George Welcome

So far so good

I closed out the month with three trips of which two were fair and one was pretty darn good. Pictures below are from the fair trips. The good trip, which netted 32 bass, is devoid of pictures as I left the camera sitting on the dining room table. That's almost as bad as leaving the plug out of the boat, which I almost did the other day. February is looking very promising. Bass are moving from the ditches on Farm 13 to their pre-spawn locations.

In any of the major tournaments the rules are relatively the same. Prior to off limits, practice, and event periods there are no restrictions. Once into the off limits, practice, and event periods, anything that isn't publicly available is not allowed. Aircraft and guide usage are common prior to off limits. However, these are not for fish location; as we all know what's happening today with the fish is history tomorrow.

If you enjoy concrete, traffic jams, and condos then Clearwater is great. Look at the east coast as suggested. If you catch a red tide period you won't want to be near the beach on the gulf shores.

Watch the load and you will see the problem. The site is having difficulty loading Google ads and it has been for a few weeks now. If you double click the site it will come up faster.

Selecting a guide: The one to answer these questions about lakes would be the guide that you have selected to assist you with fulfilling your objectives. Herein lies the most difficult step in your planning of what you hope is the bass fishing trip of a lifetime. However, with just a little homework you can, with reasonable accuracy, find a reputable and reliable guide. Once you have narrowed the field down based on the lake you want to fish, then interview the respective guides. Find out if the guide's objectives and yours actually match. Don't be afraid to ask questions about the guide's service, the guide's history on the lake, and references of others that have fished with the guide. If the guide has a web page visit the page and carefully check all their pages including any reference/comment pages that they may have and actually call some of the references. Some of the important questions that you should be asking: Does the guide fish or advertise multiple lakes or does the guide concentrate on one or two lakes? A guide that works multiple lakes will probably not be very familiar with any one of them as to what is currently taking place. What was happening ten days ago is history so unless the guide is working the lake frequently you just might be hiring someone for a searching expedition. In many cases guides will advertise multiple lakes just to get the phone call and will then attempt to steer you to their lake that they are familiar with which might not be the lake you intended to go to. Does the guide have an open list of references that you can freely choose from or does he only have a select few that you can contact? References are only good if you can freely pick them and then talk with the people. Another good source of reference today is the internet. Don't be afraid to inquire on any of the major bass pages on the internet about the guide and any experiences that others have had with that guide. Does the guide talk freely about locations they fish or does the guide refer to secret honey holes? Realize that there really aren't secret honey holes on the Florida lakes, but the reference to them is meant to lure you into hiring that person. There is a big difference between a guide that stays current on his lake and one that uses such terms as secret honey holes. Look for proof that the guide stays current on his lake and conditions. A good source to verify the guides activity is again the internet. Look through various bass related pages to see if the guide posts fishing reports regularly, and then read them thoroughly to see if the guide is open in his presentations or just give numbers out. Does the guide have adequate equipment? You don't need a bass boat to catch a big fish but eight to nine hours in a Jon boat can be quite uncomfortable and at times not quite up to the safety standards that you might expect. If you have special accommodation needs be sure to let the guide know up front. It is too late once you have arrived at the lake. Ask the guide what will be supplied and what you will be responsible for. Every guide has a different list of what they supply. Ask the guide what hours you will be fishing, what time you will meet, and where you will be meeting. In general, ask questions that will ensure that you and the guide are compatible in nature and objectives.

I hope you don't find this too wordy: Story to follow:

Here's 7,000 words: Story to follow:

First, it is in no way the middle of the spawn. Second, shiners guarantee nothing except the bill you will pay to get them. Most of the same baits you use at home will work here. http://www.imaginationbassin.com/Tackle.htm Cocoa Beach: http://www.fishobsession.com/rates.php Beeline Expwy. is a direct link from Kissimmee to Cocoa.

