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 Lake
George is the second-largest freshwater lake (only Lake
Okeechobee is bigger) in the Sunshine State and the largest
along the trace of the St. Johns River. Covering some 46,000
acres (14 miles by 6 miles), George lies approximately half-way
between the headwaters of the St. Johns River (the
Melbourne/Palm Bay area) and the river's closure with the mighty
Atlantic Ocean at Jacksonville.
As with most
Florida lakes and rivers, Lake George has a number of very
specific `personal' traits and characteristics which give it a
distinctiveness all its own.
First, it has
possibly the most consistent bottom structure possible.
Once you have moved across the shallow areas bordering the
shorelines and out past the sloping drop-off, from six into 10
feet of water, the bottom topography of `Big George' has hardly
any variation in its entire length and width. We cruised a large
portion of the lake with an Eagle graph recorder and found
virtually no variations, save the normal drop-line that follows
the shoreline.
Second, George
has a significant salt content. In fact, the saline level is
high enough that numerous salt water fish and plant species
thrive in its waters. There is a large blue crab fishery that
forms a significant part of the local economy. The St. Johns
River waters, entering the lake at the South end, contain a good
amount of salt from the run-off waters and springs which
enter between Lake Harney and George. In addition, three feeder
creeks (Juniper, Silver Glen Spring Run, and Salt Springs) on
the West side of George add a salty water influx. Salt Springs
Creek, as the name would imply, is particularly salty. The
waters gradually dilute as the river flows to the North,
particularly when the clean, fresh waters of the Oklawaha River
enter.
The sources of
the salt are the massive, underground marine deposits left from
eons ago when the St. Johns basin, and the lands to the East,
were still a part of the Atlantic Ocean floor.
The third trait
of Lake George is the lack of vegetation, except along the
shallow shorelines. Within the areas of open water, there is
virtually no natural cover or growth.
And, finally,
the fourth item is the active Armed Forces bombing range which
lies along the East-central portion of the lake. This is an
approximate nine mile by two mile rectangle used for the
training and certification of pilots and bombardiers. There are
some features of the range area which are of fishing and boating
significance, and we will cover these in our usual tour of the
lake.
For our tour,
let's start mid-way along the eastern shore, at Pine Island camp
grounds and fish camp. John and Mary Solmonson, who manage the
facility, gave us a general orientation and `map-talk', plus
some pointers on seasonally fishing the lake.
Exiting from
the small, short canal that leads from the ramp to the lake, we
turn North, up along the eastern shoreline. As we start this
turn, we note the large, wooden pilings far out into the foggy
mist that shrouds the main lake. These we file away for later
reference.
The area in
near the shoreline is very shallow and generally bordered by
reeds and some standing grasses. To the outside of the reeds, we
find significant amounts of eel grass, mixed with some pepper
grass. The eel grass usually thins out and disappears when the
depth gets to 4-5 feet. From that point, out to the gentle,
rolling main drop-off, there appears to be no vegetation to
speak of. It is generally 100-400 yards from the natural
shoreline, out across this flat, to the main drop-off into the
main lake. Once past the drop (into 10-12 feet) and in the deep
water, we found no vegetation, either. This shoreline and
vegetation pattern seems to hold constant all around the
main lake body.
You will note
old pilings scattered along the shoreline flats, with some
extending out to the edge of the deep water. Those which reach
close to the deeper area have potential for bass. We found a
plastic worm to work well. Obviously, a Spring-time lure would
also be a spinner bait.
These pilings
also indicate that for each one we can see, there are possibly
10 underwater hidden from view. A `word to the wise' says to
confine your high-speed motoring to the deep water areas and
only idle in the flats.
On the
North-east shoreline, marked on the map accompanying this
article, is an area of special interest to bass anglers. The
Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission (FG&FWFC) has
designated this stretch of water as off-limits to fishing during
the prime bass spawning season. It is well marked with large
poles and brightly-colored signs. Approximately mid-way of the
restricted area are the remains of an old target ship. Lying on
its side in the shallow waters, this relic of a war era gone by
spends the remainder of its days rusting away and serving as a
curiosity to the visitors.
