A Tale of Two Jungles: Part I – The Urban Jungle

Happy Monday Spacefish!

This past weekend, I was out of town for work-related reasons, so I did not have a chance to get out and fish. But the weekend before, I got a chance to get out and fish on Friday, and Saturday before our Father’s Day trip, I wrote about last week. On Saturday, I had a productive outing on Lake Toho in a new area and new launch spot. I will definitely have a future report about that. But today I am starting the first of a two-part series, A Tale of Two Jungles.

On the Friday before last, I left my house around 4:30 am and spent time in two relatively close and very different fisheries. I am calling it A Tale of Two Jungles because I spent 4ish hours in the heart of the urban jungle, downtown Orlando, fishing a beautiful urban lake, Lake Ivanhoe. After getting off the water, taking a lunch/hydration break, I spent another 4 hours fishing Shingle Creek in Kissimmee. I will get into all of the Shingle Creek next week, when I cover Part 2.

Lake Ivanhoe – Launch Spots

Ivanhoe is an interesting lake. It sits right smack in the heart of Metro Orlando, but it is a very clean body of water that holds a healthy amount of Largemouth Bass. The water is super clean & clear, and emergent and submerged vegetation is abundant. The lake is comprised of 3 lobes. I have done well fishing the first two, and I finally pushed back into the 3rd lobe. I did not see any feeding activity and did not waste much time there.

In all 3 lobes, the primary cover is the emergent grasses that line the lake, and beyond that, you see a shelf of submerged eel grass that extends out a good way. Early in the morning, the fish were pushed up pretty shallow, chasing baitfish in the shallows. As the sun rose higher, they moved out into deeper water. I had a lot of success out 30-50 yards away from the emergent grass drifting with the wind and fan casting the eel grass bed.

I launched from Gaston Edwards Park which has a designated kayak/canoe launch area, there is also another area, both spots have limited parking. Also, both spots have a parking limit of 4 hours, but both times I have fished Ivanhoe I have gone over this mark, and nothing happened, so if you go, just be aware.

Sunrise Frog Bite

I caught a fish on my first cast in pitch black darkness, I caught 3 before the sun peeked over the horizon, and probably close to, if not a full dozen, within the first hour on the water fishing a frog in and around shallow cover. I pushed west along the southern shoreline from Gaston Edwards and methodically fished my frog in the grass, around pads.

I tried out a new one, the Lunkerhunt Frog with the realistic legs. It has a unique action and worked really well. Instead of a walking action, I would pull it with a sharp twitch of the rod, the legs would kick in a buzzing type action, then I’d let it sit. I pretty much worked it like a popper. But the best comparison I could make to the action and sound is that it performed very much like a Heddon Torpedo, but it was weedless. I caught a high number of fish on this bait early, but the action died out around 8 am. Nothing I caught was very big, but it was a whole lot of fun to catch so many on a topwater frog. I fished the frog on a 7-foot casting setup with 50-pound braid and no leader.

Running & Gunning

After the frog bite died, I pushed back and explored the 2nd and 3rd lobes. I spent an hour mostly scouting and exploring, as I had never been back into the western parts of this lake. I only caught 2 dinks in the 2nd lobe. I decided around 9ish to head back into the first lobe.

Once I got back into the first lobe, I saw a lot of the bait chasing and bait busting activity had moved from the shallows to the offshore eel grass beds. I spent the next 2 hours running and gunning, gazing out at the lake, and chasing the activity. The lure I had the most success with during this phase of the day was the Bitters Skip Shad (Fluke). I had success catching fish in the Baby Bass and Watermelon Seed color patterns.

My setup for the fluke was a 7-foot inshore fishing setup. 10-pound braid, 15-pound fluorocarbon leader. I could really bomb these flukes even though I had them rigged weightless and weedless. When the fish are offshore and you’re chasing the activity, the ability to make long casts is crucial. Also, when you’re in an area where there has been lots of activity, the ability to make long casts and cover water can result in a much higher bite frequency.

The I4 Cove of the First Lobe

I fished Lake Ivanhoe 2 summers ago. I caught twice as many fish this trip, but on the previous visit, I had 2 bigger fish than any I caught this time around. I have had a quality day, and I have had a quantity day. But one thing that has held in both trips was that the area in the southwest corner of the 1st lobe was the most productive area. This one corner has a few different types of cover and depth contours. It has not mattered where the wind is blowing; last time the water was being pushed from north to south into the corner, and this time there was a much lighter breeze from the east. I spent my last hour in this area and caught 5 fish, 3 were solid, well-fed chunky fish, and two were dinks. But if you come out to fish this place yourself, I’d highly suggest checking out this corner of the lake early on.

Part 2 Preview & Conclusion

Next week I will break down Shingle Creek – I am really excited to write that report. This is one of Central Florida’s most beautiful creeks, and the fishing was really action-packed. I had to really shift gears in terms of how I fished, and what colors I used, but it is a good summer time fishery with moving water and lots of shade.

I will always prefer the quiet backwaters and the areas that are undeveloped, but over the past few weeks, I have had some really cool fishing experiences in Orlando. It’s not the ideal setting sometimes, but don’t let that sour the experience of catching lots of fish, and catching quality fish. The lakes in Orlando provide great kayak fishing opportunities.

Thank you for taking the time to read this report. I’d also like to offer a special thanks to our friends over at Kayaks By Bo for being our paddle partner. If you are looking for anything in the world of kayak fishing, make sure to check them out at their store, located on 520 in Cocoa.