coming down from TN march 21; help me decide

[fieldsj66]

never been to florida fishing in my life so i don't know jack.

florida ed and storm 22 say istokpoga.

post your $.02 on where i should go.

going to be there two days and three nights. thought about fishing two or three different lakes. two different ones for the days and maybe somewhere night fishing?

are there lakes further north than orlando that can hold their own with placid, istokpoga, etc. for the dates given?

also if you recommend the same, do you also recommend henderson's fish camp?

any help with a pattern would also be greatly appreciated...i won't be around at your next tourny using it against you

[rooster tail]

Istokpoga for sure

[FloridaEd]

In answer to your question about lakes north of Orlando. If the water levels come up the Orange/Lochloosa Lakes would be a great location. They are connected by cross creek with Orange being the bigger fish lake in my opinion. They are about 15 miles north of Ocala off of route 301(Lochloosa) or route 441 ( Orange).


Modified by FloridaEd at 1:19 PM 2/9/2011

[JaxBullet]

Rice Creek

[fieldsj66]

what determines the water level there? rain? muncipal?

[fieldsj66]

is that brackish? tidal? looks narrow and municipal?

[ol man river]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by JaxGambler &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">
Rice Creek </td></tr></table>


dude , thats cold, he just doesnt know it !

orange and lochloosa would sure fit the bill...weve had some rain as of late...maybe someone will know if the water levels are back up some..

[2100greenmonster]

The water should be fine in Orange, and the end of march the fish should be biting good

[WIUbassin]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by 2100greenmonster &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">The water should be fine in Orange, and the end of march the fish should be biting good</td></tr></table>

Not trying to hijack your post fieldsj66, but I was very happy to read this. I'm gonna be down fishing orange march 8-13 for the first time and I've been trying to gather a bit of info on it. I was trying to decide the same thing as you and then I watched Terry Scroggins flip in a 10 pounder out of orange on bassmaster.com on day on the lake and that sealed the deal for me.

Any of you florida boys know if the spawn will be over by then? I figured it'd just be finishing up bout that time? I've heard it can be tough if its low.

[ol man river]

you should be hitting the spawn just about right....imo..but the fish usually have something to say about it ....

[gatrboy52]

<table width="90%" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 align=center><tr><td>Quote, originally posted by WIUbassin &raquo;</td></tr><tr><td class="quote">

Not trying to hijack your post fieldsj66, but I was very happy to read this. I'm gonna be down fishing orange march 8-13 for the first time and I've been trying to gather a bit of info on it. I was trying to decide the same thing as you and then I watched Terry Scroggins flip in a 10 pounder out of orange on bassmaster.com on day on the lake and that sealed the deal for me.

Any of you florida boys know if the spawn will be over by then? I figured it'd just be finishing up bout that time? I've heard it can be tough if its low.</td></tr></table>

the recent rains have come just at the right time.w/ the two major in flows river stix and cross creek the water should continue to come up.the spawn should be in full force in march.if we get the weeklong warming next week as they predict some of the mommas will move into the pads in the backwaters.if the water continues to rise alot of it will be accessible.the spraying last fall will open up a lot of it that wouldnt have been accessible otherwise.
the low water and xtreme cold knocked back just about all of the topped out grass but there is still some submerged stuff that will fill in quikly.
if we can continue to get some rain,the lake was at least 3' low from hi water last yr.,and keep the sprayers from killin everything that tops out it should be another banner yr. for orange.loosa's another story.

[Queencitybassman]

Sorry to re hijack your thread but I was thinking about coming down to lake okeechobee march 7-12th.. Ill be staying in naples and that will be the closest lake i believe.. thoughts?

[WIUbassin]

sounds like between the rain, the cold, and the spraying it shouldn't be to hard moving around orange this spring? I've heard that can be a problem once the grass gets thick and the water's low