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.