SirSnookalot

I hate to rain on your parade but that is not a peacock, it's a mayan cichlid, they do give a nice fight for a small fish. This is a peacock bass

How someone displays their fish in a photo is entirely up to them, I'm not in the least bit bothered 1 way or the other. I appreciate seeing a photo of a nice fish, admit I've held a few out to the camera too. Much of my fishing is done alone, placing a fish on the ground or holding it arm's length just does not create a good photo op. I've done it but I've lost interest in doing so, in the future the elements have to be right, quality fish and someone to snap it for me. I'm as curious as the next person on size, just not enough to carry my own tape and scale with me, my fish are measured in the joy that they gave me in landing them.

Hopefully I'll hear from Doug in the not too distant future, we have fished saltwater together a few times, fishing is starting to pick up now.

Outgoing tide with a fast current is prime snook water.

Some of the saltwater flats jigs have weed guards on the them, with or without a trailer I like they way they move.

I don't remember my first bass but I do remember my first pike. My dad and I were fishing in the Detroit River on the Canadian side, I must have been about 7. We had some motor trouble so we docked the boat on Bobolo Island and while he was fixing the engine I was casting a plug, and I caught my very first pike. 60 years ago seemed like it was yesterday, from that moment on it was nothing but artificial lures for me.

I like the way the way the trailer stays on them. Personally I'm not a fan of jig fishing for bass, that said for about 2 months straight this year I used nothing but, my catch rate was excellent both size and numbers. In all honestly I did not see much of difference between brand of jigs or type of trailer I was using, I even used ordinary bucktails with trailers when I was out of stock of bass jigs, they worked good too.

My first consideration would be looking at your fishing conditions, is it open water, heavily vegetated and how much top slime accumulates on the water. As mentioned I would probably start off with one outfit, for me spinning rules. I use a med 7' inshore rod 8/17 3/8-3/4 oz, but I use pretty much any weight lures I choose with no problem, size 35 (@ 8.8 oz the reel matches the rod near perfect), 15# braided line, MSRP $160 with out the line. I can fish for hours with no fatigue, plenty of hook setting power and handling the fish isn't a concern. I've been using this outfit 3-4 years with but a drop of oil every now and then,service never required. If interested pm me, I tell you what I use.

^^This is the closest answer. ^^ Not all canals are treated the same way, many of the major and secondary canals are public but you need to have access to them. One way to get an idea is, who is cutting the grass, if it's the county it's public and if it's a private company it's most likly not public. Most of the smaller canals are private property, either owned by the home owner or the subdivision, usually no one says anything but complaints do happen, I've encountered very few problems. On a side note, ocean beach is legally to fish everywhere with limited exceptions, that being government owned property like Cape Canaveral or a military base for example. Home owners own up to the high water mark and not all the way to the beach, if one can have access thru public land, it's fishable or surfable. I could fish in front of Rush Limbaugh's house (if I were willing to walk 4 miles on the beach to get there) but I could not fish behind Trump's house because he is on the ICW and that's private property. BTW, both the locations hold some great fishing.

I wish you well.

Nice fish, those flat profile fish can really put up a nice fight.

On a ml rod I would be looking for a reel that is comfortable and appeals to your eye. Any reel in the 40-$60 range is going to work just fine, if I were on a budget I wouldn't be afraid of a cardinal or trion.

It has been here as well, there are very few positive reports on any of the forums. As a 20 year snowbird and now a 10 year resident fishing saltwater everyday I may have learned a thing or 2. People that watch tv shows think it's a fish a cast, lol, well it isn't. Winter time is not very good, the bite picks up when the bait shows up and it's only trickling now, the people that are catching fish are using live bait, artis are a slow go. I'll keep it short, know your species, know your tide, know your area, and pray. Spanish mackerel have been fairly hot, I've caught a few for some of the guys I know that take fish home, as rule I don't fish for them, too small for me and they don't put up much of a fight. That said sometimes you gotta take what mother nature is giving you.

I'm buying a smoke 50 inshore spinning reel, spec wise it has what I'm looking for, but time will whether I like it or not.

I've used them dressed and undressed, treble as well as a single hook, the catch rate seems to be pretty constant, imo the blades do more attracting. If I had a dressed treble I may use but I don't think I'd go out of my way to buy one. Inline spinners, beetle spins, roadrunners and the like seem to be bluegill and small bass catchers, sure you nail a good fish once in a while, but if I were wanting to catch larger fish I'd be using another kind of bait.

Read the same thing.

Just starting to see some fish appear, have caught only about 6 snook, none of which were too big, but I've caught tarpon each of the last 3 days. The first 2 tarpon were very juvenile not more than 15 or 20#, yesterday I hooked into one considerably larger. After having what seemed about 75 yds being striped off in a split second I managed to get it back to the seawall, being alone I had no one to man the net, luckily a palm beach release prevailed. Don't know if I'm heading out this morning, I have an outpatient minor surgery scheduled, being bored at 3 AM, I'll probably go out for while.

Just my most used. Bass Pond.........6'6 clarus 6/12 ml, 30 supreme 10# braid Canals......7' calico jack, 8/17 med, 35 supreme 15# braid Inshore Jettie........7' star mh 10/20, stradic 4000 20# braid Jettie.........7'6 redbone mh 10/20 stradic 4000 20# braid Beach........7'6 redbone med 8/17 soron 40 15# braid Beach .......8' tsunami airwave med 8/17#, daiwa tierra 3000 15# braid Barracuda..7' mh 10/20 blue runner, arbor 5000 14# mono. Offshore private boat.. 7' redbone 40#, penn conquer 7000 30# braid private...........7' star hvy inshore 25#, soron 60 30# braid private...........7' star 25#, avet mxj, 20# mono. Drift boat.......7' redbone 30#, spheros 8000, 17# mono. Next few days, 8' Okuma cedros inshore mh 10/20 or a BPS inshore extreme 8'6 with a Quantum smoke 50.

The more you do it the more your automatic reaction is.

I order direct from DOA, not everything I use is available in stores.

Actually bass fishing is on the backburner for a while. Each year about this time the bite drops off in my area, the humidity intensifies and I hate those d**n gnats. Being in Florida something is always happening so I still fish every day, I restart my bass fishing usually late November in earnest.

As a younger man I made 5 trips to the Algoma region, stopped an outfitter to rent my canoe and provisions at the Soo, then portaged thru a series of lakes and streams, each trip was 7-10 days, I'm too old for that now. I own a timeshare in Cabo San Lucas as well staying at my sister resort in Puerta Vallarta have done a number of offshore trips. Nowadays I'll drive down to the keys and do some beach fishing or up to Sebastion, my wife will sit on the beach an dread while I'm fishing, mostly go there and back in a day but stay over night sometimes. My most favorite trip, without my wife, was here.......http://www.costadecocos.com/, flying over to the Bahamas may be more convenient and my will want to go, so there will more for her to do.

The only person arrested is a man from Mississippi sending letters with ricin powder. No one has been arrested in connection to the bombings, there was a student questioned and had his home searched, to my knowledge he is not in custody or a suspect.

There are many positive aspects to any fishing forum, but negatives as well. It's easy to get "programmed" into buying this brand or that brand and the fishermen using the more expensive gear are having more fun. Catching more and or larger fish comes down to 2 main factors and that's knowing how to do it and where to do it at. Debates over the "best" are really nothing but self justification for buying a certain item. IMO if one wants to get the most out of BR, learn the techniques, how to read the environment, the hot fishing areas and the species running at that time, the lines, rods, reels, hooks and all that will take care of itself.

Restocked 10 bucktails, and a few hard jerkbaits.