2013 Kissimmee Hydrilla and Lake Maps Now Available!



Map of abundance and location of hydrilla on Lake Kissimmee

 

Reduced-risk Herbicides & More Access to Maps

Most recreational users of our nation’s lakes admit that invasive plants and animals cause problems.  These accidental invaders infest our waterbodies, often clogging waterways and impacting the balance of the ecosystems. 

Hydrilla is one of those invaders, and widely managed because of its ability to overtake native plants at uncontrollable rates. 

Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Foundation (AERF) and several natural resource agencies have been actively evaluating several new, reduced-risk herbicides.  The results are expected to help guide water resource managers for selective Hydrilla control in lakes, rivers, canals, and reservoirs.  By being plant-specific, these herbicides will continue to support past practices of managing invasive plants while limiting impacts on non-target plants. 

As part of the herbicide evaluation process, mapping techniques are being improved.  These techniques are allowing resource managers to gather faster and more detailed information on plant locations, effectiveness of controls, and overall biomass reduction rates.  This highly detailed process gives plant managers something they did not have in the past, a nearly precise measurement of plant control. 

One example is the work being conducted by the Fish andWildlife Conservation Commission and University of Florida.  They evaluated the submersed plant communities on the four main Kissimmee Chain lakes in January, 2013.  From this information they were able to gage the impacts and regrowth potential from previous hydrilla control efforts.  These details will help them better plan where future hydrilla management may be needed in spring of 2013. 

The submersed plant images are posted with bathymetric maps for each of the four lakes of the Kissimmee Chain on the UF / FWC website.  Navigate down the webpage and select the first letter of the lake you are interested in viewing.

Pre-practice Comes to a Close

Father Time caught up with me and I had to end my pre-practice session for 2013 on Kissimmee Chain of Lakes.  The past two months have been nice, allowing me time to examine the conditions of the lakes and moods of fish at a leisurely pace. Now it’s late January, and my tournament season is fast upon me.  The first event, Bassmaster Weekend Series, is scheduled on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes in two weeks, immediately followed by the Bassmaster Southern Open event Jan 31-Feb 2.
   
The Kissimmee lakes are acting very typical, with bass in all three phases of spawning.  Professional anglers like Chris Lane are predicting good weights.  Weed control efforts against the overgrowth of nuisance Hydrilla have taken affect.  Some lakes are fishing easy, giving up ten pounds limits within minutes, others were difficult at best.  The new lake maps that Florida's fish & wildlife agency has been placing on the Internet were very helpful to my practice.

Taking advice from Gary Klein I plan on fishing to my strengths.  That is, I plan on keeping a spinnerbait in my hand and slow rolling my bait through the deep, open waters of the chain.  Over the years I have been able to catch many bass six to nine pounds with this technique and for the Southern Opens I know that I have to concentrate on quality fish, not just limits. 

In pre-practice I had to slow down even more and occasionally cast a worm to a submersed plant bed to check if bass were present.  As you see, they were!

Kissimmee Chain of Lakes pre-practice bass, 2013

End of A Rookie Season



My largest tournament-weighed spotted bass (3.93lbs)
October 5, 2012 on Smith Lake, Alabama

While I was not new to fishing Bassmaster-sponsored tournament trails, I was new to the Bassmaster Southern Open trail in 2012, a trail which offered a level of competitive fishing like no other.  My final outcome was a 79th place finish in Angler of the Year points (top 32% of the field) and a decent year on the trail. 



In my first year on the tour we traveled from Florida, to North Carolina, to Alabama.  The types of lakes we fished ranged from southern grass lakes to upland reservoirs dominated by rocks and docks.  I traveled over 5,000 miles and provided my sponsors over one half-million impressions of their boat-wrap logos.  In addition, I was able to catch a limit a bass in all but one day of fishing, which allowed me to walk across the stage and be interviewed live on Bassmaster.com website. This brought another estimated quarter-million impressions to my sponsors.  Lastly, I was honored to be a guest speaker for AERF at the Bassmaster Federation Nation Conservation Directors meeting at the 2012 Bassmaster Classic in Shreveport, LA. 

