Fishing at Lake Melrose, Putnam County, Florida

• Overview

  This water sits in Putnam County, Florida. Height above sea level is 112 feet. At about 107 acres, a day is enough to walk the shoreline properly. Around 1.4 miles of margin, front to back. For supplies, Keystone Heights is 6.3 miles out. The nearest city of size is Gainesville, 17 miles away. Also worth knowing: Twomile Pond about 1.5 miles, Lake Suggs (1.8 miles), Black Lake about 2 miles, Lake Rowan (2.2 miles) and Lake Rosa about 2.6 miles. Two sets of local rules meet not far from this water.

• Where to Fish on Lake Melrose

  No depth figure appears in our records, so the bank has to tell you. Where the bottom changes texture, fish gather; find that line. The productive water is a rod length or two out, not a hundred. Public wildlife records from this area list bluegill, warmouth, redfin pickerel and bowfin. The records cover the area rather than this water alone. Read Lake Melrose for ten minutes before the first cast goes out.

• Seasonal Patterns

  July is the warm end of the year here, averaging about 81°F, while January sits near 55°F. The season is continuous, with heat as the only real check. The cooler months are the comfortable ones to be out. November and March are the quiet, comfortable months to be out. Plan around that when you fish Lake Melrose.

• Tackle & Baits

  Nothing we hold confirms whether access is permitted. Records list it as a natural water body rather than an impoundment. There is no mapped parking or launch nearby, which keeps numbers down. Pike mean a wire trace, no exceptions; big spoons and jerkbaits do the searching. Local rules can differ across the county line, so check where you stand. Night access is frequently treated as a separate matter. Twomile Pond, 1.5 miles away, makes the obvious fallback. Rules at Lake Melrose are worth checking on the day.