Lake istapoga

I plan to fish lake istapoga in highlands county on friday morning. Really will be just the second time on the lake. I went out once when I first got my boat just to explore but now want to see if I can find some fish. Anyone fish this lake recently ? I have heard from a few people that specks are biting near reeds in the shallows already so expect to try some of those areas. People I've talked to say they usually fish about 18 inches under a cork with minnow in those areas and are catching them now. I'll be coming out of the park canal off of 98. The deepest this lake gets at the north end where I'll be is 9 ft..would drifting the open water be my best bet the first time out ? I'm going to put in about six hours maybe this trip . The four or five fish I've been catching at red beach just aren't enough! Any comments appreciated! thanks!

Don't have a clue here, but good luck and catch a bunch

Thanks for well wishes on the trip. I did change my mind about istapoga today. Looked like rain over toward the lake so I went to red beach instead. I had been getting a little discouraged with that lake but if it got windy or rainy elsewhere I wouldn't have felt safe in my little boat. As it turned out ..GREAT choice!! Only one other boat in the water when I got there so Had my pick of good spots. Set up to drift minnows in 16 ft water and used my new 16 ft pole plus three other 10 footers. I had two dinks within . minutes! Before finishing out that line of drifting, I had four keepers. Set up again to drift across and by end of day at 11 am had caught a total of twelve and had four keepers. The LAST fish was a 14 inch beaut and she was VERY full of roe....some spawning is about to happen here! I had only had about 20 minnows left out of a quarter pound . I basically had just wanted to fish up what I had left. It was just starting to fall so I called it a day on an upnote!..I actually found six minnows that had been hiding with the bigger fish when I starting cleaning the catch..little buggers! Sooo... fun day...never went more than 20 minutes without setting a hook and was best day on this lake to date..and biggest fish of the lot to date. And I NEVER have my camera when I actually catch something!

Good read ff