Aquatic plant dominated lakes in the south



Rock dominated lakes in upland reservoirs

While I felt great about the ability to represent my sponsors, I did miss out on several key opportunities to finish better in the tournaments.  Reflecting back, I can list specific bass I missed because I made incorrect retrieve changes as they followed my baits, changes that caused them to shy away instead of hitting. In golf every putt counts, and similarly in fishing, every retrieve, twitch, or turn of the reel handle causes different reactions to the bait and determines whether or not a following-fish will hit.  The details of fishing are amazing and so important to the outcome.

Information Overload

It has been a while since my last post and I apologize to me followers.  I wrote several blogs but apparently never posted them.  While I continue to pursue my passion of knowledge, I've neglected my goal of sharing what I've learned.  Please accept my apology.

My second Bassmaster Southern Open event on Lake Norman in Charlotte, NC was amazing.  I caught 40-70 spotted bass a day in practice under sunny skies and calm weather.  What a fantastic fishery!  However, the tournament weather was rainy and overcast.  Fish changed and I failed to adapt.  Afterwards I learned the error of my ways.  I learned two valuable lessons that I wish to share:  1) spotted bass are very color-specific depending on the weather conditions,  2) the shakey-head worm is an amazing bait in reservoirs.

I finished just shy of the top-100 in that Southern Open event so I have a lot of work to do for the future.  I wrote a detailed summary and failed to post it but I will send it out as soon as I locate the file.

To get ready for the last Southern Open event on Lewis Smith Lake, AL, I've been working on tackle and techniques.  This is another amazing fishery with spotted bass and largemouth.  The water averages, get this, over 200 feet deep.  One of the clearest fisheries I've ever had the pleasure of fishing!  It is common to be casting a lure to the shoreline while your boat is sitting in over 90 feet of water!  Simply out of this world!

Mark my word, fishing technique, casting accuracy, and efficiency are going to win this upcoming event.The angler who can figure out the right lure/speed combination, be most efficient, and make accurate casts is going to win.  It's just that type of fishery where every ounce counts.

Look for my Smith Lake details very soon.  Thanks for joining me in my fishing adventures...
Jeff 

View of the Bassmaster Classic from Southern Open-Colored Glasses

This year I was able to attend the Bassmaster Classic and it was a great event and great to see Florida angler Chris Lane win.  But instead of viewing the event purely as a spectator, I actually had the feeling that I was taking a training class on how to act as a Classic angler.  You see, I am now fishing the Bassmaster Southern Opens, and each tournament I fish I will have a shot at winning an entry into the next Bassmaster Classic.

I watched the 2012 Classic anglers organize their equipment in their boats with the utmost efficiency.  In the Classic, time is extremely limited, so the better Classic contenders have learned not to waste one precious moment.  Disorganization can cost valuable time, maybe not the one time you have to search in your boat to find a bait, but add up all the times you had to search for baits in the tournament and it could mean the difference. 

I watched how the anglers expressed themselves, both with fans and when alone in their boats with their thoughts.  Focus was key, and even during press conferences each day I could see the top contenders processing and thinking about the words their fellow anglers were saying when questioned by the media. 

There are very few secrets in the Classic, and everyone knows what each angler is doing.  The media questions make the anglers reveal small pieces of information about the success each day.  Not enough information for the average angler to grasp, but enough tidbits for their competitors to pick up on.  For instance, I watched Alton Jones’s eye light up when day one leader Keith Poche answered media questions about his fishing area and how the bass were biting his baits.  While Keith never revealed the color or kind of baits he was using to take the lead on day one, he told enough to unknowingly help his competitors.  The next day Alton apparently used the information to his advantage and jumped up into 3^rd place while Keith fell down the leaderboard.

