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"DEEP WATER BASSIN' IN FLORIDA
Jim Porter
The Sunshine State is known the world over for its
outstanding and consistent bass fishing. Ask most any
angler, native or tourist, to describe that fishing and you
are probably in for an explanation of how to fish grass beds
and reed stands in the shallow, natural lakes that abound
within the state. Lead the discussion around to deep water
angling and you will find that eight feet is considered deep
and 12 feet is ultra-deep. 'Structure' mentioned during the
dissertation will generally be limited to shell beds and the
features of feeder creeks and drainage canals entering the
lake.
Take a guy who has always fished the man-made reservoirs of the rest of the country and this information will probably leave him in a daze. It certainly did this writer.
In the years that I have resided in Florida, I have yet been able to solve the riddle of how to consistently locate
bass in the miles and miles of grass and cover in the
natural Florida lakes. Sure, I have learned that some types
of cover hold more potential than others and that moving
water will draw bass like a magnet. But, other than that, it
seemed the method was to work all the grass you could and
hope to run across a concentration of fish. Then, one
fateful summer day, a Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish
Commission biologist introduced this poor transplanted and
beaten angler to a bit of Heaven-and, 'Heaven' was a
phosphate pit!!
Phosphate pits are the remains of the mining industry
that supports the gathering of raw materials for fertilizer
manufacture. Environmentalists often criticize the mining
operations for the destruction and permanent scarring of the
land. There are even laws today, which require that new
excavations be filled, vegetation planted and the countryside
returned to its original condition. I doubt anyone can argue
with the valid intent of these requirements. But, I must say
that I am glad many of the older pits still remain, for they
provide what is probably the finest bass fishing in the
world.
 I have been fortunate enough to fish in some of these
man-made lakes which have up to 70 feet of water in them and
not a bit of visible grass or other cover anywhere, except a
sparse amount along the shoreline. Many of these magnificent
bodies are literally teeming with bass, a very high
percentage being trophies. However, a large number of the
native anglers, faced with little visible cover and not
having had northern reservoir and structure fishing
experience, are as perplexed with the 'pits' as I still am
with their grass-bowl lakes. Accordingly, only a fairly
small number of anglers really apply any fishing pressure to
these waters.
A phosphate pit is just a hole in the ground, but it has
some definite characteristics which are valuable for the bass
fisherman to know. The bottom is usually comprised of a
rather sticky, gray clay and there is very little, if any,
bedrock. On occasion, one may find some high concentrations
of sand mixed with the clay base and this will form fairly
hard, clean areas. There are some rocks, but they are not
igneous types. Rather, they are more like very hard and
compressed clay. The water in the pits originated and is
maintained primarily by seepage from the high water table of
the Florida peninsula. For obvious reasons, there are no
feeder tributaries.
Since the land is rich in phosphate minerals, it and the
waters are very fertile. Accordingly, plant growth is rapid.
Some sparse grass will often be found continually growing at
depths up to 12 feet, a rarity considering the lack of light
penetration. There are high concentrations of algae and
plankton, making the water rather green and limiting
visibility to about two feet, at the most. These basics of
the initial food chain insure a high density of smaller
aquatic life and, therefore, a rich and steady bait fish
population for the bass.
The lay of the bottom of a phosphate pit does not follow
any of Mother Nature's normal rules, since it was totally
created by the machines and handiwork of man. One will not
find any submerged erosion gullies or old channels.
Underwater points will not necessarily be where the shoreline
topography seems to indicate they should. Likewise, deep and
shallow water locations cannot be estimated visually. When
the pits were dug, some of the old miners have told us, the
less-than-adequate machinery of that time often was not
capable of handling extremely hard soil areas. Consequently,
they would simply dig around them, leaving hard mounds of
varying heights. As well, if the soil being scooped up was
not considered rich enough in the appropriate minerals, it
was piled off to one side. These were called 'spoil piles'
and they still exist beneath the surface of the pits. Where
the huge machines scraped away the matter of Mother Earth,
the result was often long trenches with sheer sides. All
these features, which remain confined and submerged within
the depths of phosphate pits, form outstanding bass fishing
structure. And, the concentration of so many ledges, mounds
and drop-offs is very dense for a given area of water. The
angler simply has to turn from one structure feature, cast in
the opposite direction and he will usually be fishing
another.
At this point, there is a prime safety rule to note.
Because there is no way to tell where the water is deep and
where it may be extremely shallow, it can be very dangerous
to operate a combustion engine. Until you know, absolutely,
where all the high spots are in a pit, never run the motor
above an idle. Remember, many of those mounds are there
because they were too hard and tough to dig out.
Although they can be found scattered throughout the
state, the major concentration of phosphate pits is in the
Lakeland area, some 40 miles south-southwest of Orlando. At
this point, I would like to relate to you experiences on two
of these pit areas.
Just to the South of Lakeland, near the town of Bartow,
active mining is still in process. In the midst of the
operation, however, there are some very old pits with
outstanding bass populations. One of these, called P-4, is
fished only with permission of the mining company. Although
not open to the general public, it is an excellent example of
a very fertile and highly populated phosphate pit. P-4 is
nearly a perfect square, one mile on a side and surrounded by
a levee created from the excavation. It averages around 50
feet deep, with some 70-foot sections. The banks have some
sparse brush and grass and drop off sharply into deep water.
