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| Around 10% of the world's total fish species can be found just within the Great Barrier Reef. |
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| Starfish can re-grow their arms. In fact, a single arm can regenerate a whole body. |
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| Starfish do not have blood. Their blood is actually filtered sea water. |
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| Starfish don't have brains. Special cells on their skin gather information about their surroundings |
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| Not all animals with the word fish in their names count as fish. |
| Though their names may suggest otherwise, cuttlefish, starfish, and jellyfish aren’t actually fish. Generally-speaking, fishes must have skulls, gills, and fins. Surprisingly, though, not all fishes have proper spines. |
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| In three decades, the world's oceans will contain more discarded plastic than fish when measured by weight, researchers say. |
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| As of 2020, there were 34,000 known fish species around world. That’s more than the number of species in all other vertebrates: birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians combined. |
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| Just how man species of fish are there? |
| As of 2020, there were 34,000 known fish species around world. That’s more than the number of species in all other vertebrates: birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians combined. |
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| Even Catfish are finicky |
| Taste Buds ? Catfish have a more refined sense of flavor than humans. Our 10,000 taste buds may seem like a lot, but catfish can have as many as 175,000. This helps them find the exact location of their next meal. |
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| A bit of Humor |
| My brother has 2 German Shepherds named Rolex and Timex. You guessed it they are Watch Dogs. |
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From Jan 01, 1999 To Apr 19, 2024
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Sep 16, 2008; 01:31PM - Orlando Bass Fishing
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Category: Florida
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Author Name: Capt Tim Fey
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The first week of September has seen some good bass fishing action, as well as some tough action. For the most part, the action has been pretty steady. Shiner bite has actually been very slow, but the artificial bite has been good. Johns Lake has been a good early morning bite using spinner baits and trick worms. Deer Island cut has produced some descent numbers, but the size has not been to my liking.
We did make a venture out to Lake Rosalie, one to check water levels after the tropical storm, and to alo see how the bite was doing out there. We started the day out with Rich tossing some shiners around, and not surprised, there was no action on the in the first hour, so we switched Rich to some trick worms.
There was scattered success working grass lines catching one here one there kinda deal as we kept moving around. Working cuts where we spotted flowing water was the big key here, getting into the creek was a huge key. Bass were holding tight on the backside of the flow and hammering the trick worms, and brush hogs. Two areas in the creek there were trees blocking us, but with a little maneuvering, we made it over them and kept on catching bass. Lake did ok for us, catching 4 bass, but the creek was the place, as we boated 10 more bass there.
Butler Chain water levels are great, and the bass fishing has been holding steady. With all the new waters from the tropical storm, bass have a lot more new areas to roam and feed. Several good bass were caught on grass edges in 12 feet of water, with once again trick worms, and wacky rigged senkos getting the bulk of the action. Some bass have been coming from docks and flooded timber as well.
It is still very hot out on the waters, so please be sure to drink a lot of water, and use a lot of sun screen
Capt Tim Fey
Bassfishingfl.com
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Jun 11, 2008; 10:15AM - Orlando Bass Fishing
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Category: Florida
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Author Name: Capt Tim Fey
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The month of May has seen some very good bass fishing action in Orlando. For the most part Johns Lake has been the place to be. Even though we have seen very limited schooling action in the mornings, we have caught some good schooling bass in the cuts, mainly Deer Island cut. Bass have been hitting on Gitem Warlocks around isolated grass patches, rigged with a very small bullet weight and worked very slowly.
Several areas in mid lake with hydrilla have been producing some quality bass using 1 ounce Sugoi spinner baits, Steel Shads and 10 inch worms. Several days of higher winds than normal had us working docks that were wind blown, which had been holding bass, some docks producing as many as 3 bass, which makes for a very good day.
Live bait has been producing ok, but we have been out catching live bait with artificial baits sometimes 3 to 1, clients really love this, as it is just that much more fun to catch bass using plastics.
