Vacation Bassin'

Double header on PTL Hammer Shads

Everybody knows that Florida holds bass, really big bass.  So when I found out that my family was going to Disney World my eyes lit up knowing that there was a good possibility for getting a new personal best bass while on vacation.  Since we were going to Disney I couldn’t bring any of my kayaks, but it turns out you don’t need one down there because bank fishing works just fine.  I packed up all of my PowerTeam Lures soft plastics and all of my hardbaits and frogs, as well as my heavier bass rods and saltwater reels to power big bass out of grass. 

After a smooth drive down we arrived at Disney World and checked into our hotel, I asked the front desk where I can fish.  They pointed out a few small lakes that I could fish in, and said that it is rare for people to come to Disney and ask about fishing, which meant that these lakes do not get a lot of pressure.  On the first morning my Dad and I woke up at 5 and hit the first pond. I had an assortment of poppers, skitterwalkers, and softplastics rigged, because I wasn’t sure what to expect.  On my first cast with a popper, it was smashed by a chunky 18in bass. 

  The action continued throughout the morning catching a lot of nice bass with several over 18in.  As the bite was beginning to slow I started bombing a lipless crankbait out towards the middle of the lake where some bait was busting.  I was retrieving the bait back with a stop/start cadence when it was smashed by a big fish.  Shortly after hooking it, the fish jumped and I saw that it was a monster bass. After a good fight with several more jumps I landed the beast.  I knew right away that it was the biggest bass I had ever caught.  It measured out to 23in and weight about 8lbs. 

23" 8lbs Hawg!

The rest of the week was awesome catching nice bass every time I went out.  The lakes I fished were all different and contained all types of cover.  One lake was fairly bare only containing a few choice brush piles and bridge pilings that would hold fish.  The hot baits in this type of lake were lipless crankbaits and PowerTeam Lures JP Hammer Shads.

JP Hammer Shad produced several nice fish

  The rest of the lakes I fished were very shallow and were filled with hydrilla.  Swimming a JP Swinging Hammer weedless through the grass always produced some nice fish. Also Texas Rigged Baby Bass Sick Sticks, and June Bug 6" Gators caught a lot of nice fish. 

Nice Bass on a Sick Stick

 Since there was so much grass, another big fish producer was fishing R2S Dahlburg Diving frog.  These are the most realistic frogs on the market and catch some BIG bass.  I caught several 20”+ bass on these as well as my 2^nd biggest bass of the trip at 22.5” and about 7lbs. 

22.5" 7lbs Pig caught on a frog

If you are planning a trip to Disney World, pack a few rods and a couple packs of PowerTeam Lures and go catch some big Florida PIGS!!!