Saturday, December 12, 2009

Lake Tarpon Report 12/10/09

Due to the inclement weather, fellow North Tampa Bass Club member Greg Eagle and I decided to nix our planned trip to Stick Marsh/Farm 13 and spend the day on the much closer Lake Tarpon. We picked up some farm raised shiners at Fox's Corner just to make sure we had our bases covered and headed out to the lake about 9:00am. The wind was howling pretty good from the NE so we headed to the East side of the lake (more specifically the Hunt's canal area) and got started. We worked the mouth area of Hunt's with no action tossing worms and shiners. I was able to get one strike on a Bitters Sling inside the canal but I couldn't boat what felt like a small keeper. We moved south down the shoreline over the "roller coaster" where Greg's shiner got slammed but spit out just as quick. After little action there, I decided to head to the canals in Little Dolly Bay to see if we could pick off some small ones running crank baits down the middle of the canals. I was able to boat 3 on consecutive casts but that was it for the Shad Rap. We still couldn't drum up a fish on shiners as Greg trolled one behind the boat up and down the canals. Still working the canals, I was able to pick up 3 more shorts on a junebug Bitters Sling before Greg finally got one on a shiner pitching up on the edge of a dock. It would weigh-in close to 2-lbs and be the biggest fish we would lay eyes on all day! After fishing the canals, we headed south down the shoreline past "the wall" where Greg picked up a couple keeper size on Texas rigged trick worms in junebug worked on the edge of docks. From there, we headed to John Chesnut Ramp area where I caught 3 more small ones on a Texas rigged trick worm and missed a strike on a shiner and Greg got one more 2-lber on a Texas rigged trick worm. We finished up at Brooker Creek with no strikes as there seemed to be no water flowing out even after the recent rains. The total tally would be 13 fish for the day with Greg's 4 fish all measuring between 1.5 to 2-lbs and all bigger than anything I could catch on the day. The shiner bite was non-existent, at least on farm raised shiners but the hits on artificial were aggressive. The water temps were between 61 and 64 and the air temps were probably close to the same. Unfortunately we didnt get to fish Stick Marsh but we had fun and made the most out of cold nasty day!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

New Florida Fishing Blog

Check out Dunedin fishing guru Kevin McCarthy's new blog here.

"This site is being created to offer fisher people of all levels exciting and knowledgeable fishing reports, product info,weather/tide reports,fishing regulations,photos/fishing stories and recipes providing every person with the opportunity to have a great day the next time you are on the water."

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Tarpon Tom's to Host Open Tourneys on Lake Tarpon

Tarpon Tom's Bait and tackle in Palm harbor will host an open bass tournament on the second Saturday of each month. Entry fee will be $50 and the tournaments are %100 payback. I will post more details as more are available.

www.tarpon-toms.com

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Camp Mack Open Results 10/31-11/1

This past weekend marked the first tournament of the Camp Mack Open series out of Camp Mack on the Kissimmee Chain. They will have a total of 12 2-day tournaments leading up to a 3-day classic next December. Tournaments will take place on the first weekend of each month through 2010. I love fishing Kissimmee so I decided to try my luck against the locals. I think I held my own even though I placed around 11th out of 26 teams, most of which were local Kissimmee Chain anglers. I finished with my limit 5 fish each day for a 2-day total of 17.35lbs. The winner doubled me up with over 16 pounds each day and bagging both big bass awards with an 8.04-lber day 1 and an 8.05-lber day 2. 2nd place was around 23 pounds and I forgot the rest but will post the results once the are posted by Camp Mack.
Water temperature was 79 in the mornings, heating up to 85 by mid afternoon. Fish seemed to be somewhat active but most were caught on Culprit Junebug worms and Bitters Slings in blue/black fished slowly.

For more details on this series go to www.campmack.com/CampMackOpen.asp

UPDATE: HERE ARE THE RESULTS FOR 10/31-11/1

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Lake Tarpon Open Night Tournaments

This taken from a listing on Craigslist:

OPEN BASS TOURNAMENT TUESDAY NIGHT 10-20-09 . 6:00PM-9:30PM. ALSO TUESDAY 10-27-09 . 6:00PM- 9:30PM. ENTRY FEE IS ONLY $30.00 PER BOAT.PER TOURNAMENT.
1 OR 2 ANGLERS PER BOAT. ARTIFICIAL ONLY. SO IF YOU CAN FISH..... COME ON DOWN. FOR MORE INFO CALL JOE @ 727-455-6209
COME HAVE FUN.. HOPE TO SEE YA!!!