Butler Chain has been fishing pretty good. Lakes we have worked have been Butler, Chase and Blanche. Butler has been a great lake to start the day out early on in the mornings, from there moving over to Lake Chase has been the ticket. Numbers and bigger bass have come later in the day on Lake Blanche, working the docks and the deeper drop offs very slow worming. Altho the bite has been what we call a “small tick” instead of the aggressive hits, quality bass have been caught.
For the most part, water levels on Johns Lake and Butler Chain are not too bad, Johns Lake, we do have a few sand bars to watch out for, one right at the ramp area, one coming off the point going into the main lake area, and one going into the Horse shoe area. Butler Chain the canals could use some water, but the levels are still safe to pass thru, and with the rains the last few days, should help out with those levels.
My tournament partner and I did venture out to Harris Chain mid month to fish a Fishers Of Men Tournament, with no free time to practice out there, we went according to old notes from years past and they paid off pretty good. With some tough fishing, we did get into some schooling bass, but we could only get them to hit very small floating Ugly Duckling crank baits, once we had our limit, we switched up to one ounce spinner baits and covered a lot of water to cull some smaller bass, with a nice 5 and change bass slamming a spinner bait, landing us in 11th place, just 2 spots from the money, which equaled out to a pound, also missing second big bass by a matter of ounces.
Waters at the ramp on Harris were very low, with only one of the ramps open, and apparently a boulder sitting at the end of the ramp making launching and pulling out entertaining to say the least. Next months tournament is State Championships on Lake Rousseau and from there we go to Southeast Regional’s the end of October, site still to be determined.
Capt Tim Fey
Bassfishingfl.com
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May 20, 2008; 02:43PM - Orlando Bass Fishing
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Category: Florida
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Author Name: Capt Tim Fey
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Week ending April 30th
The last two weeks of April saw some good bass fishing on Johns Lake and Butler Chain. Schooling action on Johns had been very limited for us in the mornings, but always got the day off to a good start. For the most part on Johns Lake, our bass have been coming off some of our typical deeper water areas. Steel Shads and spinner baits being the best at catching the bass, a few have been caught on smaller series Ugly Duckling crank baits.
Butler Chain we had spent most of our time on Lake Chase and Tibet-Butler. Lake Chase has been good working Gitem Warlocks and heavy one ounce Sugoi spinner baits in and around thinned out grasses and lily pads. Tibet-Butler we did have some schooling action, and the heavier spinner baits tossed into the schools picked off the better quality bass. Docks have produced some good bass with the steady action coming mainly around grass beds and areas with hydrilla mixed with the grass. A few of the deeper water areas have held some good bass, working the Steel Shad like a spoon has been a very good way to pick up some from the deep drop offs.
Capt Tim Fey
Bassfishingfl.com
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Apr 29, 2008; 08:58AM - Orlando Bass Fishing
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Category: Florida
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Author Name: Capt Tim Fey
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Week Ending April 13th
Sorry for the delay in my fishing reports, things have been very crazy around here. First half of the month has seen some pretty good bass fishing. Most of my trips have been done on Johns Lake with a few stops at Butler Chain. For the most part most of my trips have been artificial baits. Using a lot of Gitem Warlocks, spinner baits and of course the Steel Shads.
Johns Lake for the most part, the early morning schooling has slowed to a crawl, with a few bass being caught in the Deer Island cut in the morning. We have caught some good bass in wide open waters on the main lake, as well as quality bass around isolated grass patches. This seems to be a pattern that has held up for well over a month now. Several bass in the 5 pound class had made it to the boat in this time frame on Johns Lake.
