Lake Garcia (4/24/19)

[Capt. BassinLou]

Rick and I planned this outing on our drive back home from the first Meet and Greet on Garcia a few month's ago.  We made it to the ramp a little before 8am, and made a run to the West. Everything on Garcia looks fishy so we stopped in an area that looked promising.

3 casts into our outing, Rick catches a nice 18" bruiser using a swim jig. Thinking the fishing was going to be awesome right off the bat, but we quickly realized we were wrong.  There was 0 signs of life and the skies were pretty and blue. Not good, that just means a nice high pressure system was upon us and the fish were going to be hunkered down.



We moved around ALOT. Rick was picking off fish every once in a while and I finally scored my first fish almost 2 hours into the outing.  The situation was getting pretty bad, we were throwing everything at these bass, and nothing!! I needed a reset and we decided to break for an early lunch. During lunch we brain stormed and couldn't decide on strategy that made sense. I decided to TM over to some big mats of snotty green looking vegetation scattered with hydrilla. I picked up my Uvibe and swam the worm on top of the vegetation and killed the action as soon the worm approached the outside edge of the mat. My worm fluttered down into the shadow line, and then suddenly right in front of our eyes, this big bass swam from under the canopy and slurped my worm!! I set the hook and the battle was on. After quick net work from Rick, we successfully boated the bass.



Soon after, I repeated the same pattern and another bass shot from under the cover and snatched my worm!! Coincidence? I don't think so. Although we were not catching bunches of bass, we were starting to come across bass in consistent pattern. Thank goodness!! 









Fortunately, we were finding fish, but as fishing goes, the bite slowed down, the wind picked up and we were beat by 3pm. Knowing we had long drive home ahead of us, we called the trip and headed home. Quick glance at the fish counter and we had successfully boated 19 bass. 

Day in perspective: The fishing was tough. This high pressure system had these bass hunkered down and they would not chase our offerings. The strike zones were short and deep. But deep was 2.5 feet!!  The fish were striking on the bottom of the 2.5 feet, not the middle, not the top. But the bottom. Unbelievable!!



Thanks for reading. .

[big g]

Nice job guys figuring out a pattern.  A long drive for tough fishing, but you never know unless you take the journey.  Did you try punching the cover?  Good job and always fun trying those new spots.  Great job!

[zippyduck]

Tough fishing? 19 bass?
That is part of the fun, putting a pattern together.
I hope we have tough fishing tomorrow.

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[FLO GROWN]

Thanks for sharing!!! Glad you and Rick got some nice looking fish.

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[LgMouthGambler]

Nice job guys. When I first started reading I was thinking a wasted drive, but overcoming blue bird skies was a solid win.

<")))>{

[Capt. BassinLou]

Nice job guys figuring out a pattern.  A long drive for tough fishing, but you never know unless you take the journey.  Did you try punching the cover?  Good job and always fun trying those new spots.  Great job!

Thanks George. Rick punched for a bit, the wind was having its way with my tin boat, so punching was not an option for me. I had to stay on the TM and do my best not to get pinned into the vegetation. I stayed with the pattern I stumbled across.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Tough fishing? 19 bass?
That is part of the fun, putting a pattern together.
I hope we have tough fishing tomorrow.

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... thanks Zip. Rick and I were happy to come away with some fish. It was looking really bleak there for a bit. Rick and I were talking about how MLF was on this lake the day after our 1st M&G and how someone always cracks the code and figures out the fish. Fortunately for us yesterday, we cracked part of the code. FWC was out there shocking for fish yesterday, and even they weren't having too much luck!! 

[Capt. BassinLou]

Nice job guys. When I first started reading I was thinking a wasted drive, but overcoming blue bird skies was a solid win.

<")))>{

Thanks bud. We took the win, but ultimately decided we will not be taking this trip again unless it was for another group meet.  Just like you and I talked about this past Saturday. Our spots are producing nice fish no need to be driving such long distances. Rick and I were just curious how my boat would fish in Garcia. There were pro's and definitely con's 

[SFL BassHunter]

Thanks for posting Lou. Had a great time.

So when Lou says tough fishing it's really compared to what we are used to in the Everglades around this time of the year. As you guys have probably seen 30-40+ fish days. So 19 for us is kind of below average. But for many lakes that's a good day.

It really was a decent day of fishing just tough to figure out a pattern.

I did punch some thinking that if these bass were under that stuff they would bite if I put it right in their home. That wasn't the case. I got no bites that way. They wanted it coming off that edge and fluttering down. It's amazing how picky they can get.


Here are a few of my catches










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[BarryFL]

We've mentioned it before, but to effectively punch an area, you really need to PP or Talon down, stay off the trolling motor (wash underneath) and let the area settle down. You did the right thing to stand off a little bit and intice them to come out.

~Barry~

[SFL BassHunter]

We've mentioned it before, but to effectively punch an area, you really need to PP or Talon down, stay off the trolling motor (wash underneath) and let the area settle down. You did the right thing to stand off a little bit and intice them to come out.

~Barry~

I don't know about that. People were punching long before PP or Talon ever came out. Does it help? Yes, tremendously. But I don't think punching can only be done successfully if you have anchors.
We were at a specific distance from the stuff that lou was able to work his bait the way he was catching and I was able to reach the stuff with my pitches.We weren't right on top of the vegetation at any point. He was catching and I wasn't using the different technique. When I switched I started catching consistently as well. 

[FlatsNBay]

Nice work fellas. I was hoping the frog bite would be on fire.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Nice work fellas. I was hoping the frog bite would be on fire.

Me too!! Unfortunately the frog bite was nonexistent. Thanks Flats

[SFL BassHunter]

Nice work fellas. I was hoping the frog bite would be on fire.

It should be any time you are fishing in -2 feet of water lol. At least in my mind.