Irish_Bassman

Well I know for a fact that my gears are gone. I got her home and popped out the drain plug for the lower unit oil and nothing but chucks of metal and milky oil poured out. Engine was running fine earlier in the day, out of nowhere in 30 ft of water I heard a bang and instant loss of power. I have another lower unit that is interchangeable with mine on another outboard in Tampa, just have to make it down there to get it. Hoping to get quite a few more of these chunks over the next few months!

Got my first bass of the season! Couldn't have came at a better time either. It was the first day out with our new boat! Caught her up close to shore around floating vegetation using my trusty $1 black spinner bait from wal-mart with a single colorado blade. Shortly there after I lost the lower unit in my outboard...so the day could have went better I saw quite a few bass starting to fan beds on saturday. Water temp was 63 to 64. Caught this one in Governors creek off of the st. johns river.

You guys have PM. 8-)

Thanks :

Not to steal the OP's thunder, but I'm wondering the same thing. When I do go back up north for smallies, I usually throw fat ikas and other weightless plastics. Also throw spinners and plugs. Is there a good all around rod that will allow me to throw light weight tackle and still have a solid enough backbone to get a good hook set using texas rigged plastics?

Ill be there in a week, and you are taking me to this place. ;D MAN how I miss my smallmouth. Florida is killing me. Great numbers of largemouth recently, but what I wouldn't give for a 2lb or so smallie on the end of my line. :'(

If you aren't in the navy, make friends with someone who is. Cheatham annex naval weapons station out in yorktown has some of the best bass fishing ive found close to norfolk. Only about a 20 min. ride from the base. 14 bucks rents a john boat and trolling motor (take your own battery just in case) for a full 24 hours. they have 3 lakes you can fish on. Jones, cheatham, and one other one that i cant recall the name of. but all 3 produce decent size and amounts of bass.

I would be more than up for going on a trip with you. Im ex navy and at the moment, out of a job. So whenever where ever. I live in green cove springs, so i can meet you just about anywhere buddy. PM me and let me know if you are up for some fishing. 8-)

I had the day off, so i took the wife to work this morning and hit the lake on NAS jacksonville. Started fishing at about 7am, and by 930 i had 7 of em. They were on it today. All hit a black and blue single colorado blade spinner bait. The last couple of days out here have been great. Biggest fish over the past two days was pushing 11lbs. And i have caught several 5-10lbers out of this pond. So without further delay...here is todays catch. These 3 were the biggest of the day. I would say atleast 7 to 8lbs for all 3 of them And a dink And 3 in the 2 to 4lb range. All of them absolutely SLAMMED the bait. We have had quite a few storms roll through lately, and a lot of rain. But they are in post spawn and tearing it up.

Man i knew i should have fished that lake. I was always too busy fishing the frisbee golf course up the road. Got a LOT of nice fish out of there.

buddy if i was down in tampa this weekend, i would take you up on that offer. but im in jacksonville. good luck out there. im going to hit up a local pond and see what happens

i drive by there all the time and i keep meaning to stop! i hear they are pretty decent.

i dont have my boat yet. waiting on a chance to bring it down here from illinois. but i wouldnt mind hooking up with some people that konw a few good spots. ill even pitch in on drinks and gas! just looking for a decent day at the lake. be it in a boat or on shore. havent had many days down here in florida where ive caught more than 2 in a day

i recently moved to green cove springs just south of jacksonville, FL. wondering if anyone was up for showing me a decent spot to find some good bass action. i have caught a few on the naval air station, with a couple being around 6lbs. but im looking for a place with numbers more so than size. just a decent day on the water. so if there are any other fellow bass chasers out here that would be so kind as to chime in, i would appreciate it oh so much 8-)

water temp dropping could have a lot to do with it. bass will move into different patterns throughout the year. changes in pressure can affect how they feed. try fishing slow. grab a bag of senkos rig them up texas style and focus on cover. and fish it from every angle you can. some of the more seasoned guys will chime in im sure. but senkos are one of my go to cold water baits. keep pressing. youll get em! 8-)

the only reason i stated to keep on it really is that he stated its behind a golf course. that intrigues me a little. usually golf course ponds are stocked fairly well in my experience. and if it is a "water way" i.e. maybe a drainage canal or small pond or lake, there very well could be a way for bass, or other fish, to transition out of the golf course ponds and into the canal or smaller water around the course. im some states, illinois that i know of for sure, they stock most ponds and borrow pits on their own. may not be the case for other states though. but if you see smaller fish, or signs of fish at all, i would think, or atleast hope that there are bass there

sorry, should have clarified. ill be IN wachula. was looking for areas within a short drive. thanks for the info.

first year bass guy too! ive been smallie fishin since i was 12 and ive only got ONE maybe...MAYBE 20". nice fish man. and i love topwater smallie action.

keep on it. ive had a couple places like that. i start out throwin spinnerbaits just to find any active fish. and then i slow down from there. take an hour or so and slowly walk around the lake. look for bass fry or even some bank cruisers. usually the quieter you are while walking the bank the better your chances are of eyeing some fish. a good set of polarized glasses will help see into the water a bit. chances are if its on a golf course there are some bass in there. dont give up!

nobody has any info for me? there has to be someone from around there that fishes the area...

is there anyone around there that knows a few places to try out for some decent bass action? im meeting up with a buddy of mine from the navy and we are trying to get some fishing in. ive heard the peace river is one place to go, but im not sure what to expect. anyone have any insight? thanks in advance!

im not too sure on this as ive never gotten to fish it, but i hear goose creek that runs through the ashburn/leesburg area is supposed to hold some nice smallies. i personally fished the shenandoah and the rivana river near charlottesville. the rivana has a decent population and there are some big smallies there (ive lost quite a few on poor hooksets) but my biggest out of either river was maybe only 3lbs.

believe it or not, banjow minnows and frogs are really my "go to" in the spring summer and fall for smallies. especially the frogs. i also tend to throw rapalas stick baits in a range of colors from fire tiger to the normal black and silver, wacky rigged sinkos have caught me many fish (including a few muskies in virginia), and yum craws when i feel like switching it up. if you dont have any banjos, get some 2/0 or 3/0 wide gap hooks, a bag of 4" zoom super flukes in the color of your choice and instead of doing a T-rig, put the hook through the nose of the bait. bring the point up through the bottom of the nose and out the top. if you put it back far enough on the nose, the bait tends to slide past most snags and i think that the action is FAR better than a normal rigged fluke. that has become my fall back recently while im in florida. that and im out of banjos. the only problem with rigging the fluke like that is that you will end up going through quite a few. i usually get 4 to 5 fish out of 1 minnow, unless they are just absolutly slamming it. there is also the inline spinners that always seem to produce huge numbers of just about everything in streams and rivers for me. you just have to find a bait you feel comfortable using, and that the fish are feeling that day. you'll find em. look for rocks and downed trees. if your stream has weed beds, try throwing frogs in and around the weeds. and ive never failed to connect on the outside edges of bends in the river, as these tend to be the deeper holes. keep on 'em! ;D

haha. only because i dont want anyone to know that its really me! ;D

where abouts in illinios are ya man? im coming up in august to take a police exam in decatur. if you want to do some fishing, i can run you to a couple spots of mine that i dont tell many about 8-)