Despite the heat, bass are biting early and late in the day around Polk County
1. Around Lakeland, at Saddle Creek, the bass bite is good around the park on small and medium size shiners, speed worms and sapphire blue color plastic worms. Good numbers of bluegill and tilapia are being caught on crickets and red worms. The catfish bite is good on Magic Bait Chicken Blood. At Tenoroc, lakes Cemetery and Picnic are producing good numbers of bass and bluegill, reports Phillips Bait and Tackle (863-666-2248).
2. At Auburndale, Lake Juliana is producing good numbers of bluegill on crickets in the pads and along the shorelines. A few bass up to 4 pounds, have been caught on live shiners. Around the Lake Alfred area, lakes Rochelle, Haines and Alfred are all producing good numbers of bluegill on crickets. All three lakes also have a good bass bite on live shiners and a variety of artificial baits. Later in the evenings, some of the bass are moving into shallow water, around 2 feet and biting topwaters and shallow crankbaits, reports Ron Schelfo at Ron’s Tackle Box (863-956-4990).
3. At Winter Haven, on the south chain, lakes May and Summit are producing a good bass bite on live shiners, plastic worms and artifcials. There was a lot of pleasure boat activity on the lakes over the holiday weekend, but on Wednesday the bite started to pick up again, reports Schelfo.
What's Biting: Largemouth bass
Despite the extreme heat, fishing for bass is good around the Polk County area. The bite is best both early and late in the day.
Strike Zones: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
4. At Lake Hamilton, bass are biting at the big lake while flipping the pads with darker color creature baits. Black and blue swim jigs along the banks are getting the bite. Bluegill and shellcracker are being caught on crickets around the pads. Specks are biting while trolling minnows and jigs at random depths in the middle of the lake. The middle lake is producing spawning bluegill and shellcracker in the pads on crickets. The little lake is producing some specks while trolling minnows around the eel grass, reports Kyle Brewer at Hoppy’s by Crossed Industries (863-439-7616).
5. At Lake Marion near Haines City, with the hot weather, the bigger bass are off the banks in deeper water at random depths on the muscle bars. Spawning bluegill and shellcracker are biting crickets along the grass lines on the east shore. Specks are biting while trolling minnows and jigs on the pad lines at the north end and along the grass lines along the east shore, reports Brewer.
6. At Lake Pierce, the bass bite is good and anglers are catching three to five fish each morning, early in the day on plastic worms. Limits of shellcracker are being caught on red worms and crickets. The panfish are big and full of roe, reports Chris Beasley at Jennings Resort (863-439-3811).
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7. At Lake Hatchineha, bluegill are being caught in the pads across from Port Hatchineha. Bass are schooling at Marker 12 first thing in the morning. Throw a black and blue chrome color Rat-L-Trap for the best action, reports Charlie Wynperle at Bridgemaster Fishing Products (863-676-1009).
8. At Lake Toho, the bass bite is good in scattered hydrilla on freelined live shiners. The fish are mostly schoolie size, but some bigger bass can be found in deeper water hydrilla while trolling shiners, or casting crankbaits, jerk baits and Zoom speed worms. Bluegill and a mix of shellcracker are biting red worms on the shell bars and along the outside edges of the Kissimmee grass, reports Capt. John Leech of Bass Online (888-629-2277).
9. At Lake Kissimmee, bluegill and shellcracker are biting red worms in the pads in a foot of water at Ford Country and on the east side of Lemon Point. The bass bite has been hit or miss. “Keep your bait wet and cover a lot of water,” reports Bridgemaster’s.
10. At Lake Walk-in-the-Water, anglers are catching limits of bluegill and shellcracker on red worms in the canals at Indian Lake Estates. The bass bite is good at first light at the mouth of Walk-in-the-Water Creek. Drag a Carolina rigged plastic worm for good action, reports Wynperle.
11. At Crooked Lake at Babson Park, the south end of the lake has a good bass bite on live shiners and Carolina rigged, red shad color plastic worms. The bluegill and shellcracker bite is good on red worms on the bottom around Grassy Island and Wirt’s Point. Crickets in the pads are also producing the panfish around Grassy Island, reports Jim Childress of Big Bass Bait & Tackle (352-207-7520).
12. At Frostproof, Lake Arbuckle has a really good bluegill bite on crickets and red worms inside and around the edge of the pads. Moving water around Reedy Creek is also producing a good bite. The bass bite is good there on black and blue 10-inch plastic worms and live shiners around the pads. Lake Clinch is producing bass along the west side on chatterbaits, squarebill crankbaits and live shiners. The brush piles are still producing some bass on Carolina rigged worms. Good numbers of shellcracker and bluegill are biting mostly along the west shore in 18 feet of water. Lake Reedy is good for big bluegill on crickets and red worms on the bottom in 6 to 8 feet of water. The bass bite is good on candy color or red shad speed worms and plastic worms, reports Childress.
13. In the phosphate pits near Mulberry, the best bass bite is in open water from 4 to 10 feet deep, both early and late in the day. Shad color and firetiger crankbaits or jerkbaits in the open pockets of hydrilla are getting the best bite. A few bass are being caught on junebug red plastic worms or black and blue Senkos rigged with a 1/8 oz. weight, reports Danny Hamm of Bull Bay Tackle Company. (863-937-3292).
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Polk County's heat hasn't squelched the appetite of bass
