New tournament Lakes

[fishin813]

Looking for suggestions for couple new
tournament lakes to fish for 2015 on
FCC schedule. Assisstance would be
greatly appreciated.

Presently we have on schedule

North Division

Harris Chain
Johns Lake
Crescent Lake
St Johns River (Astor, Fl)
includes Woodrift - Dexter - St George
Newmans
Lake Monroe
Lochloosa
Sante-Fe
Lake Dora - Bauclair-Carlton

South Division

Tarpon
Okeechobee
Kissimmee
Walk-in-Water
Rosalie
Arbuckile
Henderson (Inverness area)

Have had suggestions of Lake Marion,
Lake Hamilton - Lake Louisa, but have little knowlege of these...

Hamilton has had problems with boat ramp.
Marion ???? supposedly lots of Hydrillia
and fish tend to be on small side.
Lake Louisa - nice boat ramp - but up
in creek area and sometimes difficult to
traverse through because of downed trees.


Harold McGhee
[email protected]
813 215-9759

[Davedirt]

Lake Panasoffkee ?
Crooked Lake?
Lake Rousseau ?

[fishin813]

Crooked lake was fished twice in 2013 - clear lake, deep and very difficult.
Turn out was very low - Only way at present time to fish this lake is at night per
Locals and some tournament members.

Lake Rousseau - several have passed on this lake due to heavy downed cover, stump fields, lake has little markings that are accurate regarding channels and depris.
Competitors could easily get boats torn up, not worth the chance.

Not much information about Panasoffkee other than shallow lake..
We have put Lake Henderson on schedule this year as a test lake up at Inverness.
Will try and collect more information on Panasoffkee from locals and FWC director
in area.

Thanks for response Dave

[crappielimits]

Lake Talquin, Lake Seminole, Lake Jackson, Orange Lake. Ocklawaha Lake, Rodman. Your North division is all central lakes. Lots of participation around Talquin.

[fishin813]

Good thoughts sir: Just curious, are you from the northern part of state ?
Orange lake - cannot fish it unless have acess to fish with Air-boat.........We presently
fish Lochloosa.
Rodman - is good lake, but not necessarily good for tournament - as it has
tremendous amount of downed trees, stumps, etc - lake also (have been told)
is not well marked with correct channel markers..........During tournament, safety is
also a factor that must be ruled in (14 - 20 boats) vs 2 or 3 boats on a specific lake..
Not disputing Talquin - have heard a lot of good about the lake / river etc. Lot of Georgia boys fish the area. Also word out that unless you know area - plan on losing
a lot of tackle inorder to be competive - true or false ?

What kinda turnout would you think might come if a
tournament were held there ? Presently our schedule runs from Crescent Lake in North
to Okeechobee in South. with State Championship being held yearly at Crescent.

With number of lakes you mentioned - maybe we should look into starting a "Panhandle
div" Your thoughts along these lines would also be welcomed.

[fishin813]

Will need a little assistance on locating Lake Ocklawaha or Oklawaha - i can't seem
to find it................
Can you give us much history on lakes Jackson - Seminole & Oklawah
size of lake, depth, fish history...............????
See very little if anything on CdC posted about these lakes. Talquin seems to be
mostly topic in Panhandle area...........

Thanks again for your thoughts and support

[captankangaroo]

Istapoga may be good for south. has good ramps, nice size fish. just came to mind when i saw your post.

[fishin813]

you are correct - lake has good fish in it.............tried it on schedule 2012 -
Had very small turnout - high amounts of hydrila - possible distance, fuel
cost contributed at that time.
Was dropped for 2013 - 2014 .... Possible may try it again in 2015.
Thanks for reminder.

[crappielimits]

Talquin by far is the most popular lake in the panhandle. Jackson has just filled back up and is mostly bass fished, but holds some nice crappie that hardly get fished. Seminole to me is the best chance of a 3 pounder in the state of Florida. It is very diverse with grass, docks, timber and is formed by two major rivers along with Spring creek as a major tributary. I use to practice for northern lake techniques on Seminole before tournament trips. Caught a 2 pound 6 ounce there yesterday. Jared at Talquin lodge probably would help organize one on Talquin. I see George "Boo-Boo" Parker fishes with y'all and he is very competitive and knowledgable on Talquin.
I mentioned Orange because I was at Lochloosa Friday, caught 20 Slabs by the way thanks for help. Anyways a couple guys said that you can put in in Citra and at the fish camp? I didn't check, but Orange is a Great Lake. I had to throwback 4 out of every 5 fish on Lochloosa and wish I had tried to get in Orange.

[fishin813]

From what i have heard and seen to date, Orange is still in pretty bad condition,
due to low water, - until the sink holes are filled in the lake cannot recover to its
original status....................So sad to 27 plus fish camps go down because of
State - county not wanting to save the lake..................
Lochloosa is still producing quality fish - good eating size as well as tournament
catch.
Lochloosa Harbor inn is probably best place to stay when doing Lochloosa.
A lot of us use same camp when doing Newmans which also produces fine spec's ..


PM me on more info about seminole.
are there any maps on or about it....
fish camps or motels around it
Where are boat ramps etc

More details more might be able to make trip up with few guys for pre-fish check out.

Crescent still producing 3 pounders, more so in Late November -December when
spec's migrate to north end of lake to feed on the salt water baitfish...What a
smorgassboard of food they fill up on .... jumping weight 8 - 11 oz plus roe --