Lately every time I pass by a body of water, I have this desire to throw a bait in and see what I can catch. I have found you never know what you will catch. On Sunday, Tania and I spent about an hour fishing the local spillways and canals.

We started at the spillway on Sanit James drive, where I caught a few bass and cichlids. We didn’t get any bites in the 15 minutes of working both below and above the spillway. Tania and I were both throwing the 1/16oz Roadrunner jig. I had the pumpkin with a chartreuse tail and Tania was throwing orange with a chartreuse tail.

The next spot was the same canal the spillway was off just on Selvitz Rd. Tania and I have seen many folks fishing here as we drive past, so I was hopeful to catch a few bass. On my fourth cast I hooked up with a decent size bass, unfortunately it spit the hook on the third jump. Not much after I landed a bass. Tania still didn’t have any luck at this point and was getting frustrated. I let Tania use my rod/reel since I already had two bass hooked up. I wanted Tania to catch something. Tania had a few fish follow the bait and she had one hit but did not actually hook a fish.

We went to the east side of Selvitz Rd to try our luck there. There were many armored catfish, but I was not seeing any beds or signs of any other fish.  Tania continued to fish with the roadrunner and I switched over to a Slam Shady 2.0. On my second cast I couldn’t believe I hooked up and landed an armored catfish on the Slam Shady. I didn’t think they would eat artificial baits. Well, that was the last bit of action Tania and I had on Sunday.

On Tuesday I decided to try exploring some more. I wanted to try the pond on the corner of Floresta and Crosstown. I worked the south bank for about 20 minutes. I was losing hope of catching anything here as I wasn’t seeing any signs of life; however, a gentleman I spoke with told me there were fish in there so I continued to work the bank. Once again, I was throwing the 1/16oz Roadrunner pumpkin with chartreuse tail. After speaking with the one guy, I continued to fish the bank. A short while later I hooked up with a decent tilapia. I was happy to have caught a fish there. My very next cast I got a hit and it took the skirt off my jig, so it ended my trip abruptly.

As I was heading home, I decided to stop at the local bait shop and pick up a dozen shiners and hit the spillway on Saint James in search of a large bass. When I had arrived, there was already someone there with his daughter. I asked if he had any luck and he said he had just lost something as he broke off and didn’t have any more tackle with him. I offered him a hook and some bait but he declined.

I casted in my first bait and pretty quickly something took it. As I was reel in it came off. I put out another shiner and had received a text message so I was responding when my rod almost got pulled out of my hand. I was pretty excited with the fight and thought I had a monster bass on. When it got close, I saw it and it looked like a snook but I said, “no it couldn’t be”! After many jumps, I was able to land the fish and sure enough it was a snook. I didn’t have a measuring device as I was just going to catch and release, but I took a picture of it next to my rod and when I got home, I took the measurement and it was 24inchs.

I only had about 15 more minutes left before I had to head home and get Tania from work so I hurried up and put on another bait. I kept getting bites but whatever it was kept spitting the circle hook. After about the third time I finally landed the fish. It was a Florida Gar.

At this point it was time for me to pick up Tania and I still had about 6 baits left. To be honest I am sure the bait shop gave me more than a dozen. I decided to save the baits and see if Tania wanted to come back to catch a couple of the gar.

When I picked up Tania, I asked if she wanted to use up the bait as I knew she would catch something. She agreed so we headed back to the spillway. We fished the spillway for about 30 minutes in which time I lost my Roadrunner skirt and Tania landed three gar and one bass. I was hopeful she would have caught a snook but she was pretty happy catching the gar as it’s a new species of fish for her.

Tania and I had a great time exploring new ponds and canals in the area. Although Tania didn’t have much luck, I was finally able to put her on some fish. There are so many ponds to explore in our area, so I hope to get out and try fishing them all at some point.

Tania and I pray all who make it out the rest of the week have a blessed and safe trip. May you all have tight lines and good times!

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