New report (link) for November 2.
[url=http://highlands.tbo.com/MGB51SIPIFE.html:8bf7a]http://highlands.tbo.com/MGB51SIPIFE.html[/url:8bf7a]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Lake Jackson. This lake has never slowed down according to one of it?s daily fishermen, Paul Tardiff. ?I catch bass every day that I fish this incredible lake,? he told me recently, ?and anybody else can catch them if they?ll just come out and give it a try.?

Crankbaits and plastic worms in four to eight feet of water produce well for him and other fishermen, with spinnerbaits and buzzbaits working well on schooling fish.

No reports of speck fishing on the Sebring lake but locals know there are plenty of fish there, they just haven?t schooled up yet. Lake Jackson used to be known for it?s bass fishing and yearlong speck fishing. Although the lake has lost a lot of its appeal as a bass fishing lake, many of the northern visitors fish the lake heavily through the winter months for its large speck population.
Current Rating B.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

A note from me on Lake Jackson. This is a lake I fish regularly also. The report on this lake is right on target. However, I would not say that "the lake has lost a lot of its appeal as a bass fishing lake." At least, not from what I've seen. Maybe Red is referring to loosing its appeal as a ProBass circuit lake. That is fine with me if that's the case . This past Summer (the off-season), the bite for most any kind of fish on most any lake was poor as to be expected with the high heat except for very early or very late in the day. The bass are there and there are some really big ones on this lake. I lost a "Hawg" on Little Lake Jackson last season because I had old line that broke . There have recently been a lot of small schooling bass that have been fun to catch as the bite is now slowly picking up.

The Specks are also on this lake in large numbers and can usually be caught year round but the Speck bite has been poor lately probably due to the fact that they haven't schooled up yet after the heat of Summer as the article stated. Running the fish/depth finder on the lake over the Summer proved this as there was no kind of fish schooling at all to be seen. This should change for the better as the weather and water get into the 60s range. It is easy to spot the Speck anglers on this lake. Just look for all the groups of boats in the middle of the lake during Winter .

This is a very active recreational lake with all manner of boat traffic, especially on the weekends. Skiing, Sailing, power boat-tubing, swimming, body-boarding, boat riding, and so on. I would not recommend fishing this lake during weekends or holidays at peak traffic times. It is a big lake so all the activity rarely affects anglers as there is usually plenty of room for everybody. But I'm sure conflicts do occur from time to time when traffic is very heavy. There are three public swimming beaches, Crescent Beach (public pier), Hidden Beach (limited parking), and Veterans Beach (public boat ramp).


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Robert B. McCorquodale
Sebring, FL

"Flip a fly"



[This message has been edited by dixieangler (edited 02 November 2005).]