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As the St. Johns River snakes out of Lake Washington and through the lush, green marshes, it eventually forms a 'minor' wide spot in its trace some eight miles to the North. This small (1496 acres), but highly productive, body is known as Lake Winder. Approximately two and one-half miles long and one mile wide, Winder's size is really deceiving. Due to the large amount of aquatic growth primarily large beds of pepper grass and milfoil in the open waters and dense cane and sawgrass around the perimeter, makes it appear actually much smaller.
As could then be expected, much of its surface area is totally inaccessible to fishing. However, it can be the more productive of the two lakes, particularly for the knowledgeable bass anglers. Bass are very popular and usually pretty easy to catch. Winder is not known for trophy fish, but it is especially good for overall quantities. If good current flow is not present in the main river channel, itself, most local tournament anglers will draw a direct bead on Lake Winder.
Results of the upper St. Johns basin has increased on the actual fishing areas, more fishing excursions although theirs more pressure on the northern section of Lakes Winder and Poinsett, to include the stretch of pure river between the two.
Pure River is in this short stretch of the St. Johns that we find indicators of the true quality of this fine river. Even though the quantity of angler hours is very high on the Lake Winder and Lake Poinsett section, the fishing success has refused to decline. If anything, it has even improved over the years. Because of such excellent bass lakes, that produce tremendous numbers of speckled perch (crappie), we consider the Winder-Poinsett location to be worthy of special note when fishing in Florida.
This large, shallow lake of over 5,000 acres, the widest lake in Brevard County, with a distance of 5 miles at its widest point. At the eastern portion of the lake, a channel connects Lake Florence and Barnett Lake. Lake Poinsett and all the other lakes flow north due to being part of the St. Johns River system. It is where the St Johns River runs along county lines north of the lake. It is part of the St. Johns River Water Management District. At the extreme north corner of Lake Poinsett is Taylor Creek, a tributary of the St. Johns River.
This is the best bass fishing lake in the St. Johns chain south of Lake George. Fishing along the bulrush and in coves with maidencane and lily pads usually will produce good stringers of bass with an occasional trophy bass. Live shiners in the winter and topwater lures or crankbaits in the warm months are good bets for landing bass. Worms need to be rigged weedless because hydrilla can be found throughout the lake. This lake also produces good stringers of specks in late fall and winter. They are usually picked up by trolling in open water, especially in the north half of the lake. Panfish can be taken along the shoreline with crickets and beetle spins in spring and summer. Sunshine bass may be found in deeper water of the river where it enters or leaves the lake.
View Lake Poinsett in a larger map
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