Butler Chain was a little tougher fishing. Most casts were pin point under docks, and to grass patches with submerged wood close by. Lakes that produced for us were Tibet, Chase and Blanche. Memorable trip out there was with Chris G. We had been plugging away for some quality bass and Chris had told me his life long dream was to catch a 5 pounder. His previous big fish I believe he said was 3 pounds and it was not even a bass, so mid way thru the day, I told him lets head to what I call “ junk lake” Lake Blanche, with all the docks and submerged wood, there had to be a big bass waiting for him. We got on a good stretch of water using the Warlocks, when Chris got hit and the bass didn’t stand a chance, and yes, his dream came true with a solid bass coming in right at 5 pounds on the gripper. Great job Chris, and when your back next year, we have to catch one bigger.
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Apr 5, 2008; 05:59PM - Johns Lake
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Category: Florida
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Author Name: Capt Tim Fey
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The past two weeks has seen some great bass fishing action, as well as some tough action as the cold front came thru. This front grabbed a hold of us for a good two days, and after some very good bass fishing action, it really put a clamp on the action. Bass were still caught, but we did have to work harder for our catch. We had a few days of combo trips, working live and artificial baits, for the most part, the artificial baits we used were Gitem Warlocks and 7 inch ribbon tail worms, both worked with a 1/16th ounce bullet weight in and around grass beds.
Tom and Robert had a day of high winds which limited us to certain areas on the lake, the bite was very scattered and very light, as the bass would just pick up the baits and swim some with it, heart breaking moment came with Tom getting a light tick and the bass swimming under the boat, only to turn and come back out and jump right next to the boat, this beauty was an easy 7 pounder, as she spit the worm and swam away.
Doug and Todd had two days with us on Johns Lake, the first day was once again very light hits on the baits, with winds still up and weather very cool to start the day, bass were scattered as we hit several areas to get our catch. Day two we had much better action with calmer winds and warmer weather. Big bass for them coming in at 5.13 pounds.
Brian and John had some good action as well on live baits, bass were schooling some in the cut but were very scattered, as most bass caught came closer to docks, with one dock yielding two bass within minutes of each other. For the most part, the live bait action has remained pretty steady on Johns Lake, schooling action has seemed to slow down some but the quality bass have picked up considerably as Doug and Todd saw on day two, catching only one dink, with the rest coming in between 2 and 4 pounds and very scrappy.
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Mar 3, 2008; 08:51PM - Butler Chain/ Johns Lake
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Category: Florida
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Author Name: Capt Tim Fey
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The past two weeks has seen a lot of bass fishing action on both Johns Lake and Butler Chain. Johns Lake schooling action has been fairly consistent and bass have been caught with shiners in the cuts with relative ease. There have been a few days, doing combo trips, where the artificial bite has out produced the live bait, as Eric and Eddie saw, with 3 bass being caught in live bait, and another 11 bass coming on trick worms weighted and worked in and around scattered and isolated grass. Doug and the crew, fresh off the Daytona 500 had some good action catching some quality bass, with one of them coming from one of the coves, this bass not only took a shot a missed one shiner, but made a bulrush for a second one as we watched her dart along a grass bed after the bait, after landing her, she weighed in at a solid 4.9 pounds and was released to fight another day. Steel shad have also been producing some very good catches in open waters. Charlie fishing for some crappie, has caught some good crappie, but the memorable hook up, which turned into a serious battle on light action rod with only 6 pound mono and a road runner, landed a hefty catfish that wanted nothing to do with giving up, weighing in at 14 pounds. For the most part, the crappie bite has been very scattered on Johns Lake, but the ones caught have been of good quality.
Butler Chain is still producing some quality bass and some descent numbers as well. Eric and Eddie, fishing day two opted for all artificial bait, and the bass, although scattered played pretty good, as we hit lakes Pocket, Chase, and Louise to catch our bass. Once again trick worms, black with blue fleck, black with red fleck, and black Christmas catching 16 bass, with Eric catching the big gal from a school on a FinS to end the day. All trick worms as of late have been worked with a small bullet weight and crawled very slow, as the bass would just pick up the baits and slowly swim off, so watching your line was a big key. Most all bass were caught in waters between 4 to 16 feet with grass, lily pads or hydrilla very close by. Remember, Pic, Catch and release.
