Headwaters Lake- Speck report

Had a buddy in town and decided to poke out to the new Headwaters Lake in Indian River County. This lake has really been touted as a trophy bass fishery, and rightly so. It has amazing habitat and I think they have done a great job...but the past few trips I've been focusing on Crappie.

Water temperature is quite warm already, it was 76 degrees when we got on the water at 7:00AM. Heavy fog in the morning kept conditions slick calm and sheltered us from the bright sun. We ended up finding some specks in about 5-9 feet of water and got about 15 total; 12 keepers. All were caught on jigs, most under a small cork. I have been using the Crappie Magnet and really like them. Also picked up 4 nice bluegill, a handful of small bass and one very large mudfish.

This particular lake does not have much for submerged timber, or thick lily pad fields. But, it has abundant hydrilla and cattails and I believe the fish are holding on the shallow edges of these areas. We tried punching a few holes in some thick hyacinth, but no luck. The bright overhead sun seemed to shut the speck bite down so we netted some threadfin shad and tried for bass. To my surprise, I got a nice speck. I know they eat shad, but I've never caught a speck on one- especially with a large kahle hook while slow trolling for bass.

A great day on a really cool lake. Cheers!

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looks like you had a good day on the water. that's a good size mudfish , I bet he was fun to play with.

I havent attempted to launch my boat there as yet due to the crowds the place has been attracting.
Stick Marsh has also been busy, i suppose as a result of overflow from the new place plus the tourist.
Ive spoken with the guy who checks fish counts with fishermen returning to the dock about Crappies.
He said there were a few guys doing very well with limit catches.
Theres a guy i sorta know from fishing Garcia who told me he caught a limit there.
But when i watch those rooster tails heading down that canal, i think thats no place for an old guy in a Jon boat.
Ill stick with the swamps, at least till most of the Pros leave.

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Originally Posted by yobuck

I havent attempted to launch my boat there as yet due to the crowds the place has been attracting.
Stick Marsh has also been busy, i suppose as a result of overflow from the new place plus the tourist.
Ive spoken with the guy who checks fish counts with fishermen returning to the dock about Crappies.
He said there were a few guys doing very well with limit catches.
Theres a guy i sorta know from fishing Garcia who told me he caught a limit there.
But when i watch those rooster tails heading down that canal, i think thats no place for an old guy in a Jon boat.
Ill stick with the swamps, at least till most of the Pros leave.

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It can get pretty crowded, especially on the weekends. I mainly try to go during the week, or even mid-day to avoid the crowds. There are a few b*******s out there but overall most people are pretty considerate.

Good bunch of feeshes there! I gotta make the drive one day......

Thanks for the report, luv fishing the Stick/Farm pond side & was curious about the new headwaters impoundment, but like yobuck said, I'll wait for the bass craze to wear off a bit. When I was down in December, the headwaters parking lot looked like Wallymart on Black Friday....

Sent from my moto e5 go using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Speck Detector

Thanks for the report, luv fishing the Stick/Farm pond side & was curious about the new headwaters impoundment, but like yobuck said, I'll wait for the bass craze to wear off a bit. When I was down in December, the headwaters parking lot looked like Wallymart on Black Friday....

Sent from my moto e5 go using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

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Ive already noticed a decline in parking and use from out of towners. In Jan/Feb it was packed with out of state license tags! But now that winter up north is beginning to show signs of waining it seems to be a bit better. Still going to be crowded on weekends during nice weather. But during the week I havent had any problems. One note of caution though- the boat ramps are in need of repair. The seam where the concrete meets the waterline has collapsed resulting in about a 5 inch drop off. Just take it slow and remember to trim up when backing down!