Post by reelteacher on Jun 29, 2009 9:52:15 GMT -5
Greetings! Back from a trip to Orlando with my entire family. We stayed in a time-share condo near Walt Disney world and had a great time! Unfortunately, I didn't fish as much as I would have liked, but I did see most of Walt Disney world in the week we were there. It was HOT! Temperatures in the afternoon were near 100 and humidity was around 85%...
Dad and I went fishing twice together and Dad went by himself once to a nice lake called Turkey Lake in southwestern Orlando. While we didn't catch any big fish, we caught a few small bass and some bluegill. If you go to Florida in the summer time, don't waste your time in fresh water. Go to the salt. Unfortunately, we were not able to travel that far, but it was still very enjoyable to cast our flies to the lilly pads and weed beds in hopes of those 10 lb. bass. Most of our success came before the sun rose above the trees. Once the sun hit the water, the bite for everything just stopped completely. We used streamers and poppers and actually had most of our hits on surface poppers early in the morning.
One morning, we were greeted at the dock by a baby alligator who was sitting in the water just off shore. I cast my popper out past if and sure enough, he swam right for it and chomped down on it! Luckily, I pulled the fly out of its mouth without setting the hook. It was really cool to watch that alligator move around in the weeds and among the lillies. Unfortunately, he scared every fish within 100 yards away, and we didn't catch anything next to that dock. So, we had to move to the next dock down the shore.
Turkey Lake is one of the FAB-FIVE lakes around the Orlando area. There is a nice park and bank fishing is very easy. There are also 4 fishing piers from which you can cast to reach the lilly pads and get beyond the shoreline weeds. There are 4 bass-tracker boats that you may rent from 7am - 11am Thurs through sun. for only $15. A great deal. They are equipped with a 15 hp mercury motor, a bow trolling motor and a depth/fish finder. Dad and I actually reserved a boat for Thursday, but on Wednesday night I recieved a phone call from the park office. The man in charge of the boat was sick and was not able to be there on Thursday, so they had to refund our money! Oh well, that's the way things go sometimes. So unfortunately, we didn't go back and I didn't take any pictures of the boats or the lake. But take my word for it, this is a great lake to fish. The locals we talked to said if you want the really big bass, you have to come down in late October or November! THat is when the lakes come alive down there. So, we will be back!
I was not able to fish any of the lakes in the Disney Park itself. We could have, but it was just too hot and with all of the family, it was best to leave the fly-rod in the condo. I was way too tired to do any night fishing, but I imagine that would be a great time to fish during the summer!
Dad and I went fishing twice together and Dad went by himself once to a nice lake called Turkey Lake in southwestern Orlando. While we didn't catch any big fish, we caught a few small bass and some bluegill. If you go to Florida in the summer time, don't waste your time in fresh water. Go to the salt. Unfortunately, we were not able to travel that far, but it was still very enjoyable to cast our flies to the lilly pads and weed beds in hopes of those 10 lb. bass. Most of our success came before the sun rose above the trees. Once the sun hit the water, the bite for everything just stopped completely. We used streamers and poppers and actually had most of our hits on surface poppers early in the morning.
One morning, we were greeted at the dock by a baby alligator who was sitting in the water just off shore. I cast my popper out past if and sure enough, he swam right for it and chomped down on it! Luckily, I pulled the fly out of its mouth without setting the hook. It was really cool to watch that alligator move around in the weeds and among the lillies. Unfortunately, he scared every fish within 100 yards away, and we didn't catch anything next to that dock. So, we had to move to the next dock down the shore.
Turkey Lake is one of the FAB-FIVE lakes around the Orlando area. There is a nice park and bank fishing is very easy. There are also 4 fishing piers from which you can cast to reach the lilly pads and get beyond the shoreline weeds. There are 4 bass-tracker boats that you may rent from 7am - 11am Thurs through sun. for only $15. A great deal. They are equipped with a 15 hp mercury motor, a bow trolling motor and a depth/fish finder. Dad and I actually reserved a boat for Thursday, but on Wednesday night I recieved a phone call from the park office. The man in charge of the boat was sick and was not able to be there on Thursday, so they had to refund our money! Oh well, that's the way things go sometimes. So unfortunately, we didn't go back and I didn't take any pictures of the boats or the lake. But take my word for it, this is a great lake to fish. The locals we talked to said if you want the really big bass, you have to come down in late October or November! THat is when the lakes come alive down there. So, we will be back!
I was not able to fish any of the lakes in the Disney Park itself. We could have, but it was just too hot and with all of the family, it was best to leave the fly-rod in the condo. I was way too tired to do any night fishing, but I imagine that would be a great time to fish during the summer!
