Hey y'all ....

[Chester]

I fish a typical shallow, small no-name Central Florida Lake ... about 300 acres ... max depth about 8ft in the middle, shallow around the outside ... I fish out of a small plastic jon boat ... little bit of vegetation around the outside, sandy bottom and little to no vegetation that I know of under the surface cause the color of the water is near to tea, clean but only about 8" of visibility ... I've caught a few Slabs out of this lake and I've heard of many limits being taken there ... the specks I've caught were generally while bass fishing w/ soft plastics ... I'd love to catch enough slabs for a good meal ... would any of y'all have any tips for finding them and catching them ... and do any of y'all think the flooding has made the fish temporarily unsafe to eat ... Thanks ...

[fatboy]

Chester, back in July or was it June, anyway I fished East Lake Toho and did pretty well. A local took me and we basically just fished the dropoffs of the humps with minnows in open water. Just use a good fishfinder and have patience. Sorry i couldn't help more.

[FalconSmitty]

In an 8ft lake very quietly would be a good place to start. Crappie will leave when spooked quickly. They come right back when things calm down, but in shallow water you need to be extra still and easy with your movements. I have added some extra rubber under my fishing area to keep down the vibrations. The wind is gusting at 20+ outside right now or I would be on my friday night trip.

[Chester]

Never thought to try night fishing for crappies ... what do you use ?

[FalconSmitty]

get a floating sealed beam light and a green sinking light. I also put a 25 watt 12v bulb on a pole above my head to see what I am doing. All you need is the green light in that shallow water. It will light up from surface to bottom. Minnows, shad, and jigs with nibbles are good baits. Minnows are the most consistant. just tight line with a few poles at different depths. You should have a ball. Good luck.

[Chester]

Thanks ...

[bnwbassman]

Where are these lakes at? I've live in silver springs all my life and have fished about every lake around central florida. Give me an idea of which lakes your fishing and I can tell you what I use in them. I love all the Ocala national forest lakes. Alot of bass in them too. They get little or no fishing pressure. Had one lake off of sharps ferry road I used to fish (about 100acres) in my canoe. I would get a dozen medium domestic shiners, fish until about 10am and come home with 8's, 7s, and alot of 4 and 5pounders. During the drought a couple of years ago you could walk all the way across it, Dried all the way up. Bet the birds ate good. Half moon another good lake to fish for crappie, I like to troll plastics but this is one lake where its very hard to get the to bite anything but a minnow. Lake eaton is very good for trolling in jon boat for crappie, Orange or white, Very nice size to them to. Lake lou is probably the best forest lake 25ft deep in middle, 10 ft around edge. Lot of crappie in it and very few crappie fishermen know of it. Guess they do now, lol.

[Joe]

Hey bnwbassman!
What about Orange lake a few miles north of you?
I hear it is a hot Speck lake at present.
Joe



QUOTE=bnwbassman]Where are these lakes at? I've live in silver springs all my life and have fished about every lake around central florida. Give me an idea of which lakes your fishing and I can tell you what I use in them. I love all the Ocala national forest lakes. Alot of bass in them too. They get little or no fishing pressure. Had one lake off of sharps ferry road I used to fish (about 100acres) in my canoe. I would get a dozen medium domestic shiners, fish until about 10am and come home with 8's, 7s, and alot of 4 and 5pounders. During the drought a couple of years ago you could walk all the way across it, Dried all the way up. Bet the birds ate good. Half moon another good lake to fish for crappie, I like to troll plastics but this is one lake where its very hard to get the to bite anything but a minnow. Lake eaton is very good for trolling in jon boat for crappie, Orange or white, Very nice size to them to. Lake lou is probably the best forest lake 25ft deep in middle, 10 ft around edge. Lot of crappie in it and very few crappie fishermen know of it. Guess they do now, lol.[/QUOTE]

[Chester]

It's a small lake on the border of Volusia and Brevard counties ... may be more of a pond than a lake ...

[bnwbassman]

Man I cant say enough about Orange lake right now. It had that sink hole open up in it a couple of years ago and sucked the water down about 10ft. But since the hurricanes the water level is higher than ever. When it was down the florida game and fish commission were doing spring shock test in loochoosa, adjacent orange via cross creek, and shocked up the biggest number and size specks in the whole state, according to a game warden I talked to. When the water came up in Orange lake I think alot of the crappie migrated into it. Went there right after last hurricane to see if water was up and caught 54 by noon. Partner went out next day with 2other people and caught about 100! Man you could do no wrong. We called a friend who lives on orange lake to tell him we were killing them and he came out with his airboat to trade us some gator tail for crappie. When he pulled up next to us we reeled up our lines, just to the top of the water and we caught 6 just sitting there talking to him, with lines dangling barely in the water. It was awesome. If you want to take home your limit very quick thats the place to go. sometimes when its windy bullrushes break loose from shore and float all over the lake, I spider rig so I try to get my jigs as close to the islands as possible, I have caught about 10 over 2lbs trolling next to them islands. Chartruese or yellow really work great, bass assassin 1.5in shads really work too.