Alligator Lake 7/7/12

We've been taking major advantage of all the water that tropical storm Debby dropped on the area a couple of weeks ago by hitting up Alligator Lake as often as possible. Unfortunately, the fishing hasn't been super great. Since there is so much water, the fish can go and hide in all kinds of places where they couldn't before so it makes it harder to find them. The day in question it was me and my son on the water. It was hot outside (in the 90's) and the water was really warm as well.

 

Here is what it loos like from the boat ramp. Notice the dock right on top of the water? Before it was several feet up.

This is a back area where we have never been able to get to before.

Another part of Alligator Lake we've never been to before.

 

 

 

Here is what the average fish we have been catching looks like. 

 The times we have gone since the storm, we only caught maybe 2 fish total between all the trips. I think both of them were caught this day. They were small, nothing "keeper" size. But a cool thing about all the water is we can get to places in Alligator Lake where we have never been able to get to before. You can actually go from one boat ramp to the other, where as before, the other boat ramp and area was completely dried up. There is a lot more to this lake than we've ever seen! All the water also makes it good for any regular boats with motors to be able to get in there in fish. It does make it more crowded than we are used to, but its so big that generally us kayakers aren't bothered by the bigger boats. We will hopefully be able to hit it up again soon!

Double Duty Saturday

This past Saturday we decided to try Suwannee Lake again. A co-worker of mine recently caught a near 10 pound fish out of there. And from the looks of it, you know there has to be some big ones in there, I can feel it.

So we got up super early, loaded the kayaks and gear, and headed out just before daylight. When we got there the sun had been up for only a few minutes, but there was already one boat on the water. Suwannee Lake has received a fair amount of rain recently so the water level is up.

Our focus was all the trees in the middle of the lake. We didn't really fish those that hard last time we were here, mostly because of the weather. I just knew that is where the big one was lurking. 

This is a picture from back in April when we went the first time. See all those trees? That's just one small section of them. 

 Since the water is higher, its much easier to navigate through all the tree stumps. And you can get to the other end we didn't get to last time because the water was lower. That is actually where the fish were caught.

 I caught 5 total. And nothing of significance. They were all 12 inches or smaller. Wife didn't catch any. It was fun, but still kind of a disappointment. I was hoping for a big one.

So we went home empty handed. We got some lunch. Took some naps. And then headed back out to Alligator Lake. I really wanted fish tacos for dinner.

So we fished, and fished, and fished. We had been there for a couple of hours before this happened:

Caught this one on a frog. First time I ever caught anything on a frog. He was small though. Barely the size limit.

 THEN. This happened:

A 4 pounder. FINALLY.

Over all, it ended up being a good fishing day. It just took a while to get there.

Lang Lake

This past Saturday took us to Lang Lake in Hamilton County Florida. Lang Lake is one of the Hamilton Phosphate Pits and the only lake of the pits that will be open this summer. Its 86 acres and you can only use trolling motors (or kayaks!) here, but gasoline motors can still be attached.

There were several other fishers there when we arrived. The weather wasn't great this day. It was cool, around mid 70's to 80 degrees and it rained off and on all morning, sometimes with heavy rain showers. We got there about 7:30 in the morning and stayed til around 2 that afternoon. The sun finally started peaking out about the time we were heading back to the boat ramp.

To look at this lake, you would think it would be great for fishing.

There is a lot of cover. A lot of cypress trees and grass and cattails around the edges. The water ranges from only about 1 foot deep to 20+ feet in places.

I have yet to figure this lake out. It seems like they will start biting one thing, then they just stop. I have fished here several times and I have yet to catch more than a few fish, and none with significant size (for keeping, bass have to be at least 18 inches in length). I know some big fish have been caught here, but none have ended up on the end of my line.

This is one of the 4 fish we caught this day. They were all around 12 inches. And there weren't any close together. We had several more bites than actual caught fish. And fish were bedding like crazy here.

We will probably try this lake again, especially since Eagle lake is closed til August. Maybe we will have better luck next time.

Guess where....Alligator Lake!

Thanks to a tropical storm that came through the area early last week, we got a pretty good amount of rain. Because of that, we decided to hit Alligator Lake again this past Saturday because it had been a while since we've fished there. Apparently we weren't alone in the idea, as there were several boats out there with us.

The lake itself got about 7 inches of rain, so the water was up above the weeds, making it much easier to fish. We went in the late afternoon, (about 5 o'clock) and stayed til dark (around 9 or so). The outside temp was in the upper 80's, with clear and sunny conditions. The water temp was in the lower to mid 80's.

Here was the first catch of the day.

This is one of the wife's catches...it looks like something (maybe a small gator)
 got a hold of this one before she got to it!

I even managed to catch a gar fish this day. Not a big one, but they're still fun to catch!

Over all, we only caught about 8 fish. The biggest was 14 inches, and it was the only "keeper" one we caught. All the others were around 12 to 13 inches. And we did miss several fish through out the evening. But it was still fun...it was nice to get back in to a familiar place and just relax and fish. Hopefully we can get in one more trip there before the water falls out again.

Lake Jeffery

Today we went to Lake Jeffery on the northwest side of Lake City. This lake is 114 acres and is considered a private lake, however it is accessible to the public. The entrance isn't anything formal; it looks like it would be someone's drive way if you were just driving by. There is a $3 launch fee, and it works on the honor system (there is a collection box at the top of the boat ramp). You can put in boats with motors, but the bottom is mossy, and slower boats/fishers have priority on the water. Also, since people live all around the lake, you can't fish within 50 feet of their docks. But there is still plenty of lake and edge to fish!

A couple of views from the boat ramp. 

The weather today was great. It was around 90 degrees outside, and bright and sunny. The only problem was the wind. Lake Jeffery is wide open, so the water was fairly choppy. Some times it felt like we were on the ocean. Ha.

The water was around 80 degrees, and clear. There is a lot of coon tail moss covering most of the bottom. There is a lot of cover for the fish around the whole edge of the lake though.

There are a lot of lily pads all around the lake edge.

The first catch of the day. Almost all of them were around this size.

Wife's first catch of the day.

Another small one.

Wife actually caught this one (I'm holding it so she can take the pic). It was the biggest catch of the day, measuring 19 inches and weighing in right at 3 pounds.

 Fishing here was pretty decent. The fish seem more particular here than some other places we've fished, so it took a little while to figure out what they were wanting. Even then, it wasn't consistent. Some wanted worms, some wanted top water action...it was a mix. I used a buzz bait for the last hour or so and had several attack it, but none of them wanted to commit to it. Some fish were in deep cover (like way down in the moss) and some were out in the wide open. Although we didn't encounter any other fishers or boaters today, since people live all around the lake (and most have boats of some kind), and its open to the public, there is probably a lot of traffic. We will visit here again, hopefully when it's not so windy and not the day after the full moon. Over all though, it was a great day. Definitely worth a visit!

More Alligator Lake

Today we took another trip to Alligator Lake. Todays water temp started off about 69 degrees when we got there this morning and gradually increased to around 74. The outside temp was around the mid 80s. Like usual, we caught some fish (and some sunburn). Very rarely do we go and not catch anything. The biggest we caught today were 15 inches long and around 2 pounds...we caught 2 like that. The rest were in the 12 to 14 inch range. We caught about 15 total.  You can see from the pictures that we used a variety of worms today. Some days they all want the same thing, other days (like today) they all want something different.



This is one of the bigger 2 caught today.

Some of the lake residents that were out and about today.