Largemouth Bass - Orlando Florida Usa

[Carpe]

During the last holidays the kids took my wife and I to Orlando, Florida USA. At

least that's what it felt like. I'm getting a bit old for those "0 to 100km in 3.2

seconds" rides !

I was determined to get the kids to experience a bit more than the ever dominating

theme and water parks so booked up a couple of side trips to NASA Kennedy Space

Centre, Air boat ride on the everglades and as my youngest shares my enthusiasm for

fishing, a Large mouth Bass charter.

The Orlando area is extremely flat and from the air appears to be one big puddle,

( lake ), after another with only a tiny bit of land between each of them. We drove

for over 90 minutes on one interstate highway without encountering a single hill !

It is actually a fishing paradise. The climate and environment combine to create

almost perfect conditions for aquatic life. The lakes are literally alive !

Full of crustaceans, bait fish, insects, frogs, lizards, and of course BASS !!!

And a few Alligators thrown in just for fun.

The fishing trip started at 6:45 am at the ramp on West Lake Toho, where we met our

guide Steve, and boarded his 20' Triton Bass Boat. It was just light enough to see

our way out of the Marina in the pre-dawn light. Once clear of the marina Steve

suggested that we take our hats off ... or loose them ... and he planted his foot

on the throttle and we were oooooffffffff !!

Hey, just the ride out to our first spot beat the hell out of 95 % of the rides at

Disney World, and the day was just beginning. I don't know exactly how fast we were

travelling, but being so low on the water made it feel much faster.

As we slowed approaching a fishy looking weed patch Rowan, my 8 yo son had a grin

on his face bigger than mine, and it stayed there all day.

We fished with "live wild shiners", suspended about 3-4' under a small bobby float.

As luck would have it, I was out-fished yet again. Rowan's first fish was a Florida

Gar fish about 50 cm. Man did that thing have teeth ! Unfortunately Steve thought

nothing of it and cut the line before I could get a photo. He then followed this

with 5 decent Largemouth Bass with the biggest going 44 cm and about 2 kg.

I picked up 3 Bass and a mother of a cat fish.

The lake was so full of bait fish that on one occasion, whilst reversing the boat

we managed to "catch" 5 fish in the transom well ! We had backed into a shoal and a

few got stranded.

Sadly the bait ran out as the meter ticked down and it was time to return to the

ramp. What a wonderful day out on the water. Surrounded by beautiful scenery,

eagles, egrets and other birds calling and singing to each other, and a few fish

caught and released.

Or as Rowan described it ...

IT WAS AWSOME.

P.S. I have just taken delivery of a customized Quintrex 560 Freedom Cruiser so I should be getting out

a bit more to taken on a few local species.

BFN

Carpe.

[snag]

Well done thats one great looking bass, i have been to the states a few years back now and the bass over there go off.

[robeebee]

sounds like a great trip

congrats on the Bass

[Dreamtime]

The smile on Rowan's dial is worth a million bucks.

Imagine the fishy stories he'll be telling when he gets back to school.

Great read

Cheers

Mariner