LOCATION
We started fishing Lake Walk-In Water, after it's heyday of the 60's and
70's. Our first trip there was in 1997, after reading an article by some
of the N.A.F.C. staff who went there. It is located in Polk County, Florida,
between Yee Haw Junction and Lake Wales. The first time you go there, it
will be a little difficult to find, but after a few long drives in, you will
get the hang of it. You have to take Walk-In-Water Road, about 5 miles from
US Highway 60. It is a long drive from the motels, so it is best to stay
at Uncle Joe's Fish camp. There are other fish camps on the lake, but his
cabins are right at the ramp, and aren't expensive. They aren't elegant either,
but they do have a stove, refrigerator, and are decent sized. If you are
nice to them, they let you launch the boat and dock at one of their docks
there, rather than having to launch and trailer it each day. There is a public
ramp also, with parking available a few miles south, past Uncle Joe's. There
are guides available, but if you follow these techniques, you won't need
one.
WHEN TO GO
The best time to fish Walk-In-Water
is February, if you are looking for just BIG FISH! If you want good action
with 3-6 pounders, and a chance at a 10 or up, then March and April are
your best choices. Other months can be good, but August, September, October,
and November, have been the slower months for us. You can catch big bass
at night also, but the bugs are horrible. At 40 to 50 m.p.h., they are intolerable.
Most of the fishing at this lake is done in the daytime. The bugs are really
bad then also, but you can tolerate them, especially when you're catching
fish!
BEST LURES AND TECHNIQUES
Walk-In-Water is a bowl shaped lake of about 7,500 acres. There is no
real visible structure other than weedbeds, reeds, and a few docks, in extremely
shallow water. This is really a Shiner Lake. I will explain how and where
to catch them on artificials, but it is a good idea to have 2 or 3 dozen
large shiners along with you. The bass here are used to eating shiners, and
sometimes can be very selective. The lake receives a lot of pressure from
recreational anglers, and tournaments, but there are still good numbers of
bass there, and some big ones, but it is just starting to recover from overfishing
now. You will find game Wardens there now on a regular basis, but this was
not always the case.
I like to start out by fishing
the South end of the lake, where you see a lot of other fisherman using shiners
in the open pockets of the Hydrilla beds. After working this area thoroughly,
I then move to the North end, where it is a little more open than the rest
of the lake. The Hydrilla beds are thick, and come right to the surface,
with some holes in them, but you have to maneuver quietly, and drop your
baits into the open areas. The Hydrilla is sprayed with herbicides to control
it, otherwise it would be too thick to fish at all.
The bass in Walk-In-Water, like
to hold along places where the wind creates a current. The points of Hydrilla
are a good place for bass to hide and ambush bait. These fish are schoolers,
and the larger fish generally are in the heavy Hydrilla beds in the South
end of the lake. There will be a lot of boats in the area, so you can tell
when you're in the right spot. The average catch rate per hour in Walk-In-Water
is higher than the average of other Florida Lakes, and has been increasing
now that the Fish and Game have introduced slot limits, and are managing
it better. I like to start with a Terminator spinnerbait in these areas first
to locate the bass. A 3/8 to 1/2 ounce bait is best, in white/Chartruese
with silver blades. Sometimes when they don't hit that right away, I like
to switch to the same color bait, but I chance to Tandem Blades, one silver,
and one gold, and sometimes change to a Golden shiner skirt.
Sometimes the bass in the lake
want a noisy bait. In 1998, we caught lots of 2-7 pounders on Zara Spooks,
and Fenwick walking baits, and other times they want soft plastics like Senkos,
Flukes, and worms in red shad and watermelon colors. We have had them hit
lizards pretty good some days also, in Green, and pumpkinseed colors. We
also use a variety of tube baits in watermelon and brown. We work the Hydrilla
bed openings, and along the breaks at the shoreline. In some months, you
can really do great with Jerkbaits and Rattlin' Rapala, in Blue/Chrome, and
took some nice fish on east side of thelake, in a little deeper water, on
big 10 inch worms in Black and Blue.
EQUIPMENT AND LURES
I like to use a 6 to 6 1/2 foot G.Loomis rod, with a Shimano reel for
the smaller plastics and Senkos, I use a 7 foot baitcast rod for the Spinnerbaits
and other topwaters. The water is generally clear so I go with a small diameter
line, in 17-20 pound test on the baitcast outfits, and 10-12 pound on the
spinning rods. The basic lures you need are lizards, tubes, Bass Assassins
or Flukes, some hard Jerkbaits, some lipless crankbaits and spinnerbaits,
some big worms, and a whole lot of large shiners. We fish the shiners on
balloons instead of bobbers. Blow the balloons up to about the size of a
small orange.
Walk-In-Water will most likely
never be what it was, but with more and more catch and release angling, slot
limits, and strict enforcement practices, it is slowly returning to a great
bass lake.
More Articles
Steve vonBrandt
Delaware
Bass Fishing
