Lefebre Wins Heavy Hitters on Orange Lake; Burn Bans Spread Across Central Florida

On the Water

Lake Kissimmee is still carrying the panfish story. Shellcracker and bluegill are holding around bedding flats through the May full moon window, and crappie are still being caught along deeper hydrilla edges as surface temps push into the upper 70s and low 80s. Bass on the Kissimmee Chain are in standard post-spawn rotation — hydrilla mats, outside grass lines, and offshore sand on Toho.

Drought continues to shape conditions. Winter Haven Chain levels remain low, with shallow canal stretches between the southern lakes (Shipp, Eloise, Summit) running tight enough that prop-boat skippers should be watching plotters carefully on the connectors.

Coming Up

American Fishing Tour Division 21 Season Finale — Kissimmee Chain, June 6–7. Two-day finale launching from Kissimmee.

Worth Knowing

Burn bans are active across multiple Central Florida counties as of May 21, with Orange and Seminole on the list and Polk operating under the SWFWMD Modified Phase III Extreme Water Shortage order through July 1. Polk County Utilities customers remain on the once-per-week irrigation schedule with shortened watering hours. Lakefront irrigation systems pulling from private wells fall under the same one-day-per-week rule.

No new blue-green algae advisories have been posted in our coverage area since the Northwest Recreation Pond alert in Apopka earlier this month. That advisory has not been lifted — visible bloom areas there still warrant no-contact.