillet them now). We use the same measuring stick with Crappie we do with Bream... unless one of us says "nice fish" we throw it back.

My fishing partner got the most and biggest today, about a pound and quarter on the largest.

But let me tell you about the one that got away... it was one BIG Crappie. I got it right to the boat and we both got a good look at it just as I was reaching down to get the line, the hook pulled. It was a wall-mount sized fish. I'm glad my buddy got a look at it because no one would have believed just me by myself.


This morning, the fish were hitting chartreuse and then just like someone turned a switch, chartreuse quit getting hits and white became the color that worked. Funny how that happens.

Storm this afternoon blew us off the lake, but had a good day.

Tom

Hey Tom,

Glad to hear you guys are having some luck! My Dad and I went to Orange Lake yesterday and caught 39. The largest was 14". We caught them trolling jigs and minnows in 4.5 to 5 foot of water. Plan on going again tomorrow morning. Good luck the rest of the summer!

Flslabhunter

Originally Posted by flslabhunter1

Hey Tom,

Glad to hear you guys are having some luck! My Dad and I went to Orange Lake yesterday and caught 39. The largest was 14". We caught them trolling jigs and minnows in 4.5 to 5 foot of water. Plan on going again tomorrow morning. Good luck the rest of the summer!

Flslabhunter

I've never fished Orange. Where did you put in and where on the lake were you fishing?

We have been hearing some good things about the north end of Lochloosa too (it has a sand bottom up there) but have been hitting our regular spots down near Burnt Island.

Water was up a little bit again this week too, how was Orange?

Tom

Hey Tom,

We put in at Heagy Bury (sp?). If you go through Lochloosa into Citra, take a right on 318 until it dead ends into 441. Take a right on 441 and at the BP in the town of Orange Lake take a right. It dead ends into the boat ramp. We were fishing not too far from Mike's fish camp. You come straight out of the boat ramp until you hit the open part of the lake and veer a little bit left and straight across the lake until you get in 4.5 to 5 foot of water and just start trolling at a very slow speed with minnows or jigs tipped with minnows. The amazing thing about it is the fish bit until the storms came about 2:30. We caught the biggest fish from 1:00 til 2:00 (right before the storm). There were a lot of little ones less than 10 inches but the big ones made it worth it. We probably caught 100 or more counting all the little ones. It was some of the best summertime fishing I have had in the last couple of years. I am now very glad I moved to Gainesville!

I am going to Hawthorne tomorrow to get minnows and will be at the ramp about 6:15 to 6:30. If you want to meet me there, I can show you where we were fishing. I will be in a green F-150 with a Pro Crappie 175.

Talk to you soon.

Flslabhunter (Shane)

Originally Posted by flslabhunter1

Hey Tom,

We put in at Heagy Bury (sp?). If you go through Lochloosa into Citra, take a right on 318 until it dead ends into 441. Take a right on 441 and at the BP in the town of Orange Lake take a right. It dead ends into the boat ramp. We were fishing not too far from Mike's fish camp. You come straight out of the boat ramp until you hit the open part of the lake and veer a little bit left and straight across the lake until you get in 4.5 to 5 foot of water and just start trolling at a very slow speed with minnows or jigs tipped with minnows. The amazing thing about it is the fish bit until the storms came about 2:30. We caught the biggest fish from 1:00 til 2:00 (right before the storm). There were a lot of little ones less than 10 inches but the big ones made it worth it. We probably caught 100 or more counting all the little ones. It was some of the best summertime fishing I have had in the last couple of years. I am now very glad I moved to Gainesville!

I am going to Hawthorne tomorrow to get minnows and will be at the ramp about 6:15 to 6:30. If you want to meet me there, I can show you where we were fishing. I will be in a green F-150 with a Pro Crappie 175.

Talk to you soon.

Flslabhunter (Shane)

That is a very kind offer friend... I wish I could be there but we only get down that way once a week. We have been fishing on Wednesdays but my fishing buddy has to start going in for physical therapy starting next week and that is going to be on Mon., Wed. and Fri.

He fell out of his boat (on the driveway) while working on in not long ago and chipped a bone in his elbow and screwed up his shoulder.

We will probably change to Tuesdays or Thursdays for the next 6 to 8 weeks.

I'll give you a shout when we figure out his schedule.

Tom

PS: I saw that 2:30 storm that hit Orange as it passed south of us. We got clobbered later in the day about 4:30. Damn storm came in from the northeast instead of out of the west where we were looking.

Tell your friend I hope he is better soon and able to go huntin for those slabs again. I will probably be fishin a lot over the next couple of weeks so let me know when you guys are in the area.

shane