Photo by Ron Sinfelt

Every state in the U.S. has its good and bad points. Florida is no different. While it may seem that we have more people than you can shake a stick at, we have tremendous opportunities for fishing. Quality-of-life issues aside, Florida still is one of the best places in the country for bream fishing. From Lake Ocheechobee north to Lake City and into the Panhandle, there are hundreds of lakes open to the public, not mention a number of good rivers that are rarely visited.

Let's take a closer look at four excellent bream fishing destinations in the Sunshine State and some things you need to know to be successful at each on your next trip.

LAKE KISSIMMEE
Just a stone's throw northeast of Avon Park is 35,000-acre Lake Kissimmee. Kissimmee stretches in a rectangular fashion for a dozen miles from State Route 60 north along the western edge of Osceola County. As central Florida waters go, the lake is fairly shallow, with most of it less than 10 feet deep. The lake has a number of recognizable islands, such as Stern, Rabbit, Ox, Bird and, the largest of them all, Brahma Island.

There's a dam on the south end of the lake near SR 60. South of the dam, the once-channelized Kissimmee River now flows through its old bed down to Lake Okeechobee. Fishermen who know the territory say the lake is where you want to fish if it's bluegills and shellcrackers you are after.

One of those anglers who enjoy fishing Lake Kissimmee is Amos Morris. He lives in the Panhandle in the Alford community outside of Marianna. At 73 and retired from the logging industry, he has the time and energy to fish whenever he wants. Yet, each spring he makes a trip or two down to Kissimmee.

He likes to fish the lake in March and April but admits the weather can be unpredictable.

"We've been down and had it blow a gale, and when it does, you don't go out on the lake," he said. "When it's nasty we fish the river, or stay where it's protected."

In April of 2003 Morris said he and some fishing buddies made the eight-hour drive to Kissimmee and had one of their best trips in years.

"I had Willard Henderson with me, and we went to this cove where the bluegills had bedded the year before. We anchored and I hadn't even gotten my pole unwrapped before Willard had a bream on," he said. "We were fishing in lily pads and probably lost more fish than we caught, but what we caught were good fish."

Morris said they don't employ any secret techniques or use special Panhandle baits. Instead, they use standard 12- to 15-foot fiberglass poles, 8- or 10-pound-test line, No. 8 hooks and small corks. They use crickets and earthworms for bait and usually fish shallow water, less than 6 feet deep.

"With that light tackle and a small cork, you can usually tell if one breathes on it," he noted.

If there's anything he's learned about the lake, aside from how to fish it, it's how dangerous the lake can be during bad weather. Like most other large, shallow lakes, 10- to 15-mph winds can kick up high waves and spell trouble for fishermen in small boats.

"On days like that, we stick around the camp," Morris conceded.