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South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Fishing: It's the early worm that finds
the bass
Steve Waters
Bass fishing in Everglades canals can be pretty good, depending on when
and where you fish.
An early start has been one of the keys to the success that Skip Reed
has enjoyed over the past month.
Reed, of Coral Springs, has put together some impressive stringers in
winning two tournaments out of Everglades Holiday Park. He and Hank
Krieg caught a five-fish limit weighing 29.63 pounds to win a Trail
Glades Bass Club open tournament. Then Reed teamed with Gary Dew to
catch five fish weighing 27.46 pounds to win a Team Renegades
tournament.
"You have to be in the right place at the right time, when the fish
move in and start feeding," Reed said.
Reed has been fishing close to the boat ramps at Holiday Park. While
other tournament boats are still running to their fishing spots, he's
catching fish.
"When those fish move in, it can be one right after the other," Reed
said. "Hank and I have caught a limit weighing 25 pounds by 8 o'clock.
Then we have the rest of the day to move around and try to pick up
another nice fish or two."
Reed has been successful fishing a Gambler 10-inch ribbontail worm
along ledges in the canals where the bottom drops at least a couple of
feet. When he gets a bite in a tournament, he usually stays and fishes
the area thoroughly.
During a recent outing with friends, after catching a 5-pounder on the
worm at one spot and having his companion lose a big bass on the worm
at another ledge, Reed checked out some other areas. When he came back
to the ledges, fishing guides were parked on the spots with their
customers.
Another popular spot is the basin at Holiday Park, which is adjacent to
the parking lot. When water is being pumped into the park, the bass in
the basin feed aggressively.
Some tournament trails allow anglers to fish the basin, some of whom
launch their boats in the middle of the night to claim a spot. Most
tournament directors have made the basin off-limits.
If you're just looking to have some fun, fishing the basin can be a
blast. The area holds some big bass, especially after there have been
several tournaments. That's because all the keeper bass weighed in at
Holiday Park get released in the basin. I'll always remember an outing
with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission fisheries
biologist Jon Fury and all the 4- to 7-pound bass that floated up when
Fury electrofished in the basin.
While waiting for his friends to show up, Reed idled over to the buoys
that keep boats from getting too close to the pumps and dropped his
trolling motor over the cable that connects the buoys to keep his boat
in place.
Then he cast a Zara Super Spook toward the pumps. After it splashed
down into the foaming water, Reed walked the dog with the topwater
lure.
Although the sun hadn't yet made it to the horizon and it was hard to
see, Reed was able to hear and feel fish grab the Spook. If the bass
won't hit the Spook, he'll cast a 10-inch worm and slowly drag it
across the rocky bottom of the basin.
On this morning, the Spook worked well. Reed's best bass came away from
the pumps, at the corner of canal where it met the basin. He was
working the Spook along some lily pads when a chunky 3-pounder smashed
the plug. |
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