Spring Hill Fishing Club Bass Trip of 2-27-2017

We finished our four trip winter bass season with another nice catch of fish.  We fished two trips in January and two trips in February in search of a 10 pound bass.  No such luck, but we did well.

We averaged 12 bass per trip.  Largest bass was 8.5 pounds for Randy, and 7.5 pounds for Gene and Chuck.  There were lots of six pounders, even more 5 pounders, and many, many over 4 pounds.

A big thanks to Captain Keith Austin for keeping us on the bass, regardless of the weather conditions.  Temperatures changed as much as 30 degrees during the last trip.  He navigated the many stump fields of Lake Rousseau and kept us out of trouble.

Action:

We learned a lot about free-lining large shiners over the winter and we look forward to a summer trip or two.

Bass Fishing at Lake Rousseau on January 30 2017

The weather conditions were against us as we came out of a cold front.  Clear skies and wind were a challenge.

The bass were holding off the spawning areas in the stump fields and in six to eight feet of water. 

Birds Eye View

Randy caught the big one today at 7 pounds 9 ounces.  We boated 10 nice bass between 3.5 and 7.75 pounds.  Two got away from us on the way to the boat, and one was large.  Here are a few pictures of Gene, Randy, and Captain Keith Austin.

 

On January 23rd we kicked off the 2017 bass fishing season.  It was a tough day on the water because of the high winds.  Captain Keith Austin kept us on the Lake Rousseau bass.

Wild shiners, free lined, led us to 12 nice bass between 3 pounds and 7.5 pounds.  The average weight was over four pounds.

Chuck Widlowski caught the big bass at 7.5 pounds.  As for me, I was happy with a 6.5 pounder.  Here are some pictures of us with some of our fish.

To get a feel for the wind conditions, here is a short video.

Captain Keith Austin could have called off this trip but he was confident he could find the fish.  He had a busy day on the trolling motor in those windy conditions.

Lake Rousseau May 9 2016

Great Day on Lake Rousseau

 Gene catches a 7 pounder

Randy catches an 8.5 pounder

 Gene catches two six pounders

Our guide, Keith Austin, did a great job putting us on fish today.

We landed 16 fish, most over 4 pounds

Spring Hill Fishing Club

Freshwater Fishing for Black Bass

Trip of January 17, 2015

We eased out of Crescent City, Florida onto Crescent Lake in search of big bass.  The bait was live shiners.  It was a cool January day.

Lake Crescent is a 15,000 acre lake off the St. John’s River.  I was fishing with my long-time friend from Minnesota, Jerry Hanson.  We hired Captain Mark Smith, out of Deland to guide us.  It was a good choice.  He put us on the fish around the plentiful docks along the western shore.

It was toe-to-toe fishing.  That is to say that when we set the hook on a four pound bass under the dock, it was a battle to get the bass into open water.

  

This is what the docks look like, and they do hold large bass.

The landing at Crescent City, Florida.

Jerry soon landed the first fish of the day.

Then another, with Captain Mark Smith looking on.

Soon I had my first bass.

We moved over to a large island and fished the windswept shoreline.

It was good fishing there too.

It wouldn’t be fishing if we didn’t have our Baby Ruth candy bars with us.  They bring us good luck.

Jerry shows off another nice Lake Crescent bass.

Me too!

 Here is another look at the docks we fished.

A big "tip of the hat" to Captain Mark Smith for the great job of guiding us to the fish.

Gene Estensen - Spring Hill Fishing Club