Urban Bass Fishing Lake Ivanhoe November 19th, 2018

Fishing Downtown Orlando

Best friends Charlie and Andrew just moved to Downton Orlando and wanted to go Bass fishing on a lake near their new house called Lake Ivanhoe.  They gave me a call, I set up the trip and we had an amazing day fishing right in the heart of Downtown Orlando!

Lake Ivanhoe 

Lake Ivanhoe is made up of a series of man made lakes and is part of the FAB 5 fishing lakes in Florida due to its ability to consistently yield healthy 3-5 pound fish. The lakes were created during the 1960's construction of I-4. Workers would dig and use the dirt to help build I-4, creating massive holes that would serve as perfect storm water run off retention zones, now known as Lake Ivanhoe. Many of Florida's small lakes and ponds were made this way all across the state. The lake lies in College Park, which was built in the 1920's and offers a plethora of unique bars, cafes, art, walking trails and much more. Fishing Lake Ivanhoe gives you an urban fishing feel, one that is quite unique. You can see Orlando's corporate buildings, and the hustle and bustle of traffic on I-4 all while catching Largemouth Bass!

How we Fished

I had fished lake Ivanhoe before when I was a young kid with my parents. We would walk the shoreline looking for Bass. Andrew and Charlie had never fished Lake Ivanhoe, and I had never fished it by boat so I was really looking forward to this trip. We started out using my Simrad Go7 fish finder to scan the bottom, looking for major depth changes, grass, or hard sandy bottom. The second lake had some nice 18-25 foot areas which were holding a good amount of bait and Bass. We could see the balls of bait on the Simrad and see streaks of Bass feeding on the bait beneath the surface. The first fish we caught was a really healthy 3 pound chunky Bass, caught on a Rapala Jerkbait. We were using a ripping then stop action to get the bite. The next couple of bites come on a 10-15 foot diving Bomber crankbait that Andrew was using. The key here was using light line, 10-12 pound test, to get the right depth and action from the lure. As the afternoon warmed we fished under the I-4 bridge using a 1/4th ounce weighted purple Zoom worm and a 1/4th ounce weighted Gambler june bug color craw pattern. Andrew got the next bite on the craw pattern, directly under the bridge. Bass love bridges because they protect them from the hot sun, provide structure for ambush points and protection from birds of prey. The moving baits got most of the bites out in the open water, and all the creature baits got bites under the bridges or under in the shade. Lake Ivanhoe is a great destination not only for fisherman, but for anyone looking for a Urban yet unique city feel.

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​Lake Ivanhoe Bass Fishing Video