SirSnookalot

Not that it isn't fun, but these community ponds are probably the easiest form of fishing there is. ! rod, 1 lure and 4-5 fish an hour isn't bad, catching quite a few nice fish with very little effort. Never really had the same success in bigger bodies of water, I grew up fishing Lake St Claire.

I agree about friendly competition, I always played golf in a group, we always played skins and a Nassau, in the end it was only win or lose 10 bucks or so. Never fished a tournament but I have been in quite a few golf tournaments, fierce competition. Lee Tevino " Pressure is playing a $ 10 nassau with 5 bucks in your pocket."

I went out to my pond yesterday both at about 11, then about 4, the fish are on and not much is hitting under 3#, I had a few more about 20". What makes me wonder is when the bigger fish are hitting, the smalls are not around and when the little 6-8" bass are hitting, the larger ones are in hiding. Feast or famine. I still can't get one in a canal, spent another 90 minutes at daybreak, for one little strike, but when I catch them they can run pretty beefy. Wind has been brutal, not spending too much time in the salt.

Happy to say we get wahoo and dolphin here in South Florida. I got spooled 3 times this year by what must have been wahoo, only fish I can think of that swims faster are billfish and they come to the surface and jump, so it wasn't a big sail.

In addition to the photos of your cute bride, I liked the Wahoo( had to look at it a 2nd time, thought it was a cuda at first)..........hope you ate it, they are mighty good eating.

I don't know what it weighed, I was using 6'6 6/12 spinning rod and couldn't pick it up from the pond, so it wasn't light.

When they are hitting glass minnows, I change to 1/4 oz bucktail or an artificial crustacean. I mainly use a twitchbait as a topwater type bait, works well for snook, and jacks go crazy for them, but a jack will anything.

I bought a new car last week, certainly not the most important technology for me, but this car came standard with navigation and bluetooth, I am enjoying it. Can't figure out those voice commands..............lol.

Can't catch a canal bass to save my life, but catching these guys in the late pm almost daily now. Pond action on light tackle, open water, This I like. had my phone with me.........about 20".

Let me give you a tip............stay with the white and red, think like a sw fisherman, forget the other colors, they hit the movement not the color.

Most that we run into are in the 20-30 range, not a big fish but a pretty good fight. Most of the bass rods would work, but I wouldn't use one..........a good size foregrip is a great asset. I was watching Bill Dance on TV fishing for redfish, using his guides spinning gear. The guide says to Bill, try your bass outfit and he hooks a red. To land that fish he had his hand fairly high up on the shaft, and he is an expert. This only strengthened my opinion on having a foregrip on my rods. I prefer a foregrip on my bass rods too, I know lots of people don't, but I like as much leverage on a fish as I can get............bear in mind I'm strictly spinning man.

My point is for me only. I think tournaments are just fine, just not for me. It looks more like work than fun and for me work means a return on my investment and time. I competed in the business world, now my fishing is strictly for R&R. If I can fish at my leisure, come and go as I please, catch quality fish, I'm more than content with that. I'm not in the least bit negative on tournaments, I just don't want to do it.

I like just about every spinning reel I have, none give me any problems. Soron, stradic, Penn conquer, Quantum cabo, Pflueger supreme, can't really say I favor one over the other. Without any doubt my smoothest is a Pflueger medalist 5000, I don't use it anymore because of the heavy weight, but it's an outstanding reel.

My preference is a Mirrorlure poppa dog, 3/4 oz and of course I use it on spinning gear , I can pop it or walk the dog. It's my main top water lure used on every single inshore outfit I own. I have used it with success for freshwater but I really like a lighter lure, I've been using a rebel type popper or a Mirrorlure saltwater twitchbait and I walk the dog with it.......it's great for bass. I tower over 00 mod, I'm 5'4...I use pretty much any length, but like 7' the best.

I don't fish tournaments and have no interest in doing so, but for the ones that do, go4it and I wish you well. I'm looking at it this way for me, I fish for relaxation and don't need competition. I'm not sure how much money these local tournaments pay for winning, but the cost of a boat, many rod and reel combos, lots of tackle, entrance fee, gas, etc, it's a loser as an investment for me. That said if enough money were on the line, I'd have no fear in participating. I have caught my share of great fish, it's not in my makeup to hoard spots, I like to see the person I'm with catch great fish too. So if I were fishing with someone that didn't feel as I did, that's a deal breaker and it wouldn't be much fun.........I probably will never fish one.

