SoFlaBassAddict

You know, I've got side imagine for my offshore boat and absolutely love it. I bass fish out of a Jon boat, I've been sitting here for a while telling myself how cool it would be. It's just a little impractical to put a thousand dollar set of electronics on a boat I slide in and out of my truck bed. That being said, don't be surprised if I end up buying one at some point anyway....can you mount that side imaging transducer to a TM? ;D

Well, I'm comparing it to the big lakes in other parks of the country. It's by far the largest lake in the area. I don't know how to calculate the acreage, but it's big (at least to me).

The big girls are still around evergladesbasser, I caught some nice fish earlier this spring after the cold. In the hot weather I haven't had anything over 5 though. Live bait is definitely the key for the larger fish though. Glad you had a good time Backwater4. South Florida really is the fishing paradise it's made out to be. Next time you come down here, you've gotta take a day to go catch some Peacocks. 2 pound peacock fights like a 6 pound largemouth .

Sounds like you had a great day. The fish have been super active lately. Best part, the solar chart in Bass Master magazine said today was going to be one of the worst days of the month...yeah. I caught a bunch myself, my arms are still sore.

It's right there on Miramar Pkwy and Dykes. In the same shopping center as CVS. Tati's Bakery. Just says Bakery outside of it though. Right next to the Gamestop. Food and video games in one shot, fantastic.

If I remember right, we have a member here who is a Bluewater Dealer or Installer. Everything I've heard about them is fantastic. The installation should be fairly easy after reading the material on the Bluewater website. I've been meaning to buy some for a while now to light the floor of my boat.

While heading back to the launch today, I came across a giant hump on the lake I was fishing. Water went from 30+ to 6.5-7. I looked at my buoy and said my myself, gotta remember this spot for next time. I don't have GPS on my little unit, I don't really need it, the lakes I fish are fairly small. Where do you guys like to toss out your buoy's? Drop it right on the high spot and work around it? Right on one of the edges? I've never really used one in this situation, so I don't have a real clue. I'm more worried about spooking fish than anything else.

So today I got to head back out to whats quickly becoming my favorite lake in the area for a half day of fishing. Woke up an hour and a half late, no topwater bite for me >. Needless to say, I went out armed with my latest purchase, a nice long crankin rod and reel and a box full of various cranks. Get out, nothing happening on the drop offs with jigs, worms, anything. Decide to head to the other side of the lake and out in the middle of the water, no structure, no nothing I find loads and loads of bait balls on the graph. Fish busting everywhere. Break out the new toy and a small 1/4 oz crank and hurl it out. Three hours later, I can't move my arm anymore and I've caught some ridiculous amount of fish. No real size, mostly 1-3 pounders, but god was that ever fun. If only every day was that easy to find fish. Hopefully the next time I go out there, I'll finally get into some of the larger fish that I've seen on the lake.

Well, it's either the location you're fishing. Or if I had to guess (because I did it when I learned to flip and pitch), you probably have too much slack in the line when the bait hits the water. You really need a controlled slack when the lure is falling so you can feel the fish hit it.

water/gatorade? cuban sandwich? cigarette? sounds like a meal to me! Darn right. The best part is the Cuban Bakery across the street from my development opens early to feed the cops. They've got like 10 pound Cuban sandwiches. I'm a big dude, and half of one can fill me up. Plus, I can grab some cuban coffee to go with it. 8-)

Leader length for me really depends on what I'm doing. Mostly though, I concern myself when I'm pitching. I like the leader knot to be right outside the tip top of the rod when I'm holding the lure to make a pitch. If I'm tying on a drop shot, my leader is generally about one and a half rod lengths. On average, I probably use a six or seven foot leader. I have used mono leader when I use braid with cranks. I think the extra stretch helped out on the hooksets. Now that I've grabbed a cranking style rod, if I ever put braid on it I'll probably use fluoro because of the rod action.

Nothing better than seeing that oil slick right after you drop your lure into the water. I think I've got a can of BANG sitting in my garage thats at least six or seven years old. Megastrike = good stuff

lol

I really need to keep my eyes open for a small outboard to run around holiday park. I doubt I'd make it to many prime spots running just the electric motors.

Cheater

Thats my major concern. I don't mind shelling out the cash for a quality product thats going to last me for a while.

The only slowness I've had is from the flash banners or whatever they are bogging down my machine. Close them down in the task manager and it's fine. Just really aggravating at times.

Great fish Dink. Looks like the new boat is helping you get out to where the big girls are at. Hope you finally got all the sonar issues sorted out.

I fish with four rods. Three casting, one spinning. Two of the casting and my spinning rod are spooled with braid. I use fluoro leaders on all of them. The other casting is spooled with all fluoro. The only time I don't is when I'm frogging, then it's straight braid. I find braid to be much more castable than just fluoro or mono. I get less backlashes, and if I do, they are much easier to remove. I can all but turn off any brakes on the reel and just hurl a lure out. I also absolutely love the sensitivity with braid. Lots of the water I fish is fairly clear, and I do believe that the fluoro leader does increase in the bites I get from being less visible. My cranking rod is spooled with all fluoro because well, I wanted a little bit of stretch and the invisibility. I may swap that out to braid with a fluoro leader at some point though.

The same lures I throw for regular fishing. If I really want to step it up, I'll throw a larger worm. You can catch as many dinks on large baits as small baits though.

The shakey head is t-rigged onto the jighead. A flick shake is wacky rigged on the jig head. The shape of some of the flick shake jigs is slightly different as well. Some of them have a concave part of the head to help the bait wiggle some more.

I picked up my first cranking style rod yesterday. It's a 7' MH. 3/8 to 1 1/2 oz. It hurls 1/2oz baits a long way. I can cast 1/4oz lures on it, but it's definitely noticeable that the rod isn't made for them. I'd have to agree based on my limited experience, that you'd need more than one rod to cast everything you're trying to cast.

Front after front? Sounds like what we had down here earlier this year. Not fun at all. I wouldn't mind the 60 degree temps though. As good as the fishing has been down here lately, I know it's going to be a brutal summer. Water temps in the areas I hit are already getting close to the 90 degree mark. I'll have to check out some of the Columbia stuff. May be a little bit more expensive than I was planning on spending. Luckily I really only need a shirt, the shorts I really don't care about. It's my upper body where I feel the heat the most.

Gear: 6'9" ML/Fast Spinning w/20lb braid. 12lb fluoro leader. Worms: Zoom Swamp Crawler, Senko, Trick worms, etc etc. Almost any finesse style worm will work. Where: Anywhere. I prefer using them on drop offs leading into deeper water down here in the retention pits. Action: Sometimes do nothing until it hits the bottom. Lift and let it drop again. There are also times where you need to gently pop the jighead a little so it jerks around the worm, without lifting the worm. You just want the worm to shake in place, the jighead will bounce around the worm. Sounds much more difficult than it is. Small amount of slack in the line, lightly pop the rod up an down while maintaining some slack in the line. Don't over work the bait though.

So summer is rolling in, hotter than I can remember it being for a long time. I've come to realize, my normal clothing is just too hot. Short sleeve, long sleeve, it don't matter. I've never bought any of the "fishing" clothing before, but I think it's getting close to time for me to pick some up. It's just starting to get unbearable during the day. If I'm on my home lake, it's no problem. Dock the boat and go cool off in the house. I've found a lake nearby though that is just loaded with bass, big bass, but last time I went out I came home feeling like I was in a title fight. What I'm looking for is something that'll keep me cool during the day. Something affordable. Something that preferably doesn't look ridiculous. Appreciate any input you guys have.