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KVD Retiring from Tournament Fishing

Well im not a Bass fisherman, im simply a Speck fisherman, i only use jigs and fish from a 14' jon boat.
But i still catch a fair amount of Bass on the jigs.
Its about 55 miles for me to run out rt 60 to Kissimmee, about the same to Okeechobee.
If i were you id be going to Kennansville before Headwaters.
But again an even longer dirt road, 12 miles back from 441.
You can get minnows at the farm store before going back the road.
And I am the opposite I bass fish and catch a few specks while looking for largemouths, I don't eat them just enjoy catching them. Kennansville is about 1.5 hrs for me. You must be in the Vero area.
 
GTB is Smallmouth Bass heaven. Florida rocks the Largemouth Bass pretty darn well. Lake Toho is my favorite bass lake. Mostly cause it's the only lake I've fished in Florida for LM Bass
Lol what is a small mouth just kidding. I've never fished Toho mainly because I don't want to get that close to Orlando and I don't want to lock through. There are a lot of great lakes to fish here in Florida, I took a friend of mine out a few weeks ago into a phosphate pit. From about 9:30 am til about 5:30 pm we caught 80+ bass from 2-5 lbs. We never even cranked the gas engine, all we used was the trolling motor. He comes down here for a week to fish, and I go to Illinois to hunt for a week. Awesome trade for both of us.
 
Really enjoyed watching him through the years. When he got on a pattern, he was tough to keep up with. GOAT for five fish cull tournament's.
 
Lol what is a small mouth just kidding. I've never fished Toho mainly because I don't want to get that close to Orlando and I don't want to lock through. There are a lot of great lakes to fish here in Florida, I took a friend of mine out a few weeks ago into a phosphate pit. From about 9:30 am til about 5:30 pm we caught 80+ bass from 2-5 lbs. We never even cranked the gas engine, all we used was the trolling motor. He comes down here for a week to fish, and I go to Illinois to hunt for a week. Awesome trade for both of us.
That's great.
 
Grand Traverse bays, killer smallie that he likes to fish too.
I've seen VanDam on GTB. He was fishing the east Bay when my son and I were fishing it. Pretty easy to tell his boat when fishing close to him. He landed a few smallmouth in that short period as did we. That's been his stomping grounds his whole life. I think he has a cottage on Glen lake but fishes all the NW clear water smallmouth waters in the region. He'll have a lot more time now to spend hitting all those lakes.
 
The hardest thing for the pros is when they prefish an area as soon as they move people will pile in there to fish. After Chris Lane won the bass master classic about 8-10 years ago, his dad got the boat. He and I would go fish and people kinda follow you around thinking that the pros will know where the fish are.
 
And I am the opposite I bass fish and catch a few specks while looking for largemouths, I don't eat them just enjoy catching them. Kennansville is about 1.5 hrs for me. You must be in the Vero area.
Yes i live in Vero Beach.
I prefer going to places having fewer people, and less distance from the launch to where i park my truck, due to my condition.
Kissimmee is better for me than Okeechobee for that reason.
Lake Marian is another very nice lake in the Kennansville area.
No dirt roads involved, and a very nice fish camp there as well called Paradise fish camp. There is also a good county owned ramp there with restrooms. Better than the fish camp ramp also. A small flock of White Pelicans reside on that lake as well.
That whole region is mostly cattle ranches, some very large, so there are few people actually living in that area.
Ive been out to Walk On Water a few times as well, but its quite a hike for me from Vero. Worth trying if you havent been there.
Canoe Creek rd is where Lake Marian is located, back about 5 miles to the west from 441, and then a left on as i recall Arnold rd for a very short distance.
About 15 miles further up that road in the middle of nowhere is a small lake called Lake Jackson, which empties into Kissimmee.
There is a very good ramp there, and lots of very nice country to drive thru to get there. If you prefer lonely that would be the place.
The closest lake for me from Vero is Garcia, about 18 miles.
Located on 512 about 1 mile north of 60. About 5 or 6 more miles on 512 is Fellsmere.
Very good Bass fishing with 2 good ramps.
But i mostly go a bit further west to Fort Drum Marsh.
Blue Cypress is a bit further yet, and as you probably know that lake is considered to be the headwaters of the Saint Johns river.
It is probably the most picturesque lake in Florida. Also a nesting place for Ospreys, and right now there are hundreds of them.
Fishing there can be very tough, as the lake itself has no boundreys, and runs back into the trees and swamps on all sides including parts of Fort Drum Marsh.
Which is why i have a small jon boat. lol
 
Yeah we run a 20 ft ranger so we can get into some areas but not a lot of tight areas. I assume when you fish Kissimmee you drop in at the 60 bridge, if you haven't ever fished the Kissimmee river that might be worth a shot, we don't see a lot of people on it. Being in Vero I would have thought you did more fishing in the intercoastal than I fresh water. We will start going into some of the other lakes as summer gets here, when it gets to hot for all of the northerners.
 
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