The intent of
this restricted area effort is prohibit the taking of bedding
bass and insure a maximum spawn. The hatched fry are then
sampled to determine a density count in the area. The FG&FWFC
biologists compare this count to counts taken in other parts of
Lake George to determine if the taking of bedding bass has any
significant effect on the results of the spawn. So far, the
answer is no, it appears to have no appreciable effect.
Apparently, two factors strongly influence this finding. First,
few large, bedding female bass are actually taken. Most are very
reluctant to strike any live bait or artificial. Second, these
trophy-size bass constitute only a small portion of the overall
spawning population.
At the North
end of Lake George, we find Drayton Island. The main river
channel and lake exit passes to the East of the island, with
numerous marinas and camp areas along the East shoreline. To the
West of the island, another passage exists. This one is not a
main passage, but most boaters can navigate it easily if they
follow the deeper water. The area around Drayton Island is
Conquina stone, a form of compressed small stones, sand and
shells. This provides some very hard and clean bottom
structure and has some nice drop-offs and deep bank areas.
The West side
of Drayton Island, in-between Kinsley and Rocky Points, was
found to have a very sharp drop from 6 into approximately 12
feet of water. A medium-depth crank plug (we used a Bagley DB II
and a Rebel Deep Wee-R, as examples) produced good, chunky
largemouths all along the West drop-line. The drop on the East
side was not as steep and a plastic worm seemed to work better
there. As a suggestion, this area would appear to be best on
windy days, when strong southerly or northerly winds would push
induced water currents through the channel. We suspect that the
bass gather to feed on this artificial current flow.
As we start
down the West shore, we first come to Salt Cove. This is fed by
the influx of the already-mentioned Salt Springs Creek. This
section of Lake George is usually the first to experience a
spawn of both bass and speckled perch (crappie). This is
primarily because the entering spring waters run a constant 72
degrees (F) year-round. Also, the northern portion of a lake
always gets more of the warming late-Winter/early-Spring sun and
the northerly winds of Spring have less effect in this area.
At the lower
corner of Salt Cove is a small feature known as Lisk Point.
There is a good amount of eel grass in this area and it produces
some fine bass angling.
Just below Lisk
Point, there is a shallow flat that extends far out into the
main body of the lake. There are some pilings out on the edge of
the deep water, which nearly always seem to hold bass. If the
bass are not in against the pilings, move out on the drop and
try a very deep crank plug (such as a DB III or Magnum
Hellbender) and a plastic worm. There are some remains of an old
pier or some structure that collapsed and slid off into the deep
water, right at the base of the drop-off. These remains have
rotted away significantly, but can still hang up a lure. Hunt
for them and you should also find a bass or two. In the Summer,
crappie will also hang out on this deep cover.
Approximately
two-thirds of the way down the West shoreline, we come to Silver
Glen Spring Run. About two miles further South, we find Juniper
Point, just above the entrance of Juniper Creek. From Silver
Glen Spring Run to Juniper Point is another of those FG&FWFC
off-limits areas to fishing during the bass spawning season.
Again, it will be well marked and easily detectable.
All three
creeks on this side of the lake are very good bass fishing,
especially when heavy rains have made the creeks run strongly.
Try the areas around the mouth first and then move into the
creeks for a distance. Since all three run at the
constant 72 degrees (F), the cover and flats near their mouths
are good for spawning bass. Striped bass also make good spawning
runs into the creeks (although they do not actually reproduce in
these waters), particularly the more-saline Salt Creek. We were
told that this Striper migration usually occurs in the Spring.
From the mouth
area of Juniper Creek to Volusia Bar, there is a line of
submerged pilings. Some are visible, especially when the water
levels are low. Bass and crappie are regular inhabitants. We
suggest you motor carefully in this area and place a few marker
buoys to reference the piling line.
