FD.

Around $500 but boat karma goes a long ways.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but Florida does not register non motor powered boats under 16'.

If he was in a Carolina skiff or other flats boat he was probably a commercial shiner fisherman.

Around 100 over 2 lbs with the biggest around 6.

Bitters Naked Swimmer

Dog food and yes it works. That's how commercial shiner fisherman harvest the shiners. They all have their individual spots in the grass. I watched a guy on Saturday. He pulled up, threw his cast net, boated about 30 shiners. Threw out a big scoop of dog food and left to come back in a few days. Baiting a brush pile or patch of grass works the same way. Come out a few days before the tournament, dump a bunch of hard dog food. For the next few days the dog food dissolves, and draws in the bait, which concentrates the bass in the area. The problem is catching them in the act. Most of the boat ramps on Kissimmee are private fish camps. So someone is always there and see's you come and go. If you come to pre fish on thursday and are only on the water an hour or so and then catch 30 lbs in a tourny a few days later, people start to wonder. Do that a few months in a row and you are guilty, even without being caught with alpo in the boat. These local tourneys aren't your average $200 top prizes, these are the $1500 to $3000 first place checks. The private ramps charge $5 to launch so it is in their best interest to have trusted tournaments that draw a lot of boats every weekend. The good thing about these tournaments going out of private property, is that the violators can be (and some have been) banned from the property.

The region and specific lake you fish will get you more specific info. Many times the water you fish dictates the style that will be most effective.

My humminbird. With Wayne's help on setup, it has my back to the bank and I'm catching more quality fish than ever. Fishing a fluke over submerged grass that no one else fishes has got my per fish average up to around 3 lbs.

Baiting of brush piles or building illegal piles are probably the most common example of tourney cheating. Everyone knows who (very few) the sobs are that do it around here and they are watched very carefully. If they are ever caught red handed it will be a bad day for them. Several have already been banned from some tournaments. One local trail that once drew 100 boats is now down to around 30 a month for the reason Brian mentioned.

And the answer to the question, would be, NO. Based on his head wear choices, that should be obvious.

People who live in glass houses...

and Gary said my hat was ugly...

T-rig a fluke weightless or with 1/16 oz and fish it in the heavy deeper vegetation.

I use braid when I'm fishing in, around, over and sometimes through hydrilla.

I have two KVD quantums. I bought them on sale a few years ago for $100 a piece. I have 7 Revo SX's that cost around $140 each. If I pick up one of the KVD's after fishing with a revo if feels like a cheap piece of plastic not solid at all. But that's not a fair comparison. My buddy has a PT smoke that was $200 which fishes great. If I fish with it and them pick up a Revo, the Revo feels like a brick. Again, not a fair comparison. I would probably not buy one again, (just a personal preference) but they are good reels in their price point. I have had zero problems with mine.

Luckily for me, most of central Florida lakes are inhabited by large, toothy, lizards. I have seen maybe 5 total jet skis and 1 water skier in the last 10 years on the 80,000 acre Kissimmee chain. If you venture into the bay or intracoastal waterway to do a little salt water fishing, that is a zoo.

stunted double

As the season progresses, don't overlook the first point or flat away from the ramp. Studies in Florida has shown that about half of the released fish eventually migrate back to the area they were originally caught in, leaving half somewhere around the release point. I always fish these spots and usually catch a keeper or two.

He's probably too old for it to have been a Globemaster. If it was a "jet" then it was probably a C-141 Starlifter or maybe a C5 A Galaxy. It is more likely it was a turbo prop C130. It is odd that it had US Army painted on it. He might have seen some "Special Ops" plane. Even airborne troops jump out of AF planes.

$40 and you are all set http://www.mudhole.com/Rod-Building/Dryers

is this close enough to see rivets? The last Blue Angel show.

I just watched the F-22. Nose straight up to about 1500 ft, pause still nose up, back down to about 1200' still nose up, flip 270 degrees and haul @zz the other direction. That was cool.

x2

I use two crank bait setups. One with 12 lb mono on a 7' medium rod. The second one is 30 lb power pro on a 7-9 medium rod. Sweep sets on both. I very rarely lose a fish on either set up.

Sorry I did not see this earlier in the week or I would have sent you some GPS coordinates. Our first trip to Pickwick was last years road trip. We caught over 100 in 5 days. Nothing big though.