Yesterday me and my friend Kirk Balsley spent the day on this beautiful lake.  We got a late start about 9:30 am and the sky was bright & blue.  Knowing Florida bass can be fickle after even a small front I was not sure what to expect.  Today was supposed to be clear with wind 10-20 mph.  Steve had told me the fish in this lake were pure Florida strain so I thought it might be slower than normal. 

I had baits tied on 4 rods.  A new Berkley Choppo (their whopper plopper), a white swim jig, a Tx rig worm, and a white Spro Popping Frog.  The boat available at this lake is very nice.  It is a fairly large Pond King pontoon boat set up with 2 padded seats and an aerated livewell.  It has an anchor at the bow which is very handy.  The only suggestion I would make is that the trolling motor mount be on the bow instead of the stern.  

Even tho it was bluebird skies I started off throwing the Choppo and was rewarded quickly with 2 nice bass of about 2.5# each.  The owner wants you to cull all fish under 14” so we flipped the switch & filled the livewell with water.  Kirk was throwing his favorite Yellow Magic in shad pattern.  He caught a couple small fish on it. 

There are two prominent mountains of brush in the middle of the lake.  They are huge!  As we drifted by them I threw my Tx rigged worm around the edges.  I soon hooked a fat healthy bass that went 5.40 on my “Ken Addington Certified Scale”. 

We worked our way into the farthest corner away from the ramp throwing our frogs and topwaters around the numerous pondweed patches scattered around the lake.   There are about a dozen islands on the lake and most of them have pondweed around them.  Kirk was alternating with a wacky Senko and a light Tx rigged worm. 

The wind picked up (as usual) and made for some challenging times maneuvering the pontoon boat with the TM mounted on the stern of the boat.  My dad used to say, “It’s hard to push a chain”.  You need to be pulling it!  I would highly advise you to take an extra battery or make sure the one you have is a Group 31 or you could get stranded ¼ mile from the ramp.   We worked our way around the lake and had some success on different baits.  Most of the fish came on soft plastics. 

We decided to break for lunch about 1 pm and drove into Terrell to get a burger.   Back at it about 2:15 pm.  We decided to try the area to the north of the ramp when we got back on the lake.  I love fishing a frog on heavy braid so I started throwing it around the pondweed.  Kirk gets a nice fish on a Tx rig worm near a giant piece of old concrete pipe.  I get a huge explosion on my frog and the fish gets off looked to be about 5 pounds.

By now it is getting later in the day and the 30’ tall sandy bluffs on the west bank are creating a lot of shade so we decide to hit it with our topwaters.  Kirk is throwing his YM and a great fish of 6.31 grabs it silently off the surface and pulls it down while he is looking away.  I see the swirl and ask him what bait he is throwing.  He begins to reel quickly and soon gets the line tight with the biggest fish of the day!  It was a beauty-short & fat with beautiful colors. 

A short time later I get a 4.80 on my frog in the shaded area on the west bank.  Kirk gets a 4.0 on his YM and we catch a few more smaller fish.  At 7:15 pm we decide to head toward the ramp.  We make one more pass down the line of flooded brush.  I throw my Choppo into a small cut between the two mountains of brush and a fish just unloads on it as I reel it slowly along.  I wrestle her to the boat and grab her.  She pulls the scale down to 5.22 and we call it a day. 

The owner wants all fish 14” and under to be culled.  We had a small ice chest to transport the fish from the boat to the pond near the owner’s home.  We took out 11 bass under 14 inches. 

This is a beautiful property and a great fishery.  I only wish we would’ve been able to hit the lake on a day after the weather had been stable.  A cool front dropped the temps from the high 90’s to the 50’s a couple days before our trip.  That always slows the bite on those pure Floridas. 

We ended the day with 30+ bass and only 11 culls.  Our best five bass went 26.31 so it wasn’t a total loss.  We had to work for them and spend 10 hours to do it but we were satisfied with our results.  Overall this is an outstanding fishery to be only four years old.