Lake Panassofkee Report 9/26/09

Fishing was slow for the North Tampa Bass Club this month with 6 lbs 4oz taking first place on Lake Panasofkee. The river seemed to be the best place to find keepers as 3 of the top 5 spots were all fishing there. The main lake was still cloudy from previous rains as well as the Withalacoochie backing up and reverse flowing into the lake. By the time we got there, the river had again begun flowing out as usual and at a fairly good current at that. Soft stick baits and flukes fished weightless in Watermelon seemed to be the bait of choice worked along the weed lines in the current. Top bass honors went to John McAllister for the second week in a row and 3rd time this season at 3lbs 1oz. Thanks to the gang at Tracy's Point for the hospitality as usual!

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Lake Tarpon Open Night Tournament

North Tampa Bass Club will be holding an open night tournament on Lake Tarpon on August 22nd, 2009. Tournament will begin at 5:00pm and weigh-in is at 1:00am. Entry will be $80 with an optional big bass pot of $10. For more info on the tournament go to www.northtampabassclub.com and click on the link at the bottom of the home page.
You can also contact me at nowski85@yahoo.com or 727-946-8998

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Lake Toho Results NTBC/Xtreme May 30th

May 30th marked the 6th tournament of 2009 for The North Tampa Bass Club and it was held on Lake Toho. We managed to elude the rain and high winds for a pretty good day on the water! The pattern for the day seemed to be find running water and you will find the fish! Not sure if that was 1st place winner Calvin Boyettes pattern but he brought 11lbs 15ozs to the scales for his second victory in as many tournaments for the new comer, nice job! My partner Kevin McCarthy and I got lucky and found some running water up in a canal and managed to do fairly well. I landed big bass for the day at 5lbs 11ozs and Kevin caught a 4-11 tossing our baits up in the current and letting it bounce in the rocks and off the bottom. I got mine on a black and blue jig with a pork rind trailer and I think Kevin got his on a jig as well. I also picked up a few on junebug culprits and one on a swimbait to fill out my limit and take 2nd place with 10lbs 12ozs. 3rd place was Phil Hankins with 10lbs 5ozs and a 4lb 13oz kicker. 4th place was Tom Moore with 9lbs 13ozs and 5th place was Brad Arnold with 8lbs 13ozs. A total of 23 anglers caught 55 fish weighing over 104 pounds with 3 limits caught. ...X-treme One Man Series was on Toho as well. They had 88 participants and some very nice weights and big bass as well! Jeremy Smith took 1st and $5000 with 24.53lbs. Big bass was taken by Corbin Dyer Sr. at 8.21 lbs. Overall they had 9 anglers at over 19 lbs and 16 fish over 5 lbs weighed in! A lot of guys were fishing the mouth of Shingle Creek as I counted 22 boats there at one point!

My Review of Minn Kota® Maxxum 80/BG/Hand Freshwater Bow-Mount - 24v-80lb-52"

The Sports Authority

The Maxxum® freshwater bow-mount trolling motor from Minn Kota® was designed with tournament-tested power and innovative fishing features that serve one purpose: keeping up with die-hard boaters like you.


Great trolling motor!

Nowski Tampa, Fl 6/9/2009

 

4 5

This is an excellant trolling motor. It's not real difficult to mount either. It's very easy to use and has great power at 80#'s of thrust. I would recommend getting an extension for the handle though.

()

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Lansbrook Golf Course Report 5/21

With all the recent rain, I was feeling the itch to get out on the water so I recruited local Lansbrook fishing guru Kevin McCarthy and we headed out to some of our old spots to see if we could catch a few bass while not getting struck by lightning. We mostly hit a few golf course ponds as well as the firehouse lake near the YMCA. We started out with both of us getting a couple decent bass in the firehouse lake, mine on junebug Culprits and Kevin catching his on a lipless crankbait. We then hit the course fishing mostly lilly pads in a few feet of water. I started out pretty hot continuing to get them on junebug Culprits with a few small ones on a silver Shad Rap. I was up 12 fish to 6 at one point but Kevin tied on a Reaction Innovations Skinny Dipper in bullfrog and started yoking out fish on rapid fire! When it was all over, Kevin came out the victor with a 15-12 fish come back win and big bass to boot with this 3lb 9oz'er on a Texas rigged worm in the pads. I think he had 10 fish overall on the Skinny Dippers in about an hour and half! I think we have just added a new bait to our arsenal!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Lake Rousseau Report 3/28

