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!