I watched how the anglers managed spectator’s boats, who fished well in crowds of other anglers, and who ran away from the crowds to seek isolated fishing holes.  I learned first-hand in the Southern Opens that once you achieve a boat wrap, other anglers will follow you more, mark your fishing areas, and take notice of the lures you are using.  To excel at the level needed to fish professionally anglers have to be able to handle crowds and recognition.  

The message is clear, to be successful you must be able to use ordinary lures in magical ways, not rely on secret fishing hole or secret lures.  Understanding how bass react to presentations and lure techniques becomes the focus of Elite anglers.  Every one of the Bassmaster Classic anglers were using fishing rods, reels, lines, and lures that everyday anglers can purchase and use. 

The Bassmaster Classic is truly as sport where knowledge and experience win.

Handling Misfortune

My big chance to finish high in the Bassmaster Southern Open tournament was lost when random misfortunes caused a shortened tournament day.

After six weeks of scouting the Harris Chain of Lakes and finding bass holding in a pre-spawn stage, I just knew that I had a mid-depth fishing pattern that would allow me to catch enough bass to place well in the event. 

My pre-tournament preparation began with maintenance items being checked off and completed, rods rigged and baits carefully tied.  I had a solid state of mind and a series of game plans depending on the weather and my boat number.  I was relaxed at the partner pairing meeting and felt in control of my destiny.

On the first day of the tournament I launched out as boat number 175, so when I motored into a my small cove it surprised me that I had the area all to myself.   The other 196 competitors overlooked my fish I knew I was onto a solid winning pattern.  I fished the area and caught a nice little limit of bass that weighed 10.10 pounds.  It was under my goal of 13 pounds but solid enough to place me in 53^rd place. 

On day two I was boat 24 and with an early start I was going to fish my best spot in another lake where I had found an abundance of larger bass.  I figured I needed about 15 pounds to make the third day cut of top-12 anglers; which should have been an easy task given the conditions and the pre-spawn group of bass I had located. 

Lady Misfortune had another idea for me and I never made it to my primary fishing area.  Something on my outboard motor broke first thing in the morning.  It was a random mechanical failure that could not have been prevented and I was forced to fish around the launch ramp on my trolling motor. 

My plan to reach my fishing spots and my dreams of earning a large paycheck vanished.  To say I was disappointed would be an under statement.  Yet, I still felt in control of my destiny and remained in a positive frame of mind.  I used my Bass Pro Shops AGM gel-cell batteries and Motorguide Tour Edition trolling motor to fish through 15 mph winds and catch two more bass.   

Even though I lost the tournament, I ended up earning 105 points for a 93^rd place finish. I beat over 50% of the field which included several well known professional Elite BASS anglers.  All in all, not a bad finish given my misfortunes.

I was proud that I never lost my temper or got discouraged. During my downtime on the last day I had a chance to meet with many of my product representatives, and the seeds of friendship planted that day have already begun to grow.  I look forward to a great year on the Bassmaster Southern Open trail in 2012!

ABA American Fishing Tour Nationals

- Price of boat gas in South Carolina - $3.34 per gallon;
    - Number of anglers I had to compete against - 315;
        - Cost of experiencing a lake turnover during a national championship - PRICELESS.



October was a month of change on Lake Murray in Columbia, South Carolina. Warm seventy-degree air temperatures kept the trees believing that summer was still present and leaves remained green. Two small cold spells dropped water temperatures into the high sixties and set the stage for a major lake turnover, when oxygen and water temperatures mix throughout the 200-ft deep reservoir. Local anglers were hardest hit by the devastating effect of this sudden water quality change. The dominate topwater pattern disappeared as schools of striped bass, blueback herring, and largemouth bass scattered and became unpredictable. This turnover leveled the playing field and this Florida angler took advantage of the tough situation and ever changing conditions.


Practice:


Our practice began on a Sunday, with clear sunny skies and a light west wind. Daily air temperatures reached the high 70s F. Hordes of bass and blueback herring were swimming the clear-water shallows near the lower end of the dam. Schools of shad were easily found by any observant angler boating up the stained Saluda River. The tournament was setting up to be a slugfest with local knowledge of offshore brush piles having the advantage.




