There's a lake near my home that has been great for me over the last four years. I have lived here for 33 years and didn't fish it much for the first 29.
I don't know why. I'd heard that it was a tough nut.

Wrong!

Everytime I go I catch a lot of fish. I mainly target bluegill, but also catch some really nice crappie, bass, shellcracker and channel cats -- all on light fly rod.

I usually use No. 10 poppers, No. 12 gold bead nymphs, wooly buggers, etc.

Average day is 75 fish. I've caugth more than 100 on many occasions.

The lake has a 20-horsepower restriction, but doesn't affect me since I'm fishing out of a kayak.

Lake Manatee is located nine miles east of Interstate 75 off state road 64 in Manatee County. We're located about 45 miles south of Tampa on the west coast.





This is a friend on mine who I took out to the lake. The bass was caught on a 2-weight.