48 Hours in the Bass Capital of the World: A Welaka Weekend Itinerary

Last updated September 1, 2026

Welaka is a one-stoplight town on the St. Johns River with a public boat ramp, a kayak launch, a fish hatchery from 1926, a bar that has been open since 1929 and some of the best bass fishing in Florida. You can see all of it in a weekend and still spend most of that weekend sitting still, which is the correct way to do it.

Here is Friday afternoon through Sunday morning.

Before you come: what to book ahead

Everything else you can decide when you get here.

Friday

Afternoon: arrive and stop moving

Check in wherever you are staying. Stillwater Welaka and Low Tide Welaka are both about a mile from the public boat ramp, sleep eight, take dogs and have parking for boats and trailers, which makes either one a straightforward base for a weekend like this. Welaka Lodge and Resort sits on a high bluff over the river. Andersen's Lodge is on the water with a bar and grill attached. Trailboss RV and Marina does RV sites and boat slips by the day or week.

Your cart is already there, charged, if you booked one. We deliver before you arrive, free inside Welaka city limits, and leave a cable so you can plug in overnight.

Late afternoon: the lap

Take twenty minutes and drive the town. Go by Sunset Landing and look at the water. Every road inside Welaka is posted 35 mph or under, so all of it is open to a street-legal cart. Go down to the Welaka Boat Ramp and look at the river. Swing past Bryant's Wharf Kayak Launch. Get the shape of the place in your head.

Evening: dinner and the sunset

Shrimps 'R Us and More if there are more than four of you. Bomba's Home Cooking if you want to eat well and go to bed early. Then Boat Bar at Welaka Lodge, or Andersen's Bar & Grill, for the last of the light on the water.

Somebody sober drives. Headlights on for the ride home.

Saturday

First light: on the water

The first two hours after sunrise is the best window on this stretch of the St. Johns. If you are fishing, this is the part of the weekend you came for.

Bait first. Welaka Fish, Crab and Bait at 676 3rd Ave, or Betcha Bass Bait Shack for live wild shiners, minnows and worms. Cart down with the rods and the cooler, launch at the Welaka Boat Ramp on Elm Street, and go.

No boat? Welaka Boat Rentals rents 20-foot pontoons that hold eight, out of Port Cove RV Resort and Marina in Georgetown. Sort the Florida boater safety course requirement before you come if you were born on or after January 1, 1988.

Largemouth bass is the headline. FWC also lists striped bass, sunshine bass, bluegill, redear sunfish and brown bullhead here. For stripers, FWC says the best fishing runs fall through spring. Fishing Welaka has the rest.

Midday: off the water, slowly

Back at the ramp around noon or one. Do not change clothes. Take the cart to Lexi's Deli and Cafe or Bomba's and eat like somebody who has been up since five.

Afternoon: the town

This is when Welaka is at its best, because there is nothing you have to do.

• Welaka National Fish Hatchery and Aquarium, on the river since 1926, with the Beecher Run Nature Trail behind it
• 40 Acre Park, quiet birding trails through former hatchery wetlands
• Mason Newstead Memorial Downtown Park, lighted tennis and basketball courts, playgrounds, swings and shuffleboard, if the kids need running
• Jefferson Smith Memorial Ball Park, ballfield, playgrounds and a basketball court
• Welaka Dog Park on Orange St., fenced and open sunrise to sunset, with two play areas so shy dogs are not stuck with the confident ones, plus water, bags and benches
• Or the Mud Spring Trail, a 1.7-mile loop in Welaka State Forest

If you want the afternoon to have a game in it, this is where golf cart bingo goes. Forty cards, one per rider, and the squares send you looking at things you would have driven past.

Evening: dinner, then the night stop

Dinner on the water at Andersen's Lodge or Boat Bar, whichever you did not do Friday. Shrimps 'R Us and More has live music some nights and more room than you expect.

Then Long's Log Cabin Bar and Package, which has been a bar since 1929 and is where the night goes. Somebody sober drives.

Sunday

Morning: the slow one

Coffee, the river, no plan.

If you fished Saturday, go look at the ramp again anyway. It is a different scene on a Sunday morning and it is worth ten minutes.

Late morning: one last stop

Welaka Fish, Crab and Bait for blue crabs to take home. It is the correct souvenir from a town like this and it beats a t-shirt.

Checkout

We pick the cart up. You do not have to be there.

Roughly what it costs

Delivery is free inside Welaka city limits. Payment in full at booking, no deposit. Cancel at least 48 hours out for a full refund.

Is Welaka worth a weekend?

If you fish, yes, without qualification. If you do not fish, it depends on whether a small river town with good food, quiet trails and nothing to prove sounds like a weekend or a mistake. Welaka does not have shopping or a beach. It has the St. Johns River, a handful of good places to eat, and a bar that has been open since 1929 and does not rush anybody out. For a lot of people that turns out to be enough.

Getting a cart for your weekend

$80 a day for a 4-seater, $95 for a 6-seater, two-day minimum, which lines up exactly with a Friday-to-Sunday trip. Delivered charged, free inside Welaka city limits. Every driver 21 or older with a valid license and proof of their own auto insurance.

Read next: Things to Do in Welaka by Golf Cart and Fishing Welaka: What to Know Before You Come