Juniper Cove is
rated as very good for drift-fishing for crappie.
A the extreme
South end of Lake George is the entrance of the St. Johns River.
Through years of river flow, a very large and shallow slit area,
called Volusia Bar, built up across this entrance. In order to
retain navigational freedom, a channel is maintained. A portion
of this man-made entrance point is lined with rock and some
timbers and is locally referred to as the `Cow Pen'. Many
different species of fish gather at this moving-water location
to feed. Largemouth and striped bass are the two most commonly
found. Watch for surface feeding action in and around the Cow
Pen and use spoons, top-water lures and Shad-A-Lac
(vibrating, free-running crank plug) style lures. Also, be sure
to toss crank plugs and plastic worms near the obstructions
present.
In the
South-east corner of the lake is Jones Cove.
Surface
schooling bass use this location well during the May/June and
September/October periods. Some of the lake's larger crappie are
taken drifting live minnows and small jigs a few hundred yards
out from the shoreline.
Ninemile Point
is the next feature and lies just up the lower East shoreline.
On the bank, you will note a bombing range control tower and
a microwave communications tower. Directly in front of this
complex, a line of old pilings runs from the shore out to the
drop into deep water. At the end of these pilings, some 250
yards into the lake, there are the remains of a deteriorated
dock. While the squared-off set of dock pilings are mostly still
visible, the platform materials have long since rotted and sunk.
Some of the old boards and timbers are in amongst the remaining
pilings, while other slid off into the deeper zones. On our
visit to George, we took a good string of 2-3 pond bass off the
dock remains and the outer 100 yards of pilings. A Texas-rig
plastic worm was used in the more snag-prone dock area, while a
Carolina-rig worked extremely well around the individual
pilings.
Ninemile Point
is bordered by an outer growth ring of eel grass and an inner
ring of reeds and small pads. Some pepper grass is mixed in.
This entire point is rated excellent bass fishing by all the
local anglers we talked to. We were told to work the eel grass
using spinner baits (in the Spring and Fall) and plastic worms
(year-round.) A slowly-fished, weedless Johnson Spoon, with a
plastic trailer, was recommended for hot weather.
Willow Cove was
indicated as a good spawning location for bass and crappie.
Willow Point
has a large stand of isolated reeds out in the open water. This
was the only place in Lake George that we noted this condition,
although there may be others. The water in the reeds is 4-6 feet
deep and there is no grass or other hindering growth. A spinner
bait or worm can be cast far into the reeds and retrieved back
with no far of hanging up. My partner and I found a huge school
of small bass (1-2 pounds) dispersed throughout this reed stand.
John Solmonson,
at the Pine Island Marina indicated that the East shoreline was
his overall choice for the better fishing and that it helped the
angler avoid the common easterly winds from the coast. For
certain, he indicated, this shore was the best for shellcrackers
and big, bull bluegills in the June-August timeframe. The West
shore, particularly near the creek entrances seem best during
the late-Winter/early-Spring.
When we started
the tour of Lake George, we noted a cluster of pilings out in
the lake. There are actually three of them and they are laid out
in a circular pattern and serve as `targets' for the bombing
range. The center cluster is the largest and is significant
because it has a ship sunk in the middle of the piling circle.
Local angler, who know the ship is there, find it a fine place
to take crappie year-round.
In
the months of May through July, the lake's striped bass
population often provided great surface action in the bombing
range area, particularly near the pilings. Watch for them and
you can get the kinks out of your line in a hurry.
There are numerous fish camps and facilities around Lake George,
particularly along the upper, Northeast section. Another is
located at the South end, at Volusia Bar, and, of course, the
Pine Island facility is on the East side. Additionally, the town
of Crescent City is only 15 minutes East of Lake George and has
ample facilities for overnight stays.
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