The Kit Lake Solace

JULY 2026

It was a month of storms and no storms on Kit Lake, my home water in central Florida’s largemouth bass country. Work orders were filed but “not received,” causing office storms and exposing us to the real ones. Kit Lake anglers could assume fish would be in seasonal spots, but like a predetermined sports event we needed to hedge our bets. And the british simultaneously helped and hurt.

Rains developed this month, so water was freshened and fish were turned on. But our water is still low, so shorelines were still different and overgrown. So, two-rod-strategies helped our searches. Then by the end of the month, we had to run updates on our cell phone weather apps because storms were frequent and strong enough to finally merit watching.

In the shallows, baby bass showed the way to bluegill. Anglers who didn’t pick up rods for the first 30 minutes of their morning, saw the signs that lead to these energetic but small bluegill. Mr. Avocado did both. He used a weedless streamer on a three weight outfit to find bluegill chasing these baby bass in about 5 feet of water. Other anglers found bluegill with weedless poppers in the new shallows. With our low water conditions, that meant an overgrown three feet of water out to about six feet of clear water.

The long-term lack of rain is showing in another way. Many of the old reliable structures now have shallow water under them. Mr. Young, and other homeowners, have taken their boats out of the water because their nice docks are too high. This means the water is too shallow for big bass, too.

So, having watched their own young swim off, the bigger bass that Kit Lake were found well away from the new shore. Anglers chasing them looked for good but not dramatic drop-offs off the bottom. Mr. Hightower found one of those pitches by the dock that still has the Christmas lights out, in about 8 feet of water with an eight weight outfit he presented sinking flies knotted to stout leaders with loop knots.

The storm-no-storm-cycle created new spots in the channel. Ben found one new spot in the canal’s lily pads. His cast landed accurately. He allowed a crawfish fly to sink slowly. And he hooked into a nice bass.

As we look forward from this July to this August, new homes are possible. The fish might move to theirs and we just have to find them and present the correct lures.