The fishing picture for Polk County lakes is looking good

By BILL CHESTNUTNews Chief correspondent

Published: Friday, December 12, 2008 at 4:01 a.m. Last Modified: Friday, December 12, 2008 at 8:48 a.m.

Lake Istokpoga is one of the top lakes in Florida for bass or speckled perch. It is a 28,000-acre lake in Highlands County.

I have fished this lake on many occasions with good success.
The lake is 5 miles wide and 10 miles long. It is a very shallow lake with an average depth of 4 feet. Maximum depth is 10 feet. You have to be very careful in this lake as you could get stranded on muck while fishing near the shoreline.
When the winds get high, it is time to get off Istokpoga, as there are tremendous waves that could capsize your boat.

There are five public boat ramps and two public parks plus seven fish camps on this lake. The biggest part of the shoreline is undeveloped and there are two islands - Big and Bumble Bee - in the lake. Fishing around these islands is very good with bass up to 12 pounds being caught on large wild shiners.

A few months ago, I fished the lake and caught and released 12 bass up to 9 pounds. I was using-6 inch plastic worms.
I had a ball that day and can hardly wait to return soon. I talked to anglers on the lake that day and they were catching bass in the 5- to 10-pound class on shiners while fishing around the islands.

Istokpoga is a Seminole Indian word that means "our people died there," because a group of Seminole Indians attempted to cross the lake and were bogged in the mire and swallowed by whirlpools.

Largemouth bass fishing has been slow the past few weeks but things picked up this week with bass up to 7 pounds being caught on live shiners.
Use lipless rattling crank baits and spinnerbaits in areas with moving water. Also, try plastic worms in Junebug and red shad colors to fish offshore hydrilla beds when the bite slows down.
Speckled perch fishing is good as anglers have been averaging 18 to 25 per trip. Fish with live Missouri minnows under a cork, or troll with small spinners and jigs for some good speck action. The best area to target will be Henderson's Cove and the deeper cuts around the islands.

Special regulations for largemouth bass on Istokpoga:
A slot limit protects quality bass by requiring that all bass between 15 and 24 inches must be immediately released back into the lake.
The daily bag limit is three bass per day. Only one of the three fish may be greater than 24 inches. This means you may keep three bass less than 15 inches, or two bass less than 15 inches and one bass greater than 24 inches.

As I checked other areas around Central Florida, I received good reports from Saddle Creek while fishing for speckled perch. Most anglers are using live minnows to make their catch, but some are having good luck on jigs and Hal Flies.

Bass fishing on this lake has been slow but a few in the 2- to 4-pound class were caught during the week.
Anglers fishing Lake Parker in Lakeland are catching some nice specks at night on minnows. Most anglers are drifting using a light. Jimmy Motes said he caught a limit of specks on Hal Flies this past weekend. Bass fishing has been slow due to the cold weather, but there are bass being caught in the mornings as it warms up on plastic worms while fishing near shore.
outdoorramblings@msn.com