Grand Opening for Fishing with Kevin on Headwaters Lake
50% off – See Details Below
Since I am the new fishing guide out on Headwaters Lake, I am offering some discounts for those of you looking to get on the water without spending so much money! To start, I am doing 50% off if you get your trip reserved and paid for by Christmas day. Make sure to check the website because I will continue to offer some deals to get the winter schedule to start filling up with some people.
I haven’t posted a report for this past week since I headed back home for the holidays. I will be back after the New Year to start guiding and I will post regularly from mid-January until I head to Branson for the summer in mid-June.
From talking to a few locals, it seems the water temperatures are still in the low 60s. The artificial bite has been ok, but not great. On warmer days, it seems like the bite does pick up.
With live shiners, the bite is still crazy good on most days. You may have to move around to find the fish, but when you do, they are willing to bite the shiners. Roland Martin has been seen guiding on the lake. He is back in town and doing trips, so if you have an extra $1,200 or so, you can go fish with a legend.
You’re not hearing about a lot of big fish being caught and when I say big, I mean those 8 to 10 pounders and even bigger, but that should pick up soon. Some absolute giant bass are going to start moving shallow soon. On my last day here before heading home, I saw several beds in the northeast part of the lake. They could have been tilapia beds too, so the bass spawn may not be here yet, but it is coming soon.
I did do a couple half day shiner fishing outings and caught around 40 each day. I already have a good sample of what the shiner bite is like from previous videos, so if you haven’t seen them, go ahead and take a look. This way, you don’t have to scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to see the videos.
When Everything Else Fails, Give Them What They Want
Water Temperatures – low 60s
Another cold front came through. This one didn’t seem as severe. I spent a lot of time scouting new spots and I did some a decent amount of time over a couple of days casting deep water crankbaits. It didn’t go so well. I got a few smaller bass, but not what I was hoping for. I did catch some decent bass on wacky worms and flukes.
I met a couple of guys who had some leftover shiners for me, so I did put them to use before sunset and I caught a few really nice bass. For those guys, they really struggled to get bites with shiners, so I know the bite was slow today. However, I found one area that really was holding a lot of quality bass in a small spot and there were still plenty of bass willing to bite right before sunset. You can watch those in the video below.
This Lake is so Awesome!!!!
Water Temperatures – low to upper 70s depending on the time of day
I actually spent Thanksgiving on Headwaters Lake. It stunk to be away from family, but this was the time we chose for me to get down to Florida to start fishing Headwaters Lake as I get ready to start guiding for 2025. The water temperatures really warmed up by the end of the day today.
While I missed out on a nice Thanksgiving meal and some quality time with family, I had an awesome day of fishing on Headwaters Lake. The bite was so good. I brought 4 dozen shiners out to the lake, but I got on a pretty good artificial lure bite to start, so I stayed with lures for a large portion of the day. I did finally focus on shiner fishing for the last couple of hours and it was awesome.
I did put a video together of the insane 25 minutes of fishing I experienced right before sunset.
Shiner Fishing – So Many Bass!
Water Temperatures – upper 60s to mid 70s after a few warmer days
The fishing today was what I thought I would be getting into when I was reading up on this lake several months ago. I had a 40 plus day fishing with shiners and added quite a few more on artificial lures as well. Below, I wanted to show you a video of what you could expect when going out on a shiner fishing trip to Headwaters Lake.
Cold Front Fishing & Learning the Lake Water Temperatures – from the upper 60s down to the lower 60s
I made it down to Headwaters Lake with no issues. The 20 hour drive was no problem at all. However, I did pick the worst time to come down here to start learning the lake since it was the first major cold front for Florida this season. It is what it is. Everyone who fishes Florida with artificial lures knows how tough the bite can be after a cold front. These Florida bass just don’t always cooperate with lures when water temperatures drop quickly.
On a positive note, I did learn a lot of this lake quickly. It is large and kind of overwhelming for first time visitors. There is so much vegetation on the surface and there are plenty of obstructions throughout the lake. I made a ton of navigational routes so I can get around the lake quickly with no issues for the future. It won’t always be quick though due to the 25 mph speed limit for the lake.
My biggest takeaway from the first few days here is how crazy the bass fishing can be with live shiners. On one of these days, I brought out 1 dozen shiners only. I think I caught 14 or 15 bass in about 45 minutes on 12 shiners. I cannot wait to bring out a few dozen to fish some of the better spots I found on the lake. At the end of the video below, you will see me fishing a very common community spot that many boats fish daily. It seems to hold bass consistently, but there are definitely better spots to find some quality bass. You will see those in my reports in the days following this one.
