I lived in the Tampa area for 10 years. I fished several lakes from Lake Harris to Lake Kissimee to Lake Okeechobee. Although these lake may have differed to what I grew up on in GA, I had decent success on most of them. I did not fish very much during the summer because of the heat and the bugs, day or night. Early winter to mid Spring was about the extent to the crappie fishing I did, then I would turn to bass until the days got too hot to be out there. The fishing "may" have been a little different than what I was used to, but not any "harder"..I mainly fish Talquin now and it has it all...Brush piles, deep water, flooded timber, stumps...you name it.