Largemouth bass and black crappie are the reasons to come. Both fish year-round, with bass peaking in spring and crappie best in the cooler months. You don't need a boat — Hontoon Island gives you real bank access — but a boat opens up a lot more water. Launch at Hontoon Island or Ed Stone Park at Crow's Bluff and start working the nearest oxbow.
This stretch of river runs through Volusia County near DeLand, between Lake Monroe to the south and Lake George to the north. It's slow, wide, and full of oxbows cut off from the main channel — different water than the sandbar-heavy river you'll find farther south or the open lake water to the north.
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This Stretch vs. Lake George
Lake George sits a short run downriver and is one of the state's largest lakes. It's open, windy water where anglers troll umbrella rigs and parachute jigs for striped bass and hybrids over the old river channel. It draws more boat traffic and fishes differently than anything upstream.
This DeLand stretch is the quieter run leading into it — narrower, full of oxbows most anglers blow past on their way to the lake. Pick Lake George for open-water trolling. Pick this stretch for bass structure you can work thoroughly and bank access you won't find on the lake.
Target Species
Largemouth bass are the headline fish here. Bass group up around submerged structure, and the oxbows on this stretch are exactly that kind of cover. The river system as a whole has produced over 1,500 documented trophy-class bass through the state's citizen-science bass program, including nine fish that made the hall of fame tier.
Black crappie hold in the same wood and channel-marker structure as bass when they're not spawning, and they're a real reason to fish this stretch through the cooler months.
Bluegill, redear sunfish, and redbreast sunfish round out a strong panfish scene on the same cover.
Striped bass and sunshine bass push into specific cool-water pockets as summer heat sets in — the mouth of Blue Spring, the Wekiva River, and the Croaker Hole in Little Lake George are the named spots to know. Sunshine bass are a hatchery cross and don't reproduce on their own; they're only here because the state stocks them.
American shad run this stretch in winter, a cold-weather fishery most of the Southeast doesn't get. Warmouth, Florida gar, longnose gar, bowfin, and chain pickerel are all present and turn up regularly for anglers working the same bass and panfish cover. Channel catfish, white catfish, and brown bullhead round out the catfish family here.
Blue tilapia and Mayan cichlid are established non-natives that reproduce on their own. Common carp, spotted bass, spotted gar, white bass, and flier sunfish are all confirmed on this stretch but aren't the reason to plan a trip around this water.
Fishing Spots
Start at Hontoon Island. You can fish the bank here, and it's one of the only real shore-fishing spots on this stretch — largemouth bass hit both artificial baits and live shiners along the island's edge.
Launch from Ed Stone Park at Crow's Bluff if you're bringing a boat, and work the oxbows branching off the main channel between Lake Monroe and Lake George. That's the structure that holds bass and crappie on this stretch, and it's worth fishing thoroughly rather than running past.
In summer heat, run down to Blue Spring, where the mouth is a reliable cool-water pocket for striped bass and hybrids escaping the warm main channel. The Croaker Hole in Little Lake George, a little farther north, is the other spot worth the run if stripers are the specific target.
Downriver toward Lake George, Astor has two free ramps and Drayton Island has a third — useful if you want to work the transition water where the river opens into the lake.
Structure and Depth
The deepest water on this stretch runs 16 feet, and the average across the whole reach is about 7. This isn't a sandbar river the way the stretch south of Lake Harney is — it's channelized in places, and its defining feature is the oxbows: old river bends now partly or fully cut off from the main flow. Those oxbows run slower and often deeper than the channel around them, and that's where bass and crappie sit, away from boat traffic in the main river.
When to Go
Bass and crappie fish year-round on this stretch, so there's no single month you have to plan around for either one. Bass peak in spring during the spawn. Crappie fishing is best in the cooler months, from late fall through winter, when fish school up tight to structure.
Striped bass and hybrids are the exception — they push specifically into the Blue Spring mouth, the Wekiva, and the Croaker Hole as the main river warms through summer. Outside that heat, they're spread more broadly through the river and harder to pin to one spot.
Avoid the middle of the day on summer weekends if you can. Recreational boat traffic peaks then and makes much of the main channel hard to fish even into the evening — early mornings are the better call.
Tactics
For bass: work the oxbows and channelized banks with live shiners or soft plastics fished tight to submerged structure.
For crappie: fish channel markers, dead heads, and submerged wood outside the spawn.
For striped bass and hybrids at Blue Spring, the Wekiva, and the Croaker Hole: grass shrimp, small shad, and eels fished on the bottom.
Regulations
You'll need a Florida freshwater license, separate from the saltwater license, to fish here. A resident annual costs $17, a nonresident annual costs $47, and short-term nonresident options exist too. Buy it online before you leave home. Florida residents 65 and older and anglers under 16 don't need one. Two license-free weekends run each year — the first weekend of April and the second weekend of June — but every other rule still applies those days.
- Black bass: 5 a day, only one 16 inches or longer. No minimum size.
- Striped bass, white bass, and sunshine bass, combined: 20 a day, of which only 6 may be 24 inches or longer — and within that, no more than 3 striped bass, each 18 inches or longer.
- Panfish (bluegill, redear, warmouth, redbreast, and others in the group): 50 a day combined.
- Black crappie: 25 a day, no minimum size.
- Channel catfish: no daily limit.
Regulations can change, so anglers should verify the current rules with the state wildlife agency before fishing.
Access
By boat: Ed Stone Park at Crow's Bluff has four concrete lanes and no launch fee. Downriver toward Lake George, Astor has two free ramps — one on Butler Street with two lanes, one on Pearl Street with one lane — and Drayton Island has a free single-lane ramp reachable by ferry. Hontoon Island State Park's marina has boat slips as well as bank access.
From shore: Hontoon Island is the real option here — fishing is allowed along its banks, which is rare for a river this size. Outside the island, shore access on this stretch is thin.
Trip Logistics
DeLand, about 3 miles from the river, is the closest town and the obvious base. Orlando International is the nearest major airport at 41 miles; Jacksonville International is farther out at 105 miles.
For lodging tied directly to the water, Hontoon Island State Park has boat slips a tenth of a mile from the river, and Blue Spring State Park sits half a mile off it — both put you close enough to fish before breakfast.
Ecology and Advisories
Florida's general mercury guidance caps largemouth bass, bowfin, and gar at one meal a month. Bluegill, redear sunfish, and brown bullhead catfish are capped at two meals a week for most people and one a week for women who may become pregnant and young children, with redbreast sunfish included in that same two-a-week group. Check current numbers before you plan a meal around what you catch.
Safety
Alligators live in this river, same as any freshwater in central Florida — keep kids and dogs back from the bank at Hontoon Island and anywhere else you fish from shore. Afternoon storms build fast in summer; get off the water at the first rumble. Manatees are common near Blue Spring — idle down and watch your prop in the marked zones.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Real bank fishing at Hontoon Island, rare on a river this size
- Over 1,500 documented trophy bass caught system-wide
- Multiple free ramps between here and Lake George
Cons:
- Heavy boat traffic on summer weekends
- Striped bass fishing is tied to a few specific spots, not the whole river
- Shore access outside Hontoon Island is thin
Final Verdict
Fish this stretch any month for bass and crappie, and time a summer trip around Blue Spring or the Croaker Hole if stripers are the goal. A boat gets you into the oxbows where the structure actually is, but Hontoon Island gives shore anglers a real shot too. Go early on summer weekends to beat the boat traffic. This is a solid choice for anglers who want quality bass and crappie water without fighting Lake George's open-water crowds.