That all changed when a cool night breeze dropped the surface temperature of the lake lower than the deepest water, causing the oxygen-rich surface waters to sink. United States Geological Survey data confirmed that the oxygen levels on the bottom jump from 1 to 7 part per million (ppm). This over night change allowed fish to roam the entire 200-foot water column. Shad and herring took advantage of this new feeding opportunity and quickly relocated to the food-rich deeper water. Anglers woke up to an entirely different lake system on Monday morning.





My Monday was no different. The fish that followed my topwater lures on Sunday no longer chased the baits. Every bass in my area seem to be sulking, swimming listless, or simply cruising the barren shorelines with bored interest in lures. Rocks, docks, and boat marinas became my dominant pattern for holding bass and a few coves still held herring.


Tuesday marked our last day of practice and I continued to discover and mark waypoints of coves that held good boat docks. I felt that having a large selection of coves was important to get me through a three-day event as the weather was expected to change and the wind was going to blow hard. Tuesday’s practice also gave me a clue to a second behavioral change in the bass: suspending. I noticed several times during my practice bass would follow my bait when I reeled it in to make another cast. To catch these semi-active fish I planned on adding a jerkbait to my lure selection for the tournament.


Tournament:


Day 1: I traveled 30 minutes to my best cove and it remained loaded with the last remaining blueback herring schools and wolf packs of 3-4 pound bass. A topwater lure quickly caught my first bass weighing about 2.5 lbs. Throughout the morning bass would strike my topwater baits but not fully commit to eating them. Something was off and I could not figure it out. I slowed down and began throwing a drop-shot worm around any nearby docks. This proved to be the right move as I landed a good 3.5 lb bass and many short bass. When winds began to blow I used a Rapalla Glidin' Rap over a wind-blown rocky point to catch my last keeper. I ended the day with three bass that gained me 30th place.


Day 2: Armed with the knowledge of a slow bite I threw my drop-shot worm almost exclusively on the second day and caught five good bass along with many short fish. I moved up two places in the standings to 28th. Topwater lures and jerkbaits continued to only produce short strikes, and again I noticed a lot of bass following my bait as I reeled them in for another cast. This experience mentally ate at me all night long. I did not sleep well as I kept waking up and contemplating on how to catch those 2 and 3 pound bass that followed my baits.


Day 3: After a night of restless sleep I settled on rigging up a Zoom fluke jerkbait for getting a reaction bite. When I arrived at my fishing cove on the final day I used the low-light morning hours to fish the jerkbait, but to no avail. I never did figure out the key to getting reaction strikes out of those semi-interested bass. When I finally picked up my drop-shot worm I only caught small sunfish around the docks.


By 10 am I had not caught a single bass and I began to have second thoughts about my entire pattern. I made a cast with the Zoom jerkbait and let it sink next to a dock while I took a mental time-out to think about what to do or change. That’s when it hit me, literally, a small bass hit the jerkbait on the fall and I landed my first keeper. I picked up the drop-shot and started dead sticking the bait next to every boat dock in my area. My dead sticking method consisted on letting the worm lie on the bottom a full minute after each cast. If nothing picked it up, I would cast to the next dock. With time running out I hooked and lost a nice 3-lb bass. I landed one last keeper and headed into the final day weigh-in with only two small bass for the day.


In the end I finished 42nd out of the 316 of the best ABA American Fishing Tour anglers in the US and received a small check. I learned first-hand what a lake turnover would do to bass in the fall. The cool part about the tournament was that I finished highest among the Florida anglers in the Championship, bragging rights that I will cherish for a long time with my Florida friends.


Check out my video on drop-shotting to see the technique I used. http://www.jeffhollandfishing.com/


Jeff

Powering Up for ABA Nationals

When I first began straightening out my tackle in preparation for the upcoming 2011 Nationals, I thought it would be a smaller task than it turned out to be.  Tackle was the easiest part, but checking out my boat’s power supply proved I was not ready for Nationals yet. 

