MerlinFL

I moved here in December 2017 and have discovered the amazingly wide varieties of fish species living all together in this brackish water I have behind my house. I didn’t know until November 2018 that this water also had Largemouth Bass and Crappie of good size here. So now I’ve been on a mission to dissect all aspects of what the Bass eat and where they could hide from the sun, etc. so that I can begin to make my bass fishing more consistent and more successful. All I know so far is that nearly all the ‘typical’ bass techniques do not work here. The water is too shallow. This canal I’m on has very little cover except tons of trees and tree roots underneath the water fallen in due to the massive erosion on the banks the ELS management Company has no concern about. It makes it quite difficult to fish parallel to the bank when it’s one big snag area for even squarebills and Welles’s baits. The bass here care nothing about topwater lures of any kind. The bass will strike at ONLY some type of white or chrome lure and they will do it in the middle of the day as well as the middle of the night. There seems to be no Solunar cycle happening here either. So after all this time posting my questions on YouTube fishing channels without a single response. I’ve come here to try and get some answers, suggestions, and perhaps even someone to fish with who wants to challenge themselves to very difficult bass fishing conditions where there most definitely are some nice size bass. I’ve hooked into far more than I’ve landed and one was quite big by any standard. I wish I had some type of GoPro on at the time so I could show what happened. But, I have neighbors across the canal who were fishing and saw the bass jump out of the water and throw my lure. So at least I have witnesses to the big bass I hooked but lost. I’m still learning what it takes to hook and land a good size bass. I had no idea how hard you need to set the hook compared to every other type of fish I’ve caught in my lifetime.

So this is me, and if anyone reading this is interested in helping with suggestions, or perhaps lives nearby and wants to join me fishing out back. I’d love to get some responses and see what happens.

Raw Dawg Ron Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

Are you on the south side of Louisiana Ave.? Connected to Cotee river there and snook would be a winter catch too! I see its right behind James Grey Preserve another fishy spot! Got lots of fishing spots nearby!

MerlinFL

Nope, I’m on the other side that was dredged out back in 1971. Snook fishing would be awesome if it’s anyht like I’ve seen on YouTube, but I’m just trying to solve the bass problem I wrote about. Any suggestions on that topic?

Raw Dawg Ron Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

Use some dough balls and catch a few wild shiners first then float them along brush edges! Hold ON!

MerlinFL

Thanks for the tip. I’m hoping to get advice on artificial baits from bottom dragging worms to topwater Whopper Ploppers. You’re advice works! And it’s real effective. Thanks again.

BILLBYRD1 Loc: Prattville Al

Have you tried swimbaits rigged weedless? UTube that. Along with swimming worms and/or jigs. Have you tried spinnerbaits with willow blades in both silver and gold or a combination of both.

Raw Dawg Ron Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

Try any lure imitation of a wild shiner, match the hatch thing! Shallow running baits and switch treble out for short single hook for less snags! Florida pond fishn summer frogs should work weedless!

MerlinFL

Yep, I’ve done all you mentioned and many more techniques, baits, and lures. Something changed in the water here and I can’t pinpoint what it is other than a berm dividing our canal from the main river. My canal was man made in 1972 and aside from massive bank erosion, I’ve noticed in just one year the water bottom has built up and it’s making most of the canal I can fish from shallower. Even the tons of bluegills are no where to be found.

Raw Dawg Ron Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

Hopefully its just a summer thing, water too hot and fish moved deeper. Hot summers algae bloom and fish can`t get enough oxygen. Many things including folks dumping grass clippings could be issue.

MerlinFL

Thanks for your thoughts. It all very true in this water. This heat wave has the water temp at 97 degrees already. The algae is always in bloom, but it’s been much worse this year at the same time period. And the landscaping company doesn’t give a damn about where the clippings go.

The other VERY unique situation since the berm was removed back in November. The water depths in front of my fishing area have gotten shallower and it’s gotten deeper in other spots. I learned from the long timers living and fishing here that the berm kept the water level more stable and the fishing very consistent. Even more strange on the north side of Louisiana Ave where I am, is that we don’t have any water flow coming in or out. All we have is a fountain at the southern end. The pipes are for flood prevention so there is no other water flow which makes the changes in the bed here even stranger. It’s a closed eco system and yet everything has changed. Not even bluegills are biting worms under a bobber! And the deepest any fish can go in this canal is 8’ and my Deeper Sonar isn’t showing any fish piling up in those deepest areas, but mainly just off the bottom, or the Mullet swimming 2’ or less below the surface. A school went by tonight and I had three rods with bobbers out there. A piece of nightcrawler which worked 99% last year. A piece of salt clam, and a piece of my dough recipe which worked 100%. AND NOT EVEN A SINGLE NIBBLE!! Something very seriously wrong is going on here and I can’t figure it out. All I have left to do in the world is fish in my backyard. If I can’t fish and catch, then I have no reason to stick around. Too bad I’m too old to be a Googan. LOL

Raw Dawg Ron Loc: St. Petersburg, FL

Ya caught all the little fish. HA check out myfwc.com/conservation/you-conserve/recreation/pond-management/ website and Pasco County should be contacted if permitted work was done around pond and a fish kill happened! County maintenance work might be the responsible party with berm change?

ppatti1111 Loc: Port O'Conner Texas

Wish I was in the area. My parents lived in Port Richey before they passed.

