Orange Lake

Don and I spent a half day on Orange Lake today. Really nice weather even though the fog was heavy this morning.

We caught 72. Because we both have freezers full of fish already, we didn't keep anything under a pound and a half, as measured on his digital scale. After getting 11 or so, we even started tossing back the larger fish. No need to take more than what is going to be used quickly.

This is our first time on Orange although we have fished Lochloosa a LOT. The fish are definitely running bigger on Orange than Lochloosa for us.

Here is Don with a throwback from today. Bad angle on the photo made the fish look smaller than it was. We got into some nice fish. Cleaned them this afternoon and most had roe.

Tom

Nice fish and a good trip. These conditions have been making me jealous of you mid week guys.

Nice going guys, some nice slabs.

Thanks guys. We are going again next week. We really have no clue about Orange Lake yet, this was our first trip. We only fished one area since we were hesitant to leave what proved to be a good spot. We just motored out from the state park ramp and started fishing. :) Any suggestions on areas would be appreciated.

Tom

Awesome

I fished Orange yesterday as well. That morning fog was like pea soup until about 11am. My GPS conked out on me about half way across the lake so I had to sit there until the fog lifted to figure out where I was. Gonna put me an old fashion Boy Scout compass in the boat for future use when the electronics go south. I fished the tussocks on the west end of the lake and didn't do that great. I used minnows, grass shrimp and bare jigs to catch a mixed bag of crappie, shell crackers, brim and bass enough to grease the skillet but I didn't get into them like a lotta folks did. I did hang into enough mud fish and gar to last me a while. One gentleman who was really successful told me he and his fishing buddy were dipping bare jigs with flat tails in the hydrilla around the entrance to Cross Creek. He said they were fishing between 2-4'. He said they culled a nice mess to 49. Go figure.

I drove down from Jacksonville and the early morning traffic was rough, especially from the construction at I-10 and 301 in Baldwin all the way to turn off to Gainesville in Waldo. It thinned out after that.

And I was told the Game Warden was there about noon on Wednesday checking bag limits.

Nice catch and thanks for releasing a few

Just finished cleaning my catch from yesterday at Orange Lake and of the 11 crappie I caught, 3 of the smaller ones were females with row inside. Guess it won't be long til they spawn.

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Originally Posted by sinkermaker

Nice catch and thanks for releasing a few

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No worries. It was funny tossing back fish when some were close to two pounds. :)

Tom

Nice work!