As the cool weather of fall settles over Lake Toho, the bait throughout the lake have woken up. Mainly the shad, which have begun to spawn in different areas of the lake. This has caused a feeding frenzy of bass schooling up in large numbers. We’re averaging catching 20-30 bass on just our 4 hour trips and as always, when bass are feeding heavily on shad, the topwater bite is on also.

The main area’s that this has been going on are shell beds and solid hydrilla and kissimmee grass lines. The shad like to spawn on hard edges and that means even boat ramps. The solid concrete edge of a boat ramp provides excellent space for the shad to spawn. One ramp in particular, Big Toho Marina, is holding large schools of shad with bass chasing them right inside the marina walls. You don’t need to go far to catch them right now.

Out in the lake the most consistent areas you can get bit in right now are on the few shell beds the lake has to offer. Bass have been chasing shad nearly everyday in these areas. The other areas have been solid edges of hydrilla and kissimmee grass lines. These have been harder to find because there’s so many of them and not all are holding fish. But when you locate one that’s active, you can really find something special. The best way to find these areas is just to keep moving. It usually doesn’t take long for the bait and bass in the area to show themselves if they’re there. After fishing 20mins if you haven’t seen any bait or bass chasing them, just move.

Early the topwater bite has been on. Spook style baits, whopper ploppers, and frogs have all been working. I just recently wrote a blog about The 5 best topwater lures for catching bass in Florida if you would like to check it out. This is one of the best times of year for topwater. But after the morning flurry is over. Flukes, jerkbaits, speedworms, and spinnerbaits have all been producing. And when the morning shad spawn ends late morning to mid day. Flipping the thicker grass back inside where the shad were spawning earlier has been catching fish when nothing else will. 

Of course as always the biggest bass and the bulk of the numbers we’re catching on our guide trips lately have all been off of large golden shiners. But this can be a particularly fun time of year for artificials with the early topwater bite added in.

The fishing on Lake Toho has remained excellent all year and if you’re looking to bass fish Florida’s lake Toho in the fall or in the winter, I would definitely recommend booking now while you still can. 

Captain AJ

Any questions? Or want to book your trip? Feel free to call us anytime at 407-288-9670 or email us on our contacts page.