SoFlaBassAddict

Thanks guys, it really was a fun little project. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Now that I've done one, a second one will be far easier. Mike Z: I'm not overly concerned about the color, it's more of I need to protect the bottom of it. I may try doing the Rhino/Herculiner type of stuff on the bottom. Because it gets drug onto the banks it hits small rocks and whatnot. Probably not the best for aluminum. Rhino: Yeah it's pretty solid. It had some flex in it after I removed the original seats. The cross braces under the new seat easily fixed that. The wind today was at 20 but gusting to 30. Not exactly easy to control the boat in. I've got a drift anchor that I probably should use on days like today. Either that, or just drop the hook and sit stationary for a while.

Sounds like you guys had a blast, rain and all. Hope everybody made it home safely. Looking forward to some of the pictures you guys took. I "WILL" be setting aside time early for next years trip. Time and money. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to drag my old man along with me.

That may work up north but down south when its in the mid 80's at night with high humidity, jeans and hoodies are not an option. Aint that the truth. I'd probably die if I dressed like that in the temps down here. I'd strip down to my underwear if I knew I wouldn't get destroyed by the bugs. I've got to try that skin so soft. I can't stand using the sprays.

Add the piece of heat shrink tube to make a barb that holds the bait in place. Or you can use the toothpick method where you jam a toothpick through the hook eye while it's inside the lure. Clip it off and the bait won't move anywhere.

x2 I've got 20lb Power Pro with some 12lb Seagaur Abrazx as a leader on my small spinning rod. I'm very happy with it. what size spool and rod? ive tried 15/4 PP on my 6'6" light spinning rod and i got wind knots left and right untill i finally cut it off and trashed it. Shimano 2500 on a 6'9" ML Fast

I've got 30# Power Pro on one of my reels and have no issues with line digging. 40# on another and no digging issues.

Burn them back, twitch them back, pop them back, etc etc. You can do almost anything with a frog type of bait. Crank it, then let it drop into holes in the vegetation always works. It's a really versatile family of baits.

x2 I've got 20lb Power Pro with some 12lb Seagaur Abrazx as a leader on my small spinning rod. I'm very happy with it.

I think I finally finished working on my small Jon a picked up a few weeks back. Used on electric only lakes. I may pick up a small outboard at some point down the road if I stumble on a good deal. Basically the way it came home: Today: Total cost was roughly 500 bucks not counting the depth finder. I still need to drill a hole to pass the power/transducer cable through the box on the bow. Need a grommