Any Aston / St. Johns reports?

I'm heading down for a couple of weeks. I stay in Astor and fish the river south to Lake Dexter and Woodruff. Anyone have any reports from that area? thanks JC

Highland park fish camp is reporting good catches from Woodruff and the run. Probably the best bite right now.

Great, Woodruff is one of my favorite places. I will hit it Thursday and see what I can do. I will post results as I get them. JC

Can't wait to see your report, that's one of my favorite areas of the river

Today was my 3rd day on the water. It took me a while to figure out what they wanted. The first day I pulled 15 nice fish 12" and over, the second day I got 20 the same size with a lot of fish in the 8 - 10" range. Anything under 12" goes back in the water to get bigger. Today I started at 7 am and it was slow so I started up my program of changing up colors and speeds. I only troll and usually use 1/16 oz jig heads of red or chartreuse. The grubs didn't seem to be producing well so I put on a tube (red head with white tail) They seemed to like that so I took it one step further, I filled the tubes with Berkley's crappy bites and the bite was on. I pulled 60+ fish, 20 of them under 12" and I kept 10 fish to have a fish fry. They are out there it just takes some time to figure them out. Tomorrow,,,, who know, they might only bite on a treble hook with a turkey leg on it. JC

Great report, thanks for sharin the info - good luck tomorrow !! :fish

good report............dark colors...my :twocents

Great report! Hate when they key on them dang turkey legs! Cant never seem to be able to tune em to run straight. Things just make a terrible mess of the spread. Good luck tomorrow!

Cant wait to get word the pads are poppin in woody! man o man that is some fun! Thanks for the report!!

I tried all the dark colors I had when it was overcast and could not get them to go. That is when I got creative. JC

I hit Woodruff at sun rise today. Pretty much the same program, red jig head with pink / white tube with Berkley crappie bites. I pulled 54 fish 12" or over in 6 hours. Lost count of how many 8 - 10 inch fish ( I see the small ones as a good sign for the future fish population in the area). I kept 10 nice ones for a fry tonight.
Tomorrow I am moving from Highlands park fish camp to Front st. bait fish camp in Astor. I'm going to take the day off from fishing to get the tackle box and the boat put back together and get ready to put specks on the endangered species list starting Monday morning!! JC

Sounds like a nice catch rate with some size too.:cheers2
Thanks for sharin, got any pics?

Good luck...sounds like you got it down:highfive

I went out early today and got 15 nice fish for the frier. It looked like rain was moving in so I took off. I did not take off early enough! Just for everyones info, there is a difference between water repent and water resistant coats. I felt like a fish by the time I got back to Astor. Also I talked to a guy that was trolling in the middle of Woodruff this morning and he had 12 real nice fish, so they are all over the lake you just need to look around some. Good color grubs are pink with chartreuse tail, purple with chartreuse tail, red with white tail. JC

Here is a pic of some Specks from yesterday. I had to work a little harder for them, I figure it was because of all the rain the day before. I'm headed back out. JC
Attachment 175021

Nice mess, keep the reports comin :cheers2

^^^^^ what he said!

I was on the water when the sun came up today. It was a slow start to a great day. The state has been out with air boats every day spraying the shore all around the lake killing the vegetation, well today was the first time the vegetation that they killed started to break away and floated out into the lake. I weaved in and out of the dead weeds for most of the morning until the wind started to blow them to the north end of the lake. I then started to troll in the open water that the wind cleared out and the bite was on!! From 11:30 to 1:30 I pulled 54 fish over 12" with a number of big fish (2 lb) mixed in. I am willing to bet that I also had another 30 or so fish under 12". 3 times I had all 7 rods go off with in a few seconds of each others, the only break came when I had all 7 rods on the deck in a tangled rats nest. Once the smoke cleared I kept 15 beautiful fish for my freezer. I have to say in all my years of fishing those couple of hours where the best fishing I have ever had. It was a full blown blast. In the last 10 days I have pulled 341 fish all over 12", and cant imagine how many smaller ones. I have kept 50 fish total for my freezer and released all the rest for others to enjoy. For my last few days here all will be catch and release unless I get a 3 pounder, and he/she will go on the wall. JC
Attachment 175293

Looks like ya got on 'em and caught some nice fish.

Well I'm back home in Ohio for the winter and wanted to finish up this report. Fished a total of 11 days on Woodruff. I keep 2 counters on the back of the boat, 1 for every speck caught and 1 for every speck 12" or larger. The total fish count was 834. Secks 12" or over, 376. I took 50 fish home and released the rest. I highly recomend 2 fish camp when fishing the Woodruff, Dexter and St. Johns river areas. Front street bait in Astor ( l will also add there has been a management change (( For the better ))
Front Street Bait & Tackle in Astor Florida

And Highland park fish camp in Deland Highland Park Fish Camp Where Fishing Is A Tradition - Home

Glad you had a good time...thanks for the reports

Sounds like ya had a great trip, Thanks for keepin us informed :cheers2

You are welcome back next year. I think you made some nice memories this year.