MerlinFL

County of Pasco and/or city of New Port Richey is responsible for ALL culverts that are located under public roads. The canal I’ve written about lies under Louisiana Ave. and both the city and county refuse to take the action they are legally required to do. And based on all research, these culverts have NEVER been cleaned or maintained in any way since the construction of this community in early 1970. I have copies of the Army Corps of Engineers that dredged what was at the time swamp land and in the southernmost portion of this communities property is where the Cotee River comes to the end of a branch. Luckily the northern side which only gets water when it rains. Otherwise it just evaporates like is is currently a little more than a foot low. The southern side which is directly connected has high and low tidal flow. Even Manatees come through the berm created and opened back up two years ago. The idiot (Jenny) who is yet another in a long line of morons the ELS corporation hires as property manager thinks the water comes IN from the north side and flows OUT from the south side. This means, the drainage ditch that is typically dry sends only dirty, disgusting water when it floods INTP the two northern canals. Anyone with eyes and a properly functioning brain can clearly see how this man made canal community was designed and on top of uncontrolled erosion averaging about one foot on each bank side. Luckily, the fish living in this stagnant eco system on the north side have not experienced a Fish Kill. I’ve been trying to PREVENT that happening and no one gives a crap about the canal situation on either side. Opening the culverts would lessen the extreme rise in the south side water height and lessen the extreme low tides that occur by having the original interconnected canal water system. It’s is that simple, and necessary for our property everywhere here and the fish life on the north side where I live. They’ve even sent us notice of a monthly $25 increase which is $10 more than last year. We’ve been shut out of all our activity areas from pool to shuffleboard to the meeting hall and ELS wants and increase. Most of us are living by SSI or Disability as I am. The government has told us we are getting a ?% increase of our state/federal funded income which in my case according to the notice I received this past week equals a mere $17/mo. Not once did ELS offer the residents in any of their many communities to not pay lot rent during this COVID-19 crisis so many like myself have lost forever my source of additional income. I think this should be condemned, but no one here wants to refuse to give our lot rent to ELS in order for them to take us seriously. Most of the residents here are spineless. They think if everyone refused to pay rent, they would throw us all out. How stupid is that thinking? Even if ELS did throw us out, they’d be losing tens of thousands of dollars each month until all the manufactured homes would find renters to equal those living and paying. No corporation, even as uncaring as this is toward human life and its property responsibilities would allow a total evacuation of this community to happen.

MerlinFL

I’m on the North side no one cares about. However, I’ve landed several Largemouth Bass over 5lbs and my personal best happened June 1, 2022. It weighed in at 7.15lbs. Now it’s almost September and nearly all the fish on the north side have shut down due to heat, low oxygen, and all the poison water coming IN from the backwards installed DRAIN pipes at the northernmost end. Water was designed to com IN from the Cotee River at the Southernmost end, fill up the three canals on the South Side, flow under Louisiana Ave. through the culverts and into the north side canals and when the water reaches too high a level. It would be expelled out through the drain pipes into the drainage ditch dug in over 50 years ago when this community was dredged by the US Army Corp of Engineers. Anyone who says different is mistaken. All the decades past once the culvert began to clog up, were ignored. After two fish kills and stagnant water. I’d think someone would have the culverts cleaned and allow the tidal flow to continue on the north side. However, for reasons I can’t begin to imagine such stupidity. Those in charge through the decades added in water fountains. Not enough to do much more than prevent stagnation. The south side never needed any fountains to this day. I could sight dozens of other problems where they property owners never held New Port Richey responsible for THEIR RESPONSIBILITY to maintain ALL culverts running under public access roads. Here’s how simple it is….How did Bass, Crappie, Mullet, Bluegill, Spotter Gar, and Silver Shad manage to be alive in this north side water in 2018 if they didn’t swim in from the south side? I’m pretty sure the birds didn’t carry them. Or that some old Floridian back in 1970 transplanted every fish caught. Finally, if this water is all the same, where are the Snook, Redfish, Sheepshead, River Tarpon? I’ve seen Manatees swimming in and out of the blown out burm area. The burm was removed at the end of 2017. Why was that done? Could those small and short pipes have begun to clog? Or was the water flow just not fast enough? Anyway, Harbor View is TWO communities. Those without and those with. I bought WATERVIEW property and am charged for it. I DID NOT buy drainage ditch that stinks of dead vegetation and dead fish! I have know idea how people could have been so stupid back when these culverts began to clog and cause enough of a problem to get the owner at the time to buy fountains instead of clearing the culverts.

Sinker Rig Loc: Tampa area

Welcome to Florida......a developers paradise