Thread: Fishing USA

Fishing USA

I had the privilege of going fishing with Preston Clark in his back garden of Palatka Florida. We fished two lakes… Orange Lake (10km’s long) and Lochloosa Lake (6km’s long).



Preston’s Web Site - Florida Bass Fishing Guide Preston Clark ProAngler.

29.4233,-82.2169 - Google Maps

Getting ready for launch!


Fishing is quite different to fishing in SA (well in Florida anyway) because the lakes are all pretty shallow and have a proliferation of Hydrilla and Lilly Pads. We spent most of our two days on Orange Lake with a brief visit to Lochloosa on day two. To say there is a lot of lily pads is a gross understatement… there are tons and tons of lily pads… in fact the ride to our spot took us through a pathway of “roads” through the lily pads!



And then you can forget using techniques like drop shot, shaky head, mojo or any other technique that snags grass… it was Texas rigged 10” worms, frogs and shallow cranks and spinner baits. You very quickly have to “learn” to fish this Hydrilla because there is about four million tons of it per square inch… you cast or pitch into holes in the lily pads or around the lily pads and you have to jerk violently to remove the Hydrilla to keep the worm exposed to the fooshies! Preston had to tell me a few times before I “got it”… I thought I would lose my mind in that first hour… but once you get your head around it it’s not too bad.

Thomas’s first fish! Notice the Gator teeth marks!

My first US fooshie!


I bought myself a Cumara and Steez burner to fish with while I was there and had rigged it with 12lb fluro… Preston ripped that off and replaced it with 20lb and I understood why after a few minutes. He also replaced the mojo rig with a Texas rigged tungsten sinker and 6.0 Owner straight shank hook. The bait that did the most damage over the two days was a 10” Berkley Power Worm. I also got an impressive explosion with a Zoom Horney Toad which I missed.

Unfortunately after a period of stable weather it turned the day before we got there and the fishing was tough… it was still hot on the water but the cloud cover was a welcome relief of the really hot weather and the wind blew a little which was also welcome… unlike here the wind there doesn’t cause waves… it was amazing to experience the flat water will the wind was blowing and have no waves! The reason for this is the whole lake is around four feet deep so there is no change of a wave swell building.

Species number two


The Florida Bass bite was very subtle (compared with the previous week on the same lake when the bites were fast and furious) and all of us missed fish in the beginning… I’m not sure if the fish we missed were smaller fish that couldn’t get the 10” worm into its mouth or we were just to slow off the mark… but after a few misses I started to land the suckers… my biggest bass of the two days was a 4lb’er… not the 10-lb’er I was looking for but fun all the same. The biggest fish of the two days was a Mud fish caught by yours truly… and what an awesome fighter it was… it weighed in at 12lb’s. The Cumara was bent in a big way and christened… I thought I had got the prize I was looking for but was a little disappointed when I finally got it to the boat and realised it wasn’t the bass I had travelled so far for… and there is no lip landing these fooshies… they have very sharp teeth! Notice how am holding it in the gills. We also landed another species that looked like a Pike but I forget the name right now.

A fooshie from deep in the lily pads!

Mud fish with sharp teeth!


Day one we caught 16 fish and day two we got 12.

Preston was really stressed with the tough fishing and so desperately wanted us to get some bigger fish… but that is fishing for you… he was an awesome guide and shared his knowledge freely… and I just loved listening to his stories on the tour and getting some first-hand info on the Elite Series boys! Preston loved the way we throw our used baits at each other and enjoyed being hit with a used ten inch worm every now and again! Thomas and I will be remembered for the lunatics that threw 10” worms at the Elite Pro!

Orange Lake launch ramp


Oh yes… the fish finders were never switched on once because they are not too good in 4’ of water with 3’ of Hydrilla!

Most of Preston rods were Deep South with Abu Garcia reels… he uses 20lb fluorocarbon on some rods and 60lb braid on most of the others… and he only has one setting for the reel brake… and that is full on!

The end of the trip!


To summarise… I really enjoyed fishing with Preston and learnt a lot… next time I need to go to the US just to fish for 2 weeks!

Stunning Stuff Rob, the lake look nice and clean.

Great Fish, that Mud Fish look a little like a barbel???

Nice one Rob. I'm sure the dissapointment on the lack of 10lb fish is overweighed by the experience itself. Darn nice mudfish that!!

The "pike" is a chain pickerel.

"Thyanks "for the feedback and fotos Rob F
What did you pack in your suitcase fo me ??

Awesome stuff Rob. Thank you for taking the time to write such a nice and detailed report. Much appreciated and enjoyed...

It is hard to put finger to keyboard and explain the excitement I felt fishing there with Preston Clark… the whole exercise was just awesome. Preston still holds the world record for the biggest bass caught in the classic!

And the personal stories of the tour were fantastic…

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

"What did you pack in your suitcase fo me ??

Sorry Hawkeye I bought back diddly squat for you… as it was we were overweight and there was just enough space for a few goodies for Dagsie!

When we got to check-in at Orlando airport we were a few kg’s overweight and they wanted $300 for that and then they didn’t want to accept my rod tube and then once I convinced them they had to they wanted $175 for that! So I greased a palm or two with $80 and they accepted it all! The the SA handshake work there too!