Gilchrist Blue Springs and Jonathan Springs Near High Falls Florida

 

Location -  Gilchrist Blue Springs and Run, & Jonathan Springs

Date - January 26th and 27th 2023

This trip was a bucket list trip for me as it really accomplished 2 things(or hoped to) which was to catch a Suwannee Bass and the other was to see several Springs in this area.   Both were accomplished. 

This is the area where I fished on the second day but one side adventure of this Trip was canoeing up Gilchrist Blue Springs Run to the Spring which was magnificiant. This spring is located in Ruth B. Kirby Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park and I  was the only person there.  The Spring and run are off limits to fishing.

What an awesome spring but the run(creek) to the river was maybe 1/4 to 1/3 mile long and it was awesome as well.   You can see a Suwannee Bass Swimming with 2 Largemouths if you pay attention.   

I Launched at Rum Island Springs County Park which is a very nice county Park which has Rum Island Spring as a swimming hole. It can be seen right on the river.

We Put in at the ramp  (Blue Circle) paddled down past Rum Spring and entered Gilchrist Blue Springs Run (Red Circle) and then paddled up to Gilchrist Blue Springs.(Green Circle)

Click on the Picture to see all of it

Here is the Video of that short but awesome paddle adventure.

I then went upstream to Jonathan Spring and this little Spring was pretty awesome to be a small one.

Even though Google Maps shows Jonathan Spring as a Blue Balloon that is not where it is at. The red arrow marks the outlet of it and the spring is only like 20 yards up .   The Yellow Circle is where a very small spring bubbles up into the river. 

Click on the Picture to see all of it.

Video on Jonathan Spring 

Video of the 2 days fishing on the Sante Fe River. The 1st day we put in at the High Falls Ramp and the second day we put in at the  Rum Island ramp.  Both fishing days are on this video. 

#suwanneebass

#gilchristbluesprings

#genniesprings

#jonathonspring

Ruth B. Kirby Gilchrist Blue Springs State Park 

#floridasprings

    Quest for the Bartram's Bass

My first quest for one of the redeye species would be the Bartram's Bass found in the Savannaha Drainage and also in the upper Saluda(probably stocked) drainage near Ware Shoals. 

The best place for me to catch a Bartrams would be  the Chatooga river, The Chauga River or The South Fork of the Broad River.
I chose the Chauga River for my first attempt at them.

This video is from 4 years ago but is  on my quest for the first of the seven Redeye Bass subspecies.  

 Now this fish(Bartrams) is found in North Carolina but where it is found in NC is Very very hard to reach in the Gorges State Park.  The Closest and easiest place for me to get one would be on the Chauga River in South Carolina.   

I gave my wife an ultralite rod and a green beetle spin to catch bream , Bartram's etc on and she showed me up with it catching the biggest one.   I got most of mine of the F7 Rapala. 

Here are some pictures of the Bartram's Bass my wife and I caught. I caught several Like this one.

And of course my Wife caught the biggest....uggh. 

Here is My YouTube video of the Bartram's bass and then the range map. 

A Great Read on Redeye Bass Fishing - https://amzn.to/3KBdMXF

Thanks for watching and reading. Mack

#bartramsbass

#coosabass

#redeyebass

#bassfishing

I Caught my 1st Coosa Bass !!! AKA Redeye Bass

My First Coosa Bass AKA Redeye Bass !!!

041122 Polk County Georgia

***see video at the bottom***

I will admit that I have somewhat of an Obsession with oddball fish.   Roanoke Bass, Shoal bass etc.  One of my goals or "bucket list" things I would like to accomplish is to catch the Bass Slam.   Now there are several variations of this as Georgia has its own Bass Slam but mine would be to catch all the subspecies of Bass.    Now, I know that I will probably never accomplish this because of time, money, family,work  etc but it is something to strive for. 

Here is what I have caught so far .

Northern largemouth-  Easy for me they are all over here

Florida largemouth- Fairy easy, I go to Florida some and there are a few lakes north of me with them.

Smallmouthbass- Easy for me, I just have to go North or west 1 hr plus of where I live.

Alabama Spotted Bass-  fairly easy for me as they are in a few rivers near me. 

Kentucky Spotted Bass -  Easy for me as they are in the Cape Fear drainage just south of me. 

Shoal bass-  Fairly hard as it is a 6 plus hour ride min for me to get to them

Bartrams bass-  Moderate as I can get to them in just under 4 hours.

Now there are 7 variations/subspecies of the "Redeye bass" and I hope to get all of them as well.

Right now I have caught 2 of them,  the Bartrams and the Redeye

There is a a least one Blog post here on all the above sub species.  look on the side bar of my main page to see the subtitles. 