First, I pulled all four batteries out of my boat.  Wow, what a filthy mess.  Grime seemed to cover everything.  My three Bass Pro Shop AGM 175 Deep Cycle batteries were going on four years old and holding strong.  Yet, I wanted to computer test them to make sure I did not have any bad battery cells.  My Motorguide Tour Edition 36v trolling motor was going to need all the power I could supply.  The local Advanced Auto Parts store tested my batteries and showed the battery cells were just fine.  When re-installing them I found the battery straps to be loose and in need of adjusting.  A loose battery can do some series damage in the bilge compartment of your boat when you are navigating six foot waves. 

Two items down and more maintenance to go.

Next, I went over my trolling motor wiring system connections.  I was amazed at how loose the wires had become.  Although I only tighten the connections a smidgen, the slack was enough to cause reduced power to my trolling motor.  Both the front plug connection and the stern breaker connections needed adjustments. 

With my batteries and wires in good shape, next I needed to verify the charging systems.

Looking over my XPS on-board battery chargers made me realize that I did not have any spare fuses for the three battery leads.  Each positive and negative battery lead is fitted with its own fuse for safety.  I do not remember ever reading about these fuses in a modern day boat-check list!  I visually checked each fuse and re-seated the connections.  Spares are now kept stowed.

Lastly, I replaced all my battery wing nuts with stainless steel marine locking nuts I purchased at my local ACE Hardware.  Locking nuts are easier to tighten and stay secure. 

Finding five items that needed maintenance reinforces the need to go over my boat's power supply system more often.  Doing it myself gave me the peace of mind knowing that my boat is ready and the knowledge that I have spare parts and the know-how to quickly replace them.   

This pre-tournament prepartion will allow me to focus on finding fish and avoid worrying about my equipment. 

When ever you get the opportunity check out the power connections on your boat do so, it will help avoid any on-the-water mishaps.

Wishing, Instead of Fishing

I was reminded of a valuable lesson during my third qualifying tournament for the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Weekend Series trail.   In practice I had found two distinct patterns, one a pre-post spawn bite and another involved spawning bass.  Typical of most tournaments the bass were biting really well the day before the tournament.  My first fish of the day was a seven pound female full of roe and ready to spawn.  I found that I could fish flukes over holes in the vegetation and catch numerous bass two to four pounds.  My other pattern developed when I fished a new brush pile that the state Fish and Game agency sank the month earlier.  While the hundred or so brush piles looked great, bass had yet to setup in the trees.  As I was running back to the shoreline I noticed pods of shad at the surface.  The closer I looked the more schooling bass I noticed.  One pass with a top water lure confirmed a large school of bass two to three pound bass were feeding and easy to catch.  I kept thinking this was too good to be true as not another tournament angler was in sight.  I should have known. Continuing on to the shallow grass line I shook off several bass over four pounds that I believed were post spawn females feeding up after laying their eggs.   The only trick to reaching the schooling and grass line fish was that I had to navigate a shallow, 1 foot deep winding creek that contained numerous blind turns.

I launched on tournament day as boat 21, and my worst fear materialized when I ran down to my creek and fog had totally set in.  Too dangerous to run in the fog, I settled to fish around the spawning bass and wait for the fog to lift.  My coangler and I quickly began catching bass but my mind was on getting to the easy schoolers and post spawn females.  I wasn’t fishing in the moment, but instead looking forward to later in the day when I could reach my schoolers. 

Because I wasn’t 1000% focused on my current fishing conditions I had to repeat my casts and fish numerous angles to get bass to bite.  It wasn’t efficient fishing but still effective.  By 9:30am both my coangler and I had our limits of bass. I started to get a glimpse of fishing the moment when I noticed the fog had lifted yet I wasn’t ready to leave an area that we were catching fish out of.  Wishing thinking prevailed and at noon time I decided to make the run through the shallow creek.  We arrived at the schooling area and while shad were somewhat present, the bass were not.  Fishing the grass line produced the same empty results. 