Not a pro or con comment, but in " liking " a thread, it's only positive, what if I don't like it. I noticed as well the like system is not anonymous as it was before. On other kinds of forums I have disagreed with comments, what I had to do to make a response was to click like and join a group, make my comment, then unsubscribe. For me, I could not be a member of a group where I disagreed with their philosophy, that does not apply to BR. To be honest I'm not a big fan of the like system on social media, but if others favor it, so be it, majority rules. It certainly will not restrict my activity one way or the other.

@Dodgeboy, using a heavier outfit as an example was extreme to make a point, the equation is the same with lighter rods and reels. My bass gear is on the light side, I don't ever use anything heavier than a med spinning rod and a 2000 reel, which feels perfect to me. Does it ? Most of the tarpon you see caught on TV are bigger( and caught by experts), in reality the majority of tarpon caught are what are referred to as juvies, 50# and under. Much of your bass equipment would handle them, providing you had some experience in knowing how to fight and land them. I probably catch between 30 -50 of them each year. I apologize for getting sidetracked, not my intention to give a tutorial on tarpon fishing.

The weight of each lure used will affect how tip heavy the rod is. I like the rod to be a little tip heavy, it loads up better and casts easier and further. I think the weight of the real does make a difference. I had been using medalist 5000 ( 18 oz ) and switched to a Cabo 30 on the same rod ( apx 14oz) the feel and balance was greatly affected. The equation works the same with lighter rods and lighter reels. Perfect balance is a commodity I don't seek.

Personally I wouldn't use a mh spinning rod for bass fishing............except if I needed a rod to handle heavier lure weights or some really thick slop. I don't use anything heavier than a med 8/17 rod, but I mostly throw moving baits. Whether that particular rod is conducive for jigs, I don't know, I'd use it for pretty much everything. I do believe in a jig specific rod, especially deep water jigging, I've come many a time with a sore back from using rod not designed for jigs, they cast well too.

Visually I like it. I'm getting no notifications My avatar will not load, I was using a gif. and tried a jpg also.

Are you fishing from shore or a boat? What's the vegetation like and are there many overhanging trees? What kind of baits do you like to throw and their weights? I don't really notice enough extra distance with the longer rod to make that a prime reason for wanting that length, but I do think the longer rod ( given the same line rating) will have more backbone to it. I mostly use 2 spinning setups, ml 6'6 6/12 for pond use with little vegetation and a 7' inshore rod ( I don't think it's made any different than any other rod, just a name) med power 7' 8/17 line rating for just about everything else. If I were throwing heavier baits I'd consider jumping up to a mh 10/20rod, but the med rod does what I need it to do and it's a bit lighter.

I agree deep, to each their own, bait just isn't for me whether it be freshwater or inshore fishing. As I stated on another thread I categorize my inshore fishing with freshwater fishing as equipment, lures and techniques are pretty much the same. If one can fish one venue they certainly can do the other. I never caught a 15# bass, but I've caught hundreds of 15# and larger fish. I don't trophy hunt, I just fish to enjoy myself. A 15# pound fish is a 15 pound fish to me no matter what the species is, I don't worship one species over another, for me it's all about catching fish with a strong pair of shoulders. Given the choice I'd just as soon catch a large " trash" fish (I just hate that term) than what some other people think as game or trophy fish. Examples would be Goose"s and 00 mod's nice carp they caught, those are powerful fish, again that's just the way i view it. When I do catch a good fish and post a pic, I leave my gps coordinates on so other people know where to catch them and when I just post without a pic often times I announce where I catch them, I never hoard spots, I'm happy if others catch them too.

Snook have been hard to come by lately, nothing much at the inlet since the mullet run is over. I've been getting some small snook and decent jacks but working hard for them, ICW. I do know a canal where there is snook, tarpon jacks and bass with a boat ramp a few miles away, I caught 3 of the 4 there and have seen tarpon rolling but never caught one.

I suppose if I had much less time to fish I may resort to other tactics to catch them. Being able to go out everyday I can fish the way I like to and for me that's artificial. Offshore is another story and I don't enjoy it as much, even though the fish are much bigger. If I had the right water available to me I'd be doing a lot more fly fishing.

Nice fish Doug.............................any snook in that lake? lol