Lake Kissimmee Fishing Charters & Guides

Lake Kissimmee, FL

When anglers hear the name Lake Kissimmee, it isn’t “kisses” they think of. It’s largemouth bass. Bunches of big bucket mouth trophy bass. Lake Kissimmee is a lake located between the towns of Lake Wales and Yeehaw Junction in Central Florida. It is the “anchor” of the Kissimmee chain of lakes. It’s known as one of the top bass fishing lakes in the world and over the years has produced literally thousands of bass weighing 10 pounds or better. It’s one of the more remote Florida big bass waters, but that doesn’t slow down anglers in search of a trophy bass. Bass tournament winners routinely catch a five-fish bag limit weighing 18 to 25 pounds in all kinds of conditions. Lake Kissimmee (ka-SIM-mee) is about 24 miles long, six miles wide at its widest point and averages around five feet deep. Because of that shallow depth, aquatic vegetation is prevalent. While that’s great for the fish, it makes it tough to fish in many of the areas of the lake. Maximum depth is about 12 feet.

Fishing Lake Kissimmee

The main drawing card for anglers here is bass fishing, but there is also great crappie and shell cracker fishing here. Large numbers of big bass are taken out of the lake on a regular basis. There are lots of ways to catch them, but the primary trophy bass lure is shiners. In fact, many local anglers refer to the wild shiners and shad to work so well as “nature’s candy” for big bass. Shiners over 6 inches can be used, and it seems there’s no upper limit on shiner size, since a 2 lb. bass might well decide to eat a shiner 7 inches long. Fishing live bait isn’t easy and anglers have to take care to keep the bait alive to catch fish. With very few exceptions, bass won’t hit a dead or dying shiner. Anglers prefer one of two methods for hooking shiners. First, they can be hooked through the lips and out one nostril. Second, you can hook them in the back just below the end of the dorsal fin. Hooked through the back, shiners swim more naturally, but die quicker. Hooked through the lips, they live longer, but can’t swim as actively. The main draw to the 34,948 acre lake is fishing the expansive Lake Kissimmee State Park. The park provides a unique opportunity to watch a variety of wildlife, like bald eagles, white tailed deer, alligators, ospreys, bobcats, turkeys, and sandhill cranes. The unique "cow camp" features educational opportunities about the early era of Florida cowboys. One of the world’s top birdwatching areas is along the Joe Overstreet Road where visitors can scout for sandhill cranes, introduced whooping cranes, bald eagles, black vultures, and a variety of shorebirds.

Kissimmee Chain of Lakes

But back to fishing. The main Kissimmee Lake is part of the larger Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, which make up the headwaters for the Everglades system. The upper lakes of the Kissimmee chain are often tough to fish. The lower Kissimmee Chain is shallow and extremely sensitive to weather fronts in the winter and early spring. In the main lake, bass fishing centers around the massive stands of maidencane, bullish and knotgrass around the lake as well as other aquatic growth. Fishermen probe the pockets and edges of the grass with shiners under a cork or flip plastic baits or frogs up in the vegetation for big bites. Big fish spawning in those areas provide the best chance at the lake’s biggest bass during the spring. Anglers feel like there is a state record bass in the Kissimmee waters. The current state record is 17.27 pounds, but several years ago an angler practicing for a tournament landed a 19.23 pound bass that was 27 inches long and had an amazing 24-inch girth. The fisherman could not fit the bass in his live well and didn’t want to kill it, so he weighed it on non-certified scales, took pictures and put it back in the lake. Otherwise, it would have been a new record. In the summer and fall, other faster moving lures like rattling crankbaits, buss baits or jerk baits work well. Colors vary depending on water colors, but local tackle stores and guides can put you on the hottest lures. Crappie fishing is also excellent on the lake and mostly focuses on black crappie. Fish share the same spawning grounds as the bass, but often go up even further into the cattails and lily pad areas of the lake. Fishing with live shiners or artificial jigs work well here. The other big attraction here is the giant bluegill and shellcrackers. It is common to land an ice chest full of big panfish that weigh a pound or better. This fish start biting in the spring. Shell crackers spawn earlier than the bluegills and start slowing down around April. That is about the same time the bluegill really get going. When conditions are right, bluegill will bed more than once during the year.

Visiting Lake Kissimmee

Access to the lake is accomplished mainly through six major fishing camps or the state park. There are also three public boat ramps. Lake Kissimmee is located near the center of vacationland in Florida, not far from Disney, Epcot, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Sea World, and other numerous Central Florida attractions.

Book A Lake Kissimmee Fishing Trip

Whenever you’re near Lake Kissimmee is a good day for fishing! Hire a local, professional guide who will get you on the fish. Find one today with FishAnywhere, search for the best guide at the best price; a Lake Kissimmee fishing adventure is just a click away!