Wiinndy! With wind gusts up to 30mph fishing our North Tampa Bass Tournament was a little difficult today to say the least! Throw in a stump filled Lake Rousseau and it's a recipe for disaster!
My co-angler Greg and I battled the wind and stumps for a good part of the day but managed to put together a couple of decent 5-fish limits to finish 1st and 4th respectively and more importantly not go over board in the process! We ended are day out of the wind by fishing some docks in the canal by the Bass Avenue ramp with both of us filling out our limits there. The mix of wind and submerged timber lay downs everywhere was a challenge as at times we felt like we were in a bumper boat bouncing off stumps just trying not to fall in! Greg took advantage of the early morning bite before the wind kicked up and nailed 2 nice bass on a white spinnerbait with gold willow leaf blades and 2 more nice ones on rattle traps with one going 4.15 and winning big bass. I on the other hand had to scramble most of the day picking up a fish here and a fish there to piece together an 8lb limit. We both filled up our 5-fish limits hitting a row of 3 docks in a northside canal with junebug senkos/Bitters Slings. I was hoping the shad rap bite would be on as it was last time I was on Rousseau but it just wasn't there today so I did what I could catching one on a texas-rigged Culprit worm in x-mas, one on a shad rap, and 3 on junebug Bitters Slings under docks. Greg finished up with 11.11 lbs winning his first tournament of the year and probably putting him in 1st place in the AOY standings. Overall, we had 18 anglers catching 39 bass with 4 limits.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Lake Kissimmee Report 2/28

We held our North Tampa Bass February tournament at Lake Kissimmee out of Thomas Landing this past Saturday with several nice bass being caught but only a few 5-fish limits. After a rough start to my morning I was able to put together a small limit before screwing up at the weigh-in and only weighing in 4 fish!
I started off by going to what I thought was my "secret" spot on Kissimmee but in the darkness of the morning or maybe I just wasn't awake yet, I completely mis-calculated and found myself on Philadelphia Point. It looked great so I decided to start there. The bite was slow for me in the morning as tried topwater frogs, traps, worms, trick worms with no luck. The water temp was about 64 to start with the air temp around 60. As the sun came up and heated the water a bit the action started to pick up. I nailed a nice keeper of a small point of grass but half way to the boat he spit my culprit. That was the only bite I would get on a curly tail worm so I switched to a trick worm to see if they wanted something with a little less action. It took over a half hour but I finally got a bite on the trick worm and it was a nice one! After a couple leaps she looked to be about 3 pounds and a good start but as I got her to the side of the boat she got stuck in some Kissimmee grass and before I could get here free she freed herself of the grass and my hook! I was dissappointed to put it mildly but it gave me some confidense to start pounding the trick worm with reckless abandon! About 20 minutes later and around 10:00am, after three missed fish, I finally land a keeper! She would go almost 3 pounds and I can now get the missed fish out of my mind! I went on to pick up 2 more small keepers on Philladelphia Point before heading to the "spot". Somehow along the way I got side-tracked and decided to hit an area in the Tiger Cove area as it looked very bassy. I was only able to get a one short in about a half hour so I took off. I decided to skip my spot for now and head to some docks in the Kissimmee River/Camp Mack area. Water was very murky and I just wasn't feeling it so I decided to head out to the "spot" and see if I can't get two more keepers to round out my limit. When I arrived I had only about an hour 'till weigh-in so I went to work. It only took about 10 minutes to get my fourth fish of an outside weed edge on a junebug texas-rigged trick worm. With about 15 minutes left, I finally catch my fifth keeper on the same bait and I happily head back to the dock with a small but hard worked limit! This is where it gets heart-breaking (at least for me)! I am tournament director so in the midsts of trying to get set up and get my fish weighed, I missed one of my keepers getting stuck in my weigh-in bag! I just bought a new Gator Grip bag with a mesh insert and he got his gills stuck in in the mesh as I dumped the bag into the tub. I even unwittingly looked into the tub and said "4 fish, 4 alive"! Oh well, I guess I was just destined to not got my limit on this day! Overall I had 5lbs 11ozs officially with 1st place weighing in 10lbs 8 ozs, 2nd-10lbs 7ozs and 9.9, 8.0, and 7.0 respectively after that. Big bass was won by John McCallister with a 6 pound 11 ounce bucketmouth caught on a black with blue flake senko. Oh, and the fish stuck in my bag survived after patiently waiting for the weigh-in to end:)
Water temps: 64-70
Air temps: 58-85
Wind: Calm in the morning, 10-15mph in the afternoon

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Lake Kissimmee 2/26 Pre-fish

