My wife and I decided to get out of the dragging Midwestern winter and head south for a little beach time with our new baby and break from the endless cold and snow. We had our sights set on Destin Florida, which fit the pocketbook and the weather for the trip looked great.
Most fisherman heading to Destin have dreams of the countless saltwater fish available from offshore boats and the inshore harbor, but I had have always been drawn to rivers and a unique bass species would only be a short drive from our resort. I brought along my mohawk solo 14 for the trip, which can handle any river florida has to offer and it even did nicely surfing a few small breakers!
Normally crystal clear, rain the night before the trip had the river up and off color, and the water color was tannic and an almost blackish brown color; something that is rarely seen in well drained farmland of the Midwest. Spanish moss hung from the trees, and cypress, tupelo, palm, sweetgum, and pine trees climbed from the river banks. The river was so different that what I am used to, and much different than other Florida streams. It is fed by over 60 springs with a year round temperature of 68 degrees and has several rocky limestone shoals. The Chipola river arises in Alabama and is a tributary of the Apalachicola, and contains a species of bass that I have not had the chance to fish for, the shoal bass. Shoal bass inhabit the rocky limestone shoals in fast moving water throughout Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. The Chipola contains a good population of shoal bass but they are only relegated to the areas of fast water around limestone shoals, but due to limited habitat all anglers are encouraged to release shoal bass.
The high water had washed out the shoals, so I had to focus my efforts on any moving water I could find. After about a mile and a half I hooked into my first shoal bass. It was a fighter, and reminded me of the smallies I catch back home. It took a crankbait fished in fast water and tried to take the rod away from me with about 15 feet of line out. It pulled drag and jumped at least twice. A great way to start the trip out.
I caught several more shoal bass, always in the fast water around the fast dropping shoals. Most were small, but I caught a few above 15".
Farther downstream in a long skinny slow water pool, I threw a cast against cypress trunk and my bait ricocheted off the trunk and behind a stump that was invisible to my line of site. The lure landed in a pocket of 2-3 feet deep water surrounded by cypress roots. As I began my retrieve it was engulfed by a huge bass. I set the hook, and I did not expect the fish on the end of my line. It was HUGE! Another bass species to check off of the life list, a Florida strain largemouth bass...from Florida no less.
