warmer

lake alfred is a good idea, for florida style shallow water fishing. youll be here early spawn, so youll have a chance to catch fish pushing up into the pads. toad, worm and fluke. all good choices.

love that! i will say that in august, about 2pm in a tournament on a dead calm florida day with glasses fogged, sunscreen stinging my eyes, blind mosquitos swarming me, gnats mixed in, sweat literally dripping off of my nose, flipping miles and miles of grass lines, and 0 fish in the boat... i thought: what is wrong with me?

go to stick marsh then, and tell us how it goes. you might try kissimmee state park and pray for a wind out of the west or norh. then you can go fish one or 2 different areas. florida is dotted w/ small lakes and ponds. all of them have fish, some more some less. you wont be able to really get a taste of the more well known florida lakes with a tm, but you certainly can get an experience of florida water. a friend and i used to get an aerial map of central florida and load up the 10' jon boat every weekend and just find water and try it. it the fence was too high we just walked the bank.

i have caught big bass and 14" fish in the same water, but only rarely. usually if im on 14" fish im in the wrong neighborhood. i do like big baits though, and i think the big bass do to. you want to make that 3lber hesitate on your bait if its swimming w/ the 8lber. try this one as an alternative to a toad if you are in the situation: tiki anaconda, and hold on.

its the place to be. let me know when you get here!

florida bass all have lockjaw as a permanent condition.

mr. cbfishalot i have to acknowledge that i am not really familiar with the federation format as you describe it. you may guess from my previous that i am not drawn to it. can you tell my why they do it that way, and if you like it or no?

or they will do away with draw tournaments and go straight to ONE MAN ONE BOAT TOURNIES! yeehaw! good clubs have good draw tournaments that will have what you are looking for... do team tournaments, because you are on the same team... of course then the fishing spots are something youll have to negotiate amongst yourselves (i doubt staking a 1/2 and 1/2 claim will be a good way to approach that - just a thought).

x3 a boater has to: - clean the boat. - maintain the boat. - prefish. - find the fish. - compete to win. and then have the guy in the back of the boat who... - hasn't been on the water in 6 months. - gets to see all your best water. - wont be helping you clean the boat when you get home. - wont be helping you change that flat on the long ride home. have that guy demand an EQUAL share in the decision making. uhm?

did you decide on the bfl?

not literally mechanical difficulties. i mean running out of gas has... well... been known to happen.

do the everglades division instead and im your boater!

this is hilarious! - i love the exposure that b.a.s.s. gives fishing. it seems to be increasing, and i imagine they have done enough market testing to determine that they can draw enough "marshalls" at 100 a pop. - you dont have to go, so why do you care if someone else will. - the snitching problem that big daddy "cool" diesel was addressing was also a problem with co-anglers so i dont see that this is a new change. - i could not be happier to see them get the co-angler out of the boat. how horrible would it be to have worked hard locating, managing, and protecting fish for 4 days of hard practice, wake up on tournament day confident you have a shot at $100,000 dollars based on what youd found, shake hands with a competitor in the back of the boat who donks a 10 pounder on the top of the head. your ten pounder. forget about it, good riddance co-anglers. - carrying on on the co-angler theme. co-anglers effect the outcome. a good fisherman in the back of the boat can help you or screw you up. they can help if they help refine your pattern, hurt if they catch your fish. a bad co-angler can help or hurt you. either way, they add an element to the game and effect the outcome. - hurray for the marshalls!

i fish it on 65lb. love that jig paul!

the flw tournament was on west lake toho. east lake toho has been tough when the conditions are right, and they are not right this weekend.

i dont buy this claim. i have slung bass into the boat, and seen no detrimental effect on them in the live well. additionally i have brought fish home that i have slung and put them in a holding tank for days and seen no negative effect. i dont sling fish as a general rule, if i do i land them gently, but i don't think that the claim that you "may as well take it home and eat it" is accurate.

if you are planning on fishing all of the bfl everglade tournaments as a non-boater, let's sign up together and get priority placement, so we dont have to sit out any of the tournaments.

in the mail. lol! i am also in the middle of a potential braid switch as i am at the end of a bulk spool. considering dropping to 50lb for my toad instead of 65lb, although spiderwire snaps off, so powerpro is currently under evaluation.

i think its looking like an early spawn this year. there are a ton of phosphate pits around. saddlecreek, tenneroc, you may be able to even walk the bank and sight fish a big one in the next little bit. you could do what i used to do, and take an areal map and find the out of the way locations... just wear your running shoes.

Spro Prime Chug Minnow 35. good luck finding it, DAGNABBIT! why do the good ones always die young?

I think the telescoping flipping rod can cause problems with 1. added weight (its easier to keep it light when you dont overlap material), and 2. a point of weakness. I broke 3 daiwa telescoping rods flipping/pitching this year, and 3 throwing toads. I am almost exclusively flipping deep south rods now. they telescope, but are light and durable. If i had my druthers i would have them be one piece. I also use a fenwick elite tech, which is a one piece and does a nice job, but they certainly didnt get the memo on keeping it light. I like softness in the tip. as was said it is easier on the fisherman, and you have better feel on the fish. It is important to have the tip be fast enough though to keep your pitching accurate, if its "floppy" on the end, you can forget about a clean entry.

I switch allegiance in the offseason. Not that there is much offseason in Florida, but every offseason I rethink my bait, tackle, etc. And try to figure out where I want change it up for the next year. For me it was Soft baits, and RODS. This year I found two soft bait companies that have caused me to pack up all my GAMBLER, ZOOM, NETBAIT, and PRODUCTO, and put them on ebay in a big lot. #1. I'm FLIPPIN' out over Warrior Baits flippin' baits. In particular, the 4" reaper, the 4" craw, and the 4" split tail. Incredible action. #2. Gitem Baits. Bar none the absolute best toad on the market. It casts farther and runs true with great action. Never thought id do it, but i sold 400 horny toads, and reloaded. also the big flapper, curly ten, and warlock are replacing their respective baits of class. Rods: Deep South Fishing Rods. Sold all my loomis, st. croix, red bone, allstar, and fenwicks, and have 14 new Deep South rods on the way. The great thing is, they retail reasonably enough that there is little to no harm done in the old pocket book. Did anyone else switch allegiances this offseason?

what is winter fishing? ~ florida

right on, i did the same thing when i got back from the big o.

the 14" bass were feeding hard. after a terribly tough year it was nice to have a month of running water fish and now this... the pre-front bite. anywhere you went up shallow, the fish were eating. the water temp was down mid-70's the water was pretty everywhere i went. i fished from noon to 4:30, and boated upwards of 30 fish. if you go tomorrow morning it should be more of the same.