Speckled perch specialist shares secrets

Speckled perch, crappie, slabs or paper mouths — you can call them anything you like, but Dave Cutler calls them his favorite fish in the world.

Matthew Beck

Dave Cutler displays a 14-inch black crappie caught Monday with a small jig a long cane pole.

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Matthew Beck

The small tube lures mimic the prey speckled perch hunt.

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“I could do this every day of the week,” he said Monday morning while working a tiny artificial lure around the brown grass lining the Tsala Apopka Chain of Lakes. “I just love it.”
Cutler, 52, of Inverness, cut his proverbial fishing teeth catching specks.
The tannin-colored waters of the Tsala Apopka Chain were where he first got hooked on fishing with his grandfather, John Doust, who lived in the Withlapopka area near Floral City.
“Me and my grandfather were tight,” he said. “He introduced me to all types of fishing.”
Since the age of six, Cutler has spent countless days fishing for largemouth bass and speckled perch on the county’s lakes and the Withlacoochee River.
With the thousands of hours on the water, he has learned plenty about when, where and how to entice the tasty pan fish into the boat. Several techniques are popular, but Cutler has his preferred method.
“My favorite way to catch specks is jigging,” he said.
Jigging is an effective and inexpensive way to fish for crappie, according to the angler. He says there is no need for lots of high-tech equipment.
He utilizes a 10-foot long telescopic fiberglass cane pole with about 10 feet of eight-pound-test monofilament fishing line tied to the tip. On the business end of the simple rig, he incorporates a 1/32 ounce jig sporting a 1 1/2 inch tube lure.
He says with a handful of jig-heads, tubes, baits and a $10 fiberglass cane pole, an angler can get started for less than $20.
Color selection for his tube lures is simple. He incorporates what he calls his confidence colors to do the lion’s share of the work.
“I use a yellow and white tube or pink and pearl-colored lure most of the time, especially when it’s sunny,” he said. “But on dark, cloudy days I will switch to a June bug color. Sometimes you need to change up the colors to see what they want. But most of the time I use those basic colors.”
Another tip he offers is to keep the weight of the jig head as light as possible. The 1/32 ounce jig head is his mainstay, but when the wind kicks up he will employ a jig of 1/16 ounce. He said he rarely goes any heavier.
“The lighter you can get away with, the better,” he suggests.
As for his presentation, he continues to keep his rig simple and straightforward. His method is to drop the jig down to the lake floor then swiftly twitch the rod tip several inches to impart a wounded-minnow action to the lure before picking it up and putting it down again.
“I believe that putting that jig in the water and letting it drop vertically is the key. You want that jig to drop straight down, not at an angle,” he advises. “You really want to watch your line. If it moves or twitches, something’s got it.”
In the past, Cutler, an Inverness resident, has kept records of his catches, weather conditions and water temperatures and has learned from his past trips.
“I kept records for years, and I’d say October to March are the best months. January and February are the peak. But, if we still have some cool weather, March can be excellent.”
Water temperature, according to Cutler, is the key to catching specks. Too warm and the bite shuts off.
“I like to start fishing for specks when the water temperature gets into the low- to mid-60s,” he said. “They bit the best this year so far when the water got to 58 degrees.”
He said when the fish begin their reproductive cycle, the bite can really get active.
“Specks will spawn around any kind of vegetation. Grass and lily pads are where you want to start looking,” he said. “But as they begin to spawn they will move shallower than they are right now.”
Presently, Cutler said the seven-foot zone is where you need to work your lure.
Some days, he said, the fish will be on the outside edge of the grass and other days they will be right in the middle of a grass bed. It’s up to the angler to determine where the fish are on a given day.
Jigging isn’t the only way to catch specks. Cutler says a couple of other techniques are popular with local anglers.
“Most people like to drift in open water with live minnows. That can be a really good way to catch fish,” he said. “It’s a really relaxing way to catch them. And, I have also caught a lot of specks casting a lure like a Roadrunner or Bettle Spin.”
But the veteran angler always comes back to his colorful jigs and long, limber cane pole to fill his live well.
He said the technique will catch other species, too. Largemouth bass, bluegill, mudfish and chain pickerel have all been tempted by the little jig.
“I’ve caught three, eight-pound bass over the years doing this,” he said. “If they get you into the grass, you’re done,” he cautions.
The tiny jigs sport a small wire hook not intended for the tough mouth and brute force of a largemouth bass, but sometimes things work in the angler’s favor.
“If you can get them up front of the boat in open water, that long rod will wear them down,” he says.
Anglers are held to a limit of 25 black crappie per person per day in Florida.
Cutler says the Tsala Apopka Chain is a great location to catch the tasty fish, but other lakes in the region are productive as well.
He says the Harris Chain of Lakes in Lake County is renowned for speck fishing, as is the Withlacoochee River that winds its way from south to north, creating Citrus County’s northern border.
Cutler, an active tournament bass fisherman, said he enjoys the relaxation of spending time on the water fishing for his favorite species.
“There’s no stress when I’m out here doing this. I just love it,” he said. “Specks, I love to catch them. And I love to eat them.”
Chronicle staff writer Matthew Beck can be reached at 352-564-2919 or mbeck@chronicleonline.com.