Dwight Hottle

Rule of thumb years ago when fishing live bait for all species was to let the fish grab the bait first & let it move off until it stops then when it starts to move off again set the hook. Predators will grab a bait then reposition in their mouths to swallow it head first. Unfortunately the above approach caused a lot of gut hooked fish hence the quick strike rig was born.

Catt you need someone with you to take pics of your new PB anyway. ?

Danny likes to fish the bay because it is easy & he doesn't have to burn any gas. There are lots of smallies in the bay but there also lots of fisherman in the bay chasing them & bed fishing. Danny catches lots of numbers if that is your thing but few trophy fish.

I think you answered your own question. Go with the mono.

Glad your doing as well as you can. Those are pretty tough circumstances to deal with.

50-55 is my favorite prespawn temps. Best shot at a trophy from my experience.

Smithwick Rogue DD modified with Owner ZoWire STX-38ZN hooks. Occasionally tagging bottom in 15-16 fow on spinning tackle spooled with 10lb braid & 8' mono leader using 12lb Suffix Advance.

When I first started Florida fishing I was using a lot of lighter braid like 20lb & 30lb. It didn't take me long to find out the dig in problems were exacerbated by the light braid. I would only use the lighter braids on spinning tackle now. For casting reels stick with 40lb as a minimum but prefer 50 or even 65 for the extreme stuff. Lesson learned.

Here in southern FL we only have cottonmouths & coral snakes for venomous snakes but we do have plenty of pythons in the glades areas.

Looks like your in the right place. Welcome aboard.

Well if gets no worse than cold symptoms you should be in good shape. Good luck.

And that my friend is why smallmouth are so susceptible to being caught by jerk baits. A properly worked jerk bait brings out that predator instinct better than any other bait I have ever used for smallmouth. They can't stand seeing a bait fleeing while showing visible signs of distress.

Always mono for me. Fluoro is not worth the inherent headaches for me. I prefer using braid with mono leader for achieving better depth & faster inputs while working the bait.

I'm having problems with the site slow to load and once in the pages are slow to load. This has been happening over the last two or three days. I'm using a laptop. All other sites are loading like normal. Any one else having problems?

I have the IMX Pro 904C SWBR 7'6" swimbait rod rated 1/2-3oz and I can tell you it is killer rod for crankbait use. It handles everything thing from 1/2 lipless to SK 10XD. Very versatile rod for other uses.

I have used St Croix legend elites for cranking & treble hook baits. The higher end blanks have an advantage by being lighter & more sensitive and I enjoy using them. I'm talking about MH power moderate action rods. I especially like using them for jerk baits because they are crisp to the feel as opposed to feeling mushy like fiberglass.

It's a lot easier for me because I'm always tying it to a single hook or a snap so I don't have to deal with the bulky lure. I like using snaps for quick lure changes.

Got to love seeing the old experiences recycled by another generation.

Sounds like a long day but productive.

Hope you all heal fast. I got a buddy who got it from his kids. 6 month later he got vaccinated to take a trip out of the country. Then 4-5 months later caught one of the variants. So natural immunity & vaccinated immunity does not prevent it in some cases. Not much else you can do.

Sit down with your wife & girls & let the family help decide.

Capt. my experience last week would suggest the PA waters are especially good as well.

I would be emotional too over that size alligator gar.

Congrats on the new PB. Your right for Ohio that is a trophy. I was born & raised in NE Ohio and my biggest Ohio largemouth was 5.5lbs.

Yes to the tournaments out of the glades. Capt. Drew Rodriguez fishes a lot of them. Average weights are low 20's. The glades does not have the numbers of DD's that middle & northern FL have.