Wednesday found us going back to our same fishing hole. This fantastic little lake sits only 2 miles west of Stick Marsh/Farm 13, but the drive there takes over an hour as it's a very circuitous route to get there. The lake is shallow so be cautious with the operation of your boat. Humps of mud dot the middle of the lake and the stop can be quite sudden if you hit one of these. There are also still some remnants of fence poles and stumps so be careful. We departed a bit earlier today as the temperatures were predicted to be a bit warmer. Traffic on the lake has increased quite a bit and there is very little parking out there. Returning to our same location we found our self to be the 3rd boat. However, we moved immediately into the dense slop and proceeded to the catching game. Today the conditions were identical as previous trips. The bass were tight to cover inside of small openings in the cover. Casting accuracy is everything in this situation. A fish caught in this situation must be gotten up near the surface and kept moving, for once buried into the hydrilla they will most often get off. Of the 36 bass we got, an equal number if not more beat there way in the hydrilla and did just that. Again today the best bait seemed to be Senkos and Swimming Senkos, however there were a few picked up on longer worms. Lots of pictures, lots of smiles, and lots of good banter made the day fly by. See you on the water. Say hi if you get the chance.

The weather has finally gotten better allowing us to start again where we left on at the end of December. Although a bit cool on Tuesday morning, the frequent catching and the quality of the fish kept us nice and warm. For this day, Don, Bucky, and myself would see 29 bass, caught between 8:15 and 2:00, come over the rail. We missed and equal amount if not more, to the heavy grass and pads that you can see in the pictures. It's amazing how hydrilla will remove a hook quicker than your fingers can. Closing out the day at 2:00 I headed back to the ramp only to discover a major faux pas that occured in the AM. I left the headlights on! It's not easy to jump start a diesel, so we had to remove batteries from boat and truck to get things going again. Water temps: high 50's Air temps: 41-72 Water clarity: crystal clear Primary bait: Senko and Swimming Senko Line used: 20 - 30 pound Rods: 7.0' MH For those wondering: Lots of Tilapia and Plecostomus pepper the surface of the water. These non-native fish have a water temperature tolerance to about 55 degrees. Everything else in the area fared very well. Although it was very cold the bass continued to eat well as every fish we caught was healthy and fat.

Stick Marsh rules Fish with George Learn by watching Use a Senko Learn by helping Hit the wood Move those weeds Practice for accuracy Learn the mechanics Take a friend Leave the shoreline Fish the lake Learn speedy hooksets Use a C-rig Stand to fish Have good equipment Know your lake Learn boat handling Learn your electronics Laugh a lot Don't get drunk

Dan, You seem to be missing the point of what is native and non-native by definition. Bass are native to north America. The south american fish are not native to north America.

Those are Plecostomus - nothing to do with catfish.

Nature does what F&G has been trying to do: get rid of some of the invasive species of fish that plague our waters. The cold snap is a major but temporary boon to Florida's native species of fish. Periodically this reduction of invasive species of fish caused by cold occurs. However, as I said the fix is temporary only and the recovery by these invasive species will happen rather quickly.

Try Sno Bowl - can be gotten in any supermarket. Inexpensive; easy; quick with no heavy scrubbing.

Before someone jumps all over you young lady, there are no smallmouth in Florida. Glad you had fun. Where were you fishing?

Mon., Tues., and Wed. are going to be warm and calm. Should see a hell of a bite.

Cure that short or missed strike: downsize

http://www.snookfoundation.org Protected waters of Indian River are loaded with stressed fish.

http://miami.craigslist.org/brw/prk/

I agree, separate records for live vs bait also line classes as well. The Japanese record was caught using 25# line fighting the fish for a mere 3 minutes. No denying the record and the fact it's a huge fish but catching that fish using lighter line and tackle would be a lot more impressive to me, would have he landed it on a fly rod? It's not always what you catch but how you catch it. Would have probably stressed the fish to the point of extreme exhaustion and killed it.

They sell everything at Mack.

No they don't

present weather: 36 °F Humidity: 78% Dew Point: 37 °F Wind: 11.5 mph from the NNW