In surveying the pit with both a flasher depth finder and a
graph, we discovered that it contained fish life from nearly
top to bottom, even in the deeper zones. The shad population
density was staggering to the imagination but, then, so were
the bass.
After surveying the waters of P-4, we noted where some
of the spoil piles and mounds were located, but began our
fishing along the shorelines. Even with some limited amounts
of cover present, there were few bass along those banks.
Moving out to the open water, we began to fish a mound which
was 12 feet deep at its pinnacle and surrounded by 50 feet of
water. This is where the fish were congregated, as well as
on every other similar feature we would later sample. Two
people, two hours, 200 bass-really congregated'!
The next area of pits we visited is on the Tenoroc
Reserve, right on the outskirts of Lakeland. The reserve is
a series of nine old pits, an a good bit of adjacent land,
donated to the state by the Borden Mining Company. With the
Department of Natural Resources acting as reserve manager,
the Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission uses the pits for
fishery management studies. Open to the public, each pit has
a differing set of bass fishing regulations governing it.
These include slot limits, reduced creel limits and, on one,
a restriction on the tackle which can be used. For
comparison purposes, some pits allow current state limit
catches. Their study data has been very enlightening.
While we don't have room here to go into
detail, it is readily apparent that fishery management
programs do work in the sustainment of quality fishing.
Particularly noted is the positive effect of slot limits on
maintaining the prime brood stock of bass. Even with high
removal rates outside the slot sizes, the bass population is
able to remain constant. In fact, it even increased during
the last year.
What we found from fishing the Tenoroc pits regularly,
over a one year period, is reflected in the specifics
contained in the remainder of this article.
Phosphate pits should be approached from the standpoint
of pure structure fishing, both for quantities of bass and to
acquire trophies. If there happens to be adequate shoreline
cover or grass beds, by all means try them. However, the
majority of the bass, particularly the lunkers, will be
offshore.
As we have previously said, the topography of a pit
cannot be estimated with the naked eye. Further, there are
no maps available. Therefore, we must turn to our sonar
devices. The primary feature that we search for is a high
spot in ten feet, or less, of water. It should drop off
sharply and have the deepest water in the area directly
adjacent to it. (This is important for really big bass.)
Idle slowly and watch the sonar for sudden changes on the
bottom. When you locate a mound or spoil pile that appears
to have good potential, drop a marker buoy. Try to place the
marker off the structure feature in the deep water. You only
want to use it for a reference, not scare the bass as the
marker's weight descends. These locations normally hold
schools of bass, rather than singles.
Lures to be employed may wind up being personal
preference, but I expect you will gradually settle on the
plastic worm. It is, by far, the most productive lure we
have found in all the pits sampled. While we can only
theorize, it appears that the bass have such a tremendous
food supply available that they simply are not inclined to
chase a moving lure very well. Accordingly, crank plugs
produce rather slowly compared to the worm. The one
exception is if you are after only a trophy bass and want to
cover a lot of water rapidly searching for him. In that
case, a large, deep Bagley Divin' B III, in silver foil and
black, has proven very effective. You will not catch many
fish but, when you do, you had better have a good grip on
that rod. Our records show that of 22 bass taken on the big
plug, the smallest was eight pounds and the largest slightly
over 12.
Remember we said that the bottom of pits was usually a
soft clay? Well, that was found not to be very conducive to
the use of a bottom-hugging, Texas rigged plastic worm. We
fully solved the problem and tripled our catch rate by going
to a high flotation worm and using it on a Carolina rig. The
Bass Buster Company's "Super Floater" worm was the one we
settled on, rigged about 20 inches out behind a heavy slip
sinker and swivel. The result was a plastic worm
configuration that remained slightly off the soft, mucky
bottom and was easy for the bass to inhale. When using the
Carolina rig, be sure to set the hook as quickly as you can
or the bass will take the worm down his gullet.
Generally, the bass have always been found on the top of
the high spots, with the exception of winter (if there is
such a thing in Florida). It appears that many may even
spawn on the shallower ones. During the colder months, the
fish are usually located off the sides of the drops, about
halfway to the bottom. This is really no different than
other one would expect in a normal reservoir environment. As
the spawning season approaches, expect many of the bass to
move towards some of the bank areas, as well. They will
usually be 12-15 feet deep and hugging the steeper banks.
Then, as the water warms, they move on up into four feet, or
less.
As is usually the case, lure color seems to effect
fishermen more than it does phosphate pit bass. The darker
color plastic worms (black and purple) hold a slight edge.
In crank plugs, however, the fish that were caught seemed to
show a decided preference for a silver or chrome finish,
which most closely resembled the shad supply. In final
observation towards color, the most productive will be the
one the angler has confidence in and keeps wet. Dry lures
catch darn few fish.
So, whether you are Florida native or tourist, you are
not necessarily confined to the shallow, grassy lakes of the
Sunshine State. There is plenty of deep water available and
it is highly productive if one approaches it in the correct
manner.
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