I pre-fished Thursday for our North Tampa Bass Club tournament on Saturday and the fishing was really tough as were the conditions. I launched from Thomas Landing on the west side of the lake at about 8:00am and it was immediatly apparent that wind was going to be an issue! It was blowing from the north east at about 10-15 mph with gusts to 20. I started on the west side of Lemon Point as I was looking for the Pig Trail but mis-calculated! It looked great anyway (what doesn't on Kissimmee?) so I put the trolling motor down and went to work. I tried flipping a few different plastics bit it was tough to get off any acurate casts as I was being muscled around by the breeze. I tried to anchor up and pitch to some pads but it just wasn't working and I was getting frustrated so I made a run to the south side of Lake Hatchinea to get out of the wind. It worked as I was able to flip and work a worm around in a couple feet of water with ease but the fish just didn't want to cooperate so after 20 minutes I bolted back down the Kissimmee River and decided stop in the Ox Bow where Camp Mack is located and flip some docks. After flipping some senkos around for a half an hour with still no bites I decided to run back out to Kissimmee and try and figure out my next move. I made the decision to head down Tiger Creek to Tiger Lake and see what was going on there. After the fun filled slalom that is Tiger Creek I arrived at Tiger Lake and immediately loved what I saw. Long docks everywhere with patches of grass in between. The water was cypress stained but clear enough to see the bottom in a three feet of water. I pulled out my junebug Bitters Slings and went to work. It didn't take long before I pulled a small 10 incher out from under a dock. I had missed him on the first throw but he came back for it on the next. Finally a fish at 1:00pm, now I can stop thinking about the skunk! I kept at it and pulled another small one out of grass patch 10 minutes later. I thought I was on to something and kept working the grass and docks all the way down the shoreline but those would be my only two fish of the day. If I was fishing a tournament, I would have gone back and worked the area where I found the two fish but I was prefishing so I needed to keep searching. At 4:00pm I decided to call it a day and hope for better conditions on Saturday for my tournament! At least I got some sun and didn't get skunked!

Thomas Landing
3952 Sam Keen Rd
Lake Wales, Fl 33898
863-692-1121

Monday, February 23, 2009

Lake Tarpon Report 2/23

Got out and messed around on Lake Tarpon yesterday for a few hours with mixed results. I started fishing about 1:30pm in Salmon Bay (Anderson Park) throwing a trap in the hydrilla with no bites in about a half-hour. I saw little surface activity or baitfish so I moved on. I tried a couple deeper residential canals with a rapala shad rap again for about a half hour with no hits. Again, no surface activity so I moved on to another spot. I tried the John Chestnut area, working some senkos around the shoreline but the Sunday traffic was to much so I again moved on. I decided to hit a canal on the west side of the lake where I figured there to be clear water and there are usually at least some small fish this time of year. I threw a Bitters Sling in X-mas (junebug with red and green flakes) and started to get some bites. I caught my first largemouth about 3:30pm under a dock at the mouth of the canal measuring 15 1/2 inches and close to 2 pounds. I continued down the canal tossing my Bitters Sling under pontoon boats while chatting with a resident sitting on his porch having a beer. He told me the fishing has been so-so and that the females haven't really moved up to spawn yet. I noticed a few nests with a few small males scattered around but nothing over a pound. I got two more small ones on the X-mas slings before exiting the canal and focusing on a line of docks in the mid-lake area. I got one more there at 5:00pm measuring 15" under a dock and decided to call it a day. Total came out to 4 bass-2 keepers and one missed at the boat. Temps were around 70 with water temp about 64. A small front basically moved in the whole time I was out there but only dropped the temp a few degrees. Either way it was nice just to get out land throw some casts!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Frank Sargeant Outdoor Expo and Boat Show

It's time for the 18th Annual Tampa Tribune Outdoors Expo and Boat Show hosted by Frank Sargeant (formaly The Frank Sargeant Show) to take place at the Florida Fairgrounds Expo Hall starting next Friday the 27th and goes through the Sunday 1st. It's Florida's largest outdoors family event featuring the latest in fishing equipment, hunting gear, boats, and a variety of outdoor products and services held in the Expo Hall and Sweetbay Entertainment Hall. Along with a kid's fishing derby, there will be numerous demonstrations and seminars each day. Show hours are Friday 1 p.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. This is always one of the better fishing expos in the Tampa Bay area so I recommend checking it out! Be sure to get a schedule of the seminars because there is always talented local and national speakers giving away lots of useful tips! Oh, and Friday is always Free!!