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Jan 25, 2008; 09:18PM - Johns Lake
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Category: Florida
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Author Name: Capt Tim Fey
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Today was supposed to be a 6 hour combo trip, shiners and artificial, but after waiting at Johns Lake for the bait store to open and 15 minutes late, we decided we didn’t need the live bait to catch the bass. Hitting our first spot for the day, and throwing a gold Steel Shad, the bass played as we expected. There was a definite difference in air temperature, much cooler than the day before, and winds blowing 15mph out of the north made for a very chilly morning, bass had pushed out to deeper waters but could not resist these steel shad. John came for some action and had a great time, catching several good slot sized bass. During the action, John managed to snag into a brush pile twice, working the lure free, he kept at it, and I hear “ I got it again” John said he was reeling in and it just stopped, thinking he had the pile once again, until the pile started pulling back, after a few minutes, the battle was over as a nice solid 5 pounder found her way into the net for some pictures and a very gentle release, as we could see she was loaded up with eggs.
We had fished four different areas on Johns Lake today, with three of them producing bass, all coming on the steel shads in gold and silver colors, with the silver steel shad also producing a nice 1 pound crappie. Water temperatures only fluctuated 2 degrees, starting the day at 61 and ending at 63.1. More bass beds were spotted with several bucks cruising around but staying a fair distance off the beds. Numbers and size have been steadily increasing out here, and we only expect it to get even better as the bass hit the beds.
Till my next report, tight lines and great fishing
Capt Tim Fey
Bassfishingfl.com
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Jan 5, 2008; 06:11PM - Johns Lake
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Category: Florida
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Author Name: Capt Tim Fey
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Week Ending December 31st
The last two weeks of December saw us out on Johns Lake a lot. Water temps were running mid 60’s to low 70’s in this time frame, and bass showed sporadic schooling action in various areas of the lake. Typical bass in the schools have been running right at 2 pounds, with several bass in the four pound class also being caught. Waters are still low, but very fishable, with some bass being caught in less than a foot of water on Gitem K.O’s and Gitem Shads. Deer Island Cut has seen some good schooling action, with bass being caught on Live bait as well as Storm WildEye Curl Tail Minnows, rattle traps and spinner baits.
Once the schooling action tapered off, offshore grass beds seemed to be the place to fish, especially the isolated grass patches, pitching weighted worms, and senko type baits to these isolated grass patches kept the action steady. The bigger offshore grass beds the bass would charge live bait that was slow trolled along the outside edges, with some bass being caught pitching live bait into small open pockets in the grass beds, be sure to have a good line, as when they hit, they dart into the heaviest areas of the grass and will break you off. HiSeas Black Widow line has done a great job at pulling those bass out of the grasses.
On a side note, I had the great pleasure of having Kathy ”Ketchup” Barker and RC from ProBass Network along with “Ketchups” dad Ken on Johns Lake and it was great watching Ken spank everyone when it came to catching the bass. Altho Ken was rather quiet, if you didn’t watch him, he would sneak a bass to the boat without even a peep, and from what I hear, he has not let up on rubbing it in to Kathy. Way to go pops, and keep bragging, you earned the right.
With my sister in town for the holidays, I managed to get her and my dad out on the water for a few hours on Johns Lake. With my dad not fishing freshwater since the 70’s, and my sister never having fished for bass, it took a few missed hook ups before they got the hang of things. Using live bait to make things easier for them, they managed to boat some good bass, with the big gal coming in right at 4 pounds.
We have been seeing bass beds starting to pop up around Johns Lake, so it should be only a matter of time before they hit the beds and the bigger gals start getting caught. Remember to handle these bass as little as possible and gently put them back in the water if your fishing the beds, these bass repopulating our great lakes is what makes fishing in Florida the place to be.
