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!

Suwannee Lake

Today we went to Suwannee Lake near Live Oak, Florida. Suwannee Lake is a man-made lake that is about 60 acres and filled with cypress trees. Most of the lake is shallow, so its definitely good for kayaking. You wouldn't be able to use a boat motor because there are a lot of submerged logs and stumps that are hiding just a few inches below the surface of the water.

This is the view you get from the boat ramp.

Today was mostly overcast, as we were on the front side of a storm system that was moving across the area so we were trying to beat the weather. We got there about 9:00 this morning and stayed until around 1:30 when the weather forced us to head home. It was warm, about 80 to 85 degrees with high humidity. The water temperature was 78 degrees. We caught around 20 bass, and Wife caught 1 decent sized mudfish.

My first catch of the day. Most of the were about this size. 

This was the biggest fish of the day. Wife caught this one. 

This one wanted some top water action. 

Suwannee Lake has size restrictions that are different than other lakes in our area. Here the bass have to be at least 18 inches. We didn't catch anything today that would have been a "keeper" for this lake. We started with plastic worms and switched to top water plugs after a couple of hours. We had good luck with both. 

We also saw a lot of different birds here, so its a nice bird watching area. The highlights were the wood ducks and several osprey. We also saw one huge alligator. This was a fun lake, we will definitely hit it up again when we aren't trying to beat a storm.