Lake Toho on Tuesday

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I am writing this from a hotel lobby in Georgia. Had to get a little work done (and a little fishing playtime too) while the kids and wife are asleep. The family and I are on our way to Kennedy Space Center and then Disney for the next ten days. On Tuesday, my oldest son (almost 10 yrs old) and I are spending the day on Lake Toho with guide Bill Whipple of Lake Toho Tackle (www.laketohotackle.com). Hopefully the pros leave a few fish around for us (since Bassmaster is there this weekend and FLW was there earlier this month)! Hopefully I will have some nice pictures to share next week! Also looking forward to possible learning things I can bring back and adapt around home this season. Wish us luck!

Marc

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Despite 20-30 mph winds, I caught some respectable fish on Tuesday. Five fish were between 5 and 7 lbs, plus a few smaller 2-3 lb fish.This was on a 4-hour trip (had to get back to the family at Disney World).  I will post a picture or two next week in case anyone is interested. I got to see the area where Dean Rojas caught that huge bag several years ago, where Iconelli was when he broke the flag and got disqualied, and some other interesting facts about the chain. My guide saw Van Dam a couple times last weekend but not for long. The owner of the marina we took off from said Kevin was mostly in the mid-lake area. Can't second guess an Elite win and $100,000, but we were talking about how it is interesting none of the pros fished near the guides spots on West Toho where his clients were catching 5-10 lb fish every day of the tourney (and since then). Guess they do miss some stuff afterall! All in all, I had a good experience and would recommend the guide to anyone interested. Contact me and I can get you all his info.

[Cheetam]

Five fish between 5 and 7 pounds in 4 hours?  That's more than respectable!  Good job.  Got any pics?

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Yes I do and I will post a few next week when I am back in town. I didn't bring the cable with me to upload the pics from the camera.

Once you break 5lbs or so, I start losing my ability to judge weight since us northeners seldom catch many over 5-6 lbs. We didn't actually weigh any of the fish, but I think the 5-7lbs I mentioned is actually conservative. I have a 6 hanging on the wall in my office and a few of these I caught felt and looked significantly larger than that one. I wouldn't be surprised if a couple were closer to 8+. Lots of fun!! Gotta go....

[JCOOPER]

You mentioned "guide spots", were you using live bait?  I have heard talk of these bigger fish only taking live bait. If you weren't using live bait, than I would say they missed out big time.

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Yes, we did use shiners. I had planned to do a little of both live bait and artificial, but due to the short time we had, the crazy-windy weather, and the fact that we had to use his saltwater boat (his Yamaha motor broke the day before) we were not able to fit in both. I must say though that there is certainly an art to that shiner fishing that I never knew about. It isn't like bobber fishing for bluegills with your kids, that's for sure. Wheather those fish would only hit shiners is something I guess we will never know. Regardless, between the fish caught, the fish that bit that I missed, and who knows how many more could have been in the area it still seems possible a few would be prone to hitting artificial. I guess the debate will go on..... I am uploading a couple pictures for your viewing pleasure.