Winter Haven Chain of Lakes

Bream fishing should improve with warmer water temperatures. Use crickets and red wigglers fished below a cork near shoreline vegetation. Black crappie (specks) fishing should be good through April but expect the bite to be slower with rising water temperatures. Drift live Missouri minnows or troll with Hal flies and small spinners over grass beds for the best action. Largemouth bass fishing can be slow at times with the cold fronts moving in and out during the late spring months. Most fish during this time of year are caught live, wild shiners and plastic worms fished slowly around cattails and bulrush (buggy whips). Try using a lipless crankbait or jerkbait along deeper grass beds. Largemouth bass will begin to feed heavily after spawning, so try fishing shallow areas with cattails, bulrush and Kissimmee grass present with plastic lizards, crawfish, and other soft plastics such as the Zoom Brush Hog in Junebug, red shad, and tequila colors. If you don’t find them shallow, they may have moved out to deeper water. Try to find schooling bass and use crankbaits and spinnerbaits in shad imitation colors, and large Texas rigged worms when the bite slows. Tight lines!