Admission: $8
Kids under 12 are free

Florida State Fairgrounds
4800 N. US Hwy. 301
Tampa, FL, 33680

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Pair of Benefit Bass Tournaments @ Camp Mack

There are a pair of benefit tournaments that will be taking place within the next month at the Kissimmee Chain out of Camp Mack. The first is taking place this Saturday the 15th of February and will benefit Jacob Ellis who is the grandson of Brenda Lacy and was diagnosed with cancer. Unfortunately I don't have many details on Jacob or the tournament other than the weigh-in is at 2:00 and the contact number is 863-696-1108 for Camp Mack. If I get more details, I will pass them on but anything you can do to support this tournament will be greatly appreciated I'm sure! The second is The Barbara "Boo" Allen Memorial Tournament in support of the Good Shepherd Hospice. It will take place March 15th out of Camp Mack as well. Entry will be $75 and will pay back 5 places so get out there and support these tournaments if you can!

Friday, February 6, 2009

Tarpon Tom's Shiner Tournament Date Announced

A date has been set for this years annual shiner tournament on Lake Tarpon put on by Tarpon Tom's Baitshop. The tournament will take place March 14th, 2009 out of Anderson Park in Tarpon Springs. You can sign up early at Tarpon Tom's or pay at the ramp. Entry will be $150 and rumor has it shiners will be included this year! Winners are usually in the 25-30lb range for 5 fish!

For more info contact:

Tarpon Toms Bait and Tackle
36217 US 19
Palm Harbor, Fl 34684
(727)-772-0708

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Lake Tarpon Tuesday Night Tournaments

Starting March 10th, there will be open tournaments taking place every Tuesday night on lake Tarpon out of Anderson Park. They run 6:00pm to 9:30pm and will take place every Tuesday night through October with a 2-day classic at the end. Entry fees will be $30 per tournament. For more information, call Joe: 727-455-6209

Lake Pierce Report 1/31 - North Tampa Bass Club

The chilly weather didn't stop a few people from catching fish but overall the bite was a little slow as expected. Temps were around 38 degrees to start the day with water temps around 58 degrees with both air and water temps eventually warming to 60-62. We had our first ever tie with Kevin Hayton and Brad Arnold each bringing 7lbs 15ozs to the scales. Big Bass was won by Kevin Hayton for a 5lb-8oz largemouth. Rick Bayn took 3rd with a 7lb-10oz bag, Greg Eagle fished rattle traps to a 6lb-12oz 4th place finish and Keith Kozelsky took 5th with 5lbs-13oz and a 4lb-10oz kicker! I arrived around 11:30am due to a late night at the office but I managed put a small one in the boat and break off what felt like a nice one. Final results will be posted here:
www.northtampabassclub.com/standings.htm

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

North Tampa Bass Club Starts a New Season

North Tampa Bass Club will frigidly kick off the 2009 season this Saturday January 31st at Lake Pierce in Lake Wales. Temps are forcast to be in the 30's at blast off but the sun is expected to come out and warm us up and hopefully the bass! North Tampa holds 10 tournaments and a 2-day classic each year with an Angler of the Year crowned. Membership is $24 with entry fees being $25 per tournament with an optional big bass pot of $5. For more information, check out our website at www.northtampabassclub.com

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Dunedin Causeway report 1/5

I Headed out to Dunedin Causeway on Monday with fellow anglers Kevin and Dave for a day of kayaking in the sun and a few trout to boot! With my truck being the only able kayak carrier, the Durango was turned into a kayak moving machine as Dave and I somehow jammed two 14ft kayaks in the back and a 15 footer on top! We got a few looks on the way but she got the job done! We first stopped at Get Hooked Bait and Tackle on the Causeway to meet up with Kev and get some shrimp. They hooked us up with some monster shrimp, thanks Daryl! We then headed to the first bridge on the causeway where we launched and started our day of fishing.
We got out at about 11:45am with low tide being about 11:15am. We paddled out on the flats for about 10 minutes and decided to take a few casts. Before I could get my anchor out, Dave is hooked up! As I am fiddling with my kayak and trying to get a shrimp out, Dave lands a nice 20+ in trout. It looked like it was going to be a good day! Dave quickly hooks up with another keeper and takes a lead he would keep all day finishing with 4 trout. The fishing was pretty slow for me though as I only managed 2 dink trout with a few missed bites but enjoyed the day off in the sunshine! Every once in a while I would hear Kevin shouting that he was on and at my guess I would put him at 3 trout with all of them being keepers. The prize of the day was a 24 inch gator trout caught by Dave, his personal best! Next time I will get a picture!
Get Hooked Bait and Tackle
209 Causeway Blvd
Dunedin, Fl 34698
727-733-4665