Harris Chain of Lakes

Largemouth Bass:

The bass spawn is all but over and we move into post-spawn fishing. Try fishing at the mouths of spawning canals, connecting canals, and pinch points. In these areas you can try lipless crank baits, deep diving crank baits, small swim baits or Carolina Rigs. After the spawn, some bass will be moving out to some of their deeper haunts. The Harris Chain Lakes have numerous shell bars that bass like to hang on and can be on fire this time of year, try fishing a crankbait, big swimbaits, Carolina rig, or Texas rigged worms. Anglers can also find consistent catches during the warmer months on the FWC’s fish attractors around the Harris Chain. Locations of Harris Chain attractors can be found below under the “Fish Attractor” tab. As we get into May and June, One popular technique can be to target Bluegill beds, bass will hang around these beds and can be a good place to try and get a bite. This time a year, Bluegill beds can be found around docks, shallow brush, seawalls, canals, and near shell bars. Try throwing a jig, crankbait or Texas/Carolina rigged worms. Bass will be more active this time of year, you can try topwater baits (e.g., hollow bodied frogs, devil’s horses) for more consistent topwater action try early in the morning or late in the evening. Soft plastics are always a popular way of attracting a bite on the Harris Chain, try a Texas rigged worm (e.g., trick, speed, senko) or creature bait. Anglers can swim a speed worm or flipped a Texas rigged worm in and around vegetation, the outside edge of the knot “Kissimmee” grass is a popular place to start. There is varying water clarity around the chain, for green water trying a darker color like junebug, black/blue or redbug; but for clearer water switch to a more natural color like green pumpkin or white. Top lakes right now are Lake Beauclair and Lake Griffin (including Emeralda marsh). Don’t forget if you catch a bass over 8lbs, take a scale-to-tail (whole fish on the scale) picture/video of the fish and submit it to TrophyCatch for great prizes.

Bluegill and Redear:

Springtime is a great time to target redear (aka, shellcracker) on the Harris Chain. Popular lakes include, Griffin, Dora, Haines Creek and Dead River. As the temperature warms up in Late March and throughout April the redear will move into spawn. Some anglers swear by fishing around the full moon. Try targeting areas in protected bays or canals with lily pads. Its best to use a cane pole, bobber and jig tipped with a grass shrimp, worm or cricket. You can adjust the bobber to fish at various depths, start off fishing 6 inches off the bottom.

Bluegill will spawn periodically throughout the summer in the Harris Chain. Most bream anglers suggest the best bream fishing is around a full moon targeting bedding fish. You can target bluegill on the Harris Chain by locating beds around nearshore vegetation (e.g., Spatterdock pads). Fishing with crickets, grass shrimp, or worms on a cane pole works well. You can also try targeting bream using small artificial lures (e.g. inline spinners, beetle spins). The Harris Chain has an extensive canal system, when fishing artificial lures try and find canals with clearer water. Bream fishing is an excellent way to introduce a kid to the outdoors. The Harris Chain of Lakes offers outstanding shore bream fishing opportunities, please see below for shore fishing options.