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Dec 22, 2007; 12:09PM - Butler Chain/ Johns Lake
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Category: Florida
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Author Name: Capt Tim Fey
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Week Ending December 15th
The past two weeks has seen some good bass fishing in the Orlando area. Butler Chain we finally started spotting some bait fish pods, although small and scattered, they are showing up. We had several runs out on Butler and with cooler weather, the water temperatures were finally dropping into the 60’s. This will get the bass on the feeding frenzy to fatten them up for the spawn which is just around the corner.
Lakes Louise, Chase and Sheen had been the best lakes for us, and seen some good quality bass caught. Numbers are starting to increase as well as size, with some very limited schooling action early on in the day. Spinner baits, weighted fluke type baits and wacky rigged senko type baits have been producing pretty good. Drop offs have once again been key to catching out here. We had a few days were the shiner bite seemed to drop off, but we still managed to catch them on the old reliable wacky rig.
Johns Lake has also been producing very good for us. Early morning schooling activity has been very good, with a lot of schoolie sized bass being hooked up. Once the schooling action slows, working the grass beds has been key. Outside edges of the grasses has been producing some quality bass, with the bigger bass coming by tossing T-Rigged Gitem K.O’s and Shads into the grass beds and swimming them back out slowly. The smaller swim baits, mostly the WildEye Curl Tail from Storm has been picking up some good bass and keeping the action steady out here, one key is to locate off shore grass beds just below the surface, as the bass seem to be stacked up in these areas.
Capt Tim Fey
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Nov 19, 2007; 06:42PM - Butler Chain/ Starke Lake
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Category: Florida
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Author Name: Capt Tim Fey
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October 26th and 29th I spent the day out on Starke Lake with my tournament partner for what was some great bass fishing action. The 26th we got an early start, hitting the waters at 6:30am, still dark and tried some top water action, and we got none. With the sunrise, came rain and higher winds, so what should have been a bad day on the water saw us catching 16 bass on wacky rigged Gitem K.O’s and white spinner baits. All but 3 of the bass came from the main lake working tight to shoreline and scattered off shore grass beds. The 29th we headed out early once again, with live shiners and crank baits. To our surprise we boated no bass on the live bait, but the crank baits, a Big O in fire tiger pattern, and an Ugly Duckling in shiner pattern boated the bass, to the tune of another 10 bass. Crank bait bass came on the main lake and in Deep Lake. We keyed in on docks and submerged grass beds and found the bites to be very aggressive. We had seen some very good schooling action the first day, but avoided throwing to them and opted to keep searching the deeper water patterns. Storm WildEye Curl Tail swim baits once again picked up some good solid bass in the middle of Starke Lake itself as well as at the mouth of the canal on the Deep Lake side. With the water temperatures starting a nice cool down, I have noticed bait fish pods growing in size which will have the bass schooling up and feeding good to get ready for the spawn.
The past 2 weeks Butler Chain has also been fishing pretty good the past week. Bait fish have been a little bit more active and started to bunch up better, making it easier on the bass to feed up. Concentrations of bait fish have been showing up on the graph close to grass beds and in 10 to 12 foot of water we have seen some very good bait fish pods. Medium to deep diving crank baits have picked up some good bass in both Lake Down and Little Lake Down. Fire Tiger pattern and Crawfish patterns have been a big key to catching the bass out there. Early morning topwater has produced some good action using buzzbaits and High Roller Chug Rollers as well as High Roller RipRollers. Live bait action is still doing good, with most of the action coming from slow trolled freelined medium wild shiners. Deeper water patterns early in the morning and slowly moving to grass lines as the water temperatures warm during the day. Best bet being using a 3/0 or 4/0 circle hook, not only will this improve your hook up rate, but also is great since 9 out of 10 hook ups are in the corner of the mouth, like they should be. Remember, catch and release, so our kids can enjoy the same catching action that we do with their kids.
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