St. Johns River
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St. Johns River Fishing Reports
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Reports from all past years within a 60-day time frame
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Soft Swimbaits (Sm/Md)
Structure
Open Water/Basin
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Spring (Post-Spawn)
Technique
Texas Rigs (Worming)
Structure
River Channels
I use zoom magnum Texas ridged a lot. I like fishing the pads, grass Matt's, docks, and anything that looks like a bass would be sitting waiting to ambush
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Winter
Technique
Texas Rigs (Pitch/Flip)
Structure
Lily Pads
Forage
Shad
It was another tough day on the water during yesterday's tournament. Only managed one bite all day. Earlier in the week I had located giant schools of shad with schools of bass located on several ledges. Graphed those same areas by side imaging with my Humminbird Helix 9 and never found a school of shad all day. I fished rip rap and chunk rock located on the banks during an incoming tide to no avail. Fished bulkheads and isolated lilipad fields and only managed one bite flipping a Big Bite Baits Fighting frog on a VMC Heavy Duty Straight Shank Tokyo Rig with a 1/2 WOO! Tungsten Never Chip Flippin' Weight. It's been tough on the St. John's River the past few weeks. Only four boats weighed a fish in yesterday's tournament. Some guys are catching them by making long runs to Lake George and Rodman Reservoir. The bite should improve in the next week or so as the temperatures appear to be remaining relatively stable for the next week or so.
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Hard Jerkbaits
Structure
Baitfish
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Winter
Technique
Crankbaits 0-6'
Structure
Rip Rap
Forage
Shad
Practiced for an upcoming tournament yesterday. Spent most of the day graphing and located some rip rap with hundreds of yards of bait trapped against the rip rap and the several ledges just thirty yards off of the bank. The bass had the shad pinned. A perfect situation in which one can throw some squarebill crankbaits, Z-Man Chatterbaits, and some topwater. Also located some bass located near bulkheads. The fishing is tough right now on the northern part of the St. Johns River. One needs to spend a lot of time behind the graph on a low tide to find key pieces of structure that these fish are keying on right now. The water temp was anywhere between 62-65 degrees yesterday.
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Winter
Technique
Live Bait Rigs
Structure
Matted Grass
Forage
Shad
It was another grinder on Rodman Reservoir. Took out some of my family from Minnesota, but had little success. Fished with shiners on live bait rigs around thick matts of vegetation and managed only a few bites.
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Winter
Technique
Texas Rigs (Worming)
Structure
Lily Pads
Forage
Shad
Fished shallow all day for a local club tournament on Sunday. Managed only two bites and of those two bites, landed one of them. It was another extremely tough day on the water. Fished docks, laydowns, sand flats, stumps, and lilipads with not much happening. By no means can one not go out and catch a good sack of fish, I've just been having a tough time recently getting on a winning pattern the past couple of weeks. There's always fish to be caught. I'm just finding it hard as of recent figuring out a pattern this time of years with the constant fronts moving in and out on this particular tidal water.
Species
Largemouth BassSeason
Winter
Technique
Neko Rigs
Structure
Docks
Forage
Shad
Water Temperature
60°
Fishing was really tough yesterday. First time out on the water since the end of September. Just got the new boat back earlier last week. I was unable to get any time for practice for yesterdays tournament. Conditions were really tough. Had the thickest fog I've ever fished in that didn't lift until 1:30pm. Made the ability to make long runs to key spots difficult and dangerous. What made matters worse was the slack tide. Current didn't start to move until well after noon. Had to abandon the docks because the sun wasn't able to penetrate the thick fog and set the fish up in those key lowlight areas. Junked fish all day until the fog finally lifted at about 1:30pm. Managed only three bites and only boated one of those three fish. Don't know if it was just the fog and slack tide, but it was a tough day on the water for everyone in the tournament. Only four boats managed a five fish limited. Most teams only caught one or two all day. The fish should be in the pre-spawn right now with water temps being 60-63 degrees. Some of the early spawners should be making that transition to the canals or any other hard cover they might find such as docks, pads, reeds, etc. Junked fished all day. My three bites came on a Neko rig and a wacky rig. I was using the BioSpawn PlasmaTail in Junebug with a Chartreuse tail paired with a #1 VMC Weedless Neko Hook and a 1/32oz. WOO! Tungsten Nail Weight on 10 pound Sunline SX1 braid with a 10 pound Sunline FC Sniper flourocarbon leader for my Neko rig setup. On my wacky rig setup I used the same setup except I threw the BioSpawn ExoStick in watermelon red fleck and I threw it weightless since there was very little current.