This is when it hit me; I was “wishing and not fishing”.  I had fished around quality bass all morning long but my mind was focused on an old fishing pattern observed a day early.  I was fishing yesterday instead of the moment!   I knew better!  I quickly abandoned the wishful pattern and went back to my spawning areas.  Sure enough, my first bass was a four pounder that culled a small bass.  My coangler culled out all of his smaller bass with two pound fish.  The bass had moved shallower with the conditions and not out deeper like most competitors around us were fishing.  We caught another 30 bass before heading in to the weigh-in.

I ended up getting a paycheck for sixth place with a little over thirteen pounds and moved up to eleventh in the Angler of the Year standings.  If only I had recognized sooner that I was fishing behind myself, may I would have found those eight to twelve pounds bass that were being caught all around me by my competition.  Lesson learned; concentrate on fishing, not wishing!

Leesburg Bass

Harris Chain bass must continue their annual spawn on a limited number of calm, hard bottom areas. Any angler who has put time on the water during the spawn has found the few hard bottom areas in canals, and these areas get tremendous fishing pressure. Bass are resilient, and they spawn on the rhizomes of spadderdock pads that dominate the shoreline of several lakes. This is what the good anglers focus on.

February in 2011 brought two full moons; the first moon brought freezing temperatures and the second brought warm spawning temperatures.

On February 12th following the colder moon, I fished an American Bass Anglers (ABA) one-day tournament. I was greeted to 41-degree air temperatures in the morning and 60s by weigh-in time. Water temperature ranged 54-58 degrees in the main lake and canals were colder (51F). Clean beds lacked any sign of male bass and conditions told me that my group of fish had ceased their spawning attempts. No bass fry were visible so I knew the bass had yet to spawn in this canal segment of Lake Eustis.

During this ABA tournament, I resorted to using lipless crankbaits over three feet deep bladderwort grass in the main channel to catch my fish. As slow, steady retrieve caught bass in the 3 to 4 pound range with several missed strikes as I lifted the chrome bait out of the water. I believe these were the female bass staging to spawn, as they were located immediately next to the clear-water spawning canals in Lake Eustis. It took 16 pounds to win the tournament and I placed in the top-ten with close to 10 pounds. On the same day, a friend of mine won the Fisher’s of Men tournament with a similar winning weight throwing lipless crankbaits in 6 feet deep hydrilla. Ironic how we both found the same pattern, under the same cold-front conditions, working totally different lakes with dissimilar water clarities.

A week later on February 18th the full moon had shown and spawning conditions in Little Lake Harris ripened. Confirmed reports of 20 to 30 pound bags came from canals and lily pad fields in the little lake. Main lake temperatures reached 70 degrees and canals rose to mid 60s.

On February 25th I practiced for the Bassmaster Weekend Series (BWS) tournament following the warm full moon and found sparse signs of bass spawning activity. A buck here, a cruising four-pound female there, and clean beds. Water was 71-74 degrees, and I could not find bass fry to indicate that the bass had successfully spawned. Fishing during practice was tough, with only three bites coming from pitching a sinko to spadderdock pad clumps in the stained water located at the mouth of spawning canals in Lake Harris and Little Lake Harris.

The BWS tournament was won with only 19 pounds, and many of the heavy-sticks who brought in 30-pound stringers the week before could only manage 15 to 19 pounds. Co-anglers in the tournament caught good bass throwing lipless crankbaits from the back of the boat and most boaters targeted spawning bass using pitching techniques. I found a fresh group of bass had moved up to spawn in the canals of Haines Creek and Lake Griffin. I finally observed bass fry and the guarding bucks easily hit soft jerkbaits. Many of the four to six pound females were still in the act of spawning, and failed to get them interested in my baits. I left the Harris Chain with water temperatures in the mid 70s, and bass starting to spawn on the main lakes. I learned just how quickly the Harris Chain bass move up to spawn and back out to fatten up on young gizzard shad.