Thread: Orange Lake

I fished Orange Lake this past Tuesday and after being skunked on crappie for the past two seasons, I got into the the shell crackers. I used grass shrimp on a bare hook, no weight, no float, on a 10' fiberglass pole with only about 7' feet of line. It took me half a day to figure out that method. They refused to bite with any kind of hardware, sinker, float, etc. I even tried to use a porcupine quill float and they won't bite with that on the line. I was fortunate there was little wind because trying to judge the line's movement in more than a slight breeze was difficult. I ended up with 4 slab crappie, about 3 lbs each, two with roe. I also caught 30 shell crackers and blue gills, and not one mudfish or gar. About 1/3 of the bream had roe but it was immature from what I could tell when I cleaned them. I was fishing in lilly pads in about 6 feet of water.
There was a breeze most of the morning, but about mid-afternoon the wind died, the lake was like a mirror and the fish turned on.

Originally Posted by Conrod

I’ve never seen a 3 pounder..

Conrod I've only seen two specks that weighed three pounds in Florida. Both times were at tournaments that were off the St. Johns river. Unfortunately I didn't catch either one of them.