The last subspecies that I have caught is the Coosa Bass found in the Coosa/Etowah Drainage in Alabama and Georgia, This is/was a 7hr ride for me.   April the 11th 2022 I made it happen and here is the video and some pictures.

I caught 3 on this day but my goal was to catch 1 so I succeeded. 

Here is the area I fished 

My first Coosa Bass

My second one which had better colors.

Then My third Coosa Bass which by all accounts is a true Monster for the species. 

You can see how fat she is 

A cool little  dam on Euharlee Creek

These Coosa Bass will hit anything a Largemouth/Smallmouth will hit but it is best to downsize for them as they are rarely over 12 inches.  I spoke to well known Bioligist that has studied them and every one of the seven subspecies of Redeye they have found over 13-14 inches is a Hybid and not a pure fish.  I had my best luck using the F7 Rapala Original Floating Minnow. 

Get the Rapala F7 Minnow here - https://amzn.to/3iy7oED

Be sure to watch my Youtube Adventure catching some Coosa Bass

My next quest is either the Chatahoochee Bass or the Suwannee Bass.

I hope everyone who read this learned something and please leave comments here and on Youtube and please dont forget to subscribe to this blog and my YT channel to get notifications.

***also is you have access to catch one of the odd ball species I would luv to join you on a trip one day. 

A great read on Redeye Bass Fishing.  Geared for the flyfisherman it is still a great read for the Spin fisherman.

Fly Fishing For Redeye Bass  - https://amzn.to/3KBdMXF

#coosabass

#redeyebass

#bassfishing

#monsterbass

#eurharleecreek

Bass Slam Quest - My Quest for the Bass Slam featuring Bartrams, Coosa, Suwannee and Shoal bass

Bass Slam Quest  

The above Chart was evidently done before the Cahaba, and Warrior were declared seperate.

I have had a long desire to catch all of the Black Bass subspecies.  The species are Northern Largemouth, Florida Bass,  Smallmouth, Northern Spotted, Alabama bass, Suwanee, Guadalupe,  Shoal Bass, Choctaw  and the 7 Redeye species which are   The Coosa Redeye, The Bartram's, Chattahoochee,  Altamahaw, Warrior, Cahaba,  and Tallapoosa Bass .   

So far (Feb 2023) I have caught Northern Largemouth, Florida Largemouth, Smallmouth,  Northern Spotted, Alabama Spot, Suwannee, Shoal bass, Coosa and the Bartrams. 

This article will be updated peridiocally as I catch more or add to it. 

Bartram's Bass

 May 2017  I made a trip to South Carolina to get the Bartram's Bass off of this bucket list.   I would of been happy with any size and the first 2 I caught were only 5-6 inches and the next two were 11-12 inches.   I have included my You Tube video of this and just to let you know my wife caught the Biggest. OUCH! it may have been 13 inches but a 13 inch Bartram's is a good one.   It was a nice day on a wonderful river.   The redbreast has some of the strangest color markings I have seen with the red/yellow breast going all the way to the tail.   It was a wonderful trip.

Bartram's Bass from the Chauga River in South Carolina

I caught this one and several like it

My Wife of Course caught the biggest. 

Watch My Bartram's Video here

Shoal Bass

I caught My Shoalie ( Shoal bass ) in May of 2012.  this was a fun trip made with some good friends.

We camped on the Flint River near Thomaston Ga and I caught several Shoalies.   

You can view my blog post here on that camping trip and my Quest for a Shoal Bass here  

Blog Post on My Shoal Bass Trip

Coosa Bass  

April of 2022 I decided to try and get the Coosa bass off of my bucket list.

This Brought me to Rockmart Ga where I fished Eurhalee Creek ( A Tributary of the Etowah River) and while the fishing was tough I did manage 3 with 1 being a very nice one..  This is as big as they get.

Check out the Colors on this one
                                                       

See my Blog Post on the Coosa Adventure Quest https://mackinncblog.blogspot.com/2022/05/i-caught-my-1st-coosa-bass-aka-redeye.html

See my You Tube video on Catching the coosa Bass

Suwannee Bass

January of 2023 I decided to go after the Suwanne Bass.  The Sante Fe River near High Springs would be the area I was going to fish.   I camped at Ginnie Springs and fished upriver day 1 and down river day 2 .  I only caught 1 Suwannee Bass but thats all I needed.    This was and awesome trip.  

My First Suwannee

You can see my Suwannee bass video on You Tube here 

A Great Read of Redeye Bass Fishing - https://amzn.to/3KBdMXF

Thanks and stayed turned for more post on Spotted Bass and Smallmouth

#bassslam

#georgiabassslam