Crooked Lake - Central Florida Fishing Report

I just spent Thursday & Friday fishing Crooked Lake which is about 8
miles south of Lake Wales. My nephew who lives in Miami drove up and I
drove down from North FL (Ocala) where we hooked up at Perkins in Lake
Wales for breakfast at 6:00 AM. I left at 3:30 and he left at 3:00 in
the morning and we got to Perkins with in 5 minutes of each other. I
drove through solid rain the whole trip and he hit rain about an hour
from Lake Wales which was caused by a cold front moving through.

As we were sitting having breakfast I told him we should have been here
yesterday as I'm sure the bass were on fire with an approaching cold
front. We finished up and I wanted to stop by Walmart to see if I could
find a rain suit since I only had a poncho. I'm 6' 3" and 260 lbs so I
needed at least a 2X and of course Wally World carried them but the rack
was empty for my size. Oh well.

As we were leaving WW there was a tackle shop right across the street so
we stopped in. We were originally headed for Lake Walk In Water which
is a 7000 acre lake just outside of Lake Wales. He told us the lake was
very low and suggested Crooked Lake would be a better choice. He also
said you guys should have been here yesterday which I replied "yeah we
should have been". They didn't have a rain suit either and it was
pouring outside with a temperature hovering around 40 degrees or so with
a wind chill of 30 degrees.

So we leave headed to Crooked Lake and I see a Tractor Farm Supply and
pull in as a last gasp chance for a rain suit. Jackpot!!! So now I
have a rain suit and it's a triple X so I know it will fit.

We get to the lake launching the boat and by now it's approaching 9:00
so we're getting a late start but since it was cold, windy, and raining
it didn't seem to matter much. Winds are gusting from the north at 30+
knots and there are white caps on the lake which is about a 5500 acre
lake. I put on my new rain suit and the coat fit loosely but the pants
were too big in the waist so I tucked them into my pants so they
wouldn't fall down. We find a spot that looks interesting despite the
heavy winds and chop on the western side of the lake. The depth was an
average of 8 feet or so as we dropped the anchor to slow us down as we
tried to drift a line of reeds and hydrilla. Outside temperature was 41
and the lake was 63. We started pitching 7.5 inch Culprit Tequila
Sunrise worms Carolina rigged and we got one hit which was short
drifting the line of reeds which was about 1500 feet or so.

After we came to the end of this particular line of reeds we saw an area
that was a little better protected which was nestled in behind a small
finger of land that provided some shelter from the wind. It was now
11:00 and it was still raining and cold. The wind was still the same.
We went in until the depth was around 2 feet and just drifted out. My
nephew continued to use worms and I switched to a black spinner bait
with a black/purple skirt with a silver single blade. My fifth cast in
about 3 feet of water hooked up on a decent bass. A couple of minutes
later I had a 3 pound bass in the boat and released it. My nephew
switched to a spinner bait going with an all purple spinner bait with 2
silver blades. We drifted the area for about a couple of hours and
ended up catching 4 more bass between 2 and 3 pounds.

Around 1:00 the rain slacked off but the sky was still pretty gray and
the wind was constant. We decided to drift the line of reeds again but
I'd toss a spinner bait while my nephew would go back to a worm. He
switched to a 5" Culprit Stinger Worm which was a grn pump/char and
flavor enhanced. After we drifted about 15 minutes or so he hooked up
on a decent bass. When he got it into the boat it was about a 4 pounder
or so. We released it as we always do. I wasn't having any success
with the spinner bait so I switched over to the same worm my nephew was
using. We drifted that line of reeds catching 3 more bass all around 2
pounds.

It was now after 3:30 and the sky was clearing with the sun breaking
through. Oh and the wind was picking up and gusting from the north. We
headed back to that semi protected area. We stayed for a couple of
hours picking up 3 more bass on spinner baits in 3 feet of water.

All in all it was a decent catch of bass (12) under miserable
conditions. This post is very long so I won't post the second day
results but if any of you are interested I'll do it in a new thread. If
any of you ever get a chance to fish Crooked Lake I'd highly recommend
this lake. It is spring fed so water level is not a problem. I was
told the lake is semi clear but with all of the rain it appeared to be
similar to the Big O in color.

After a 10 year lay off of bass fishing it's great to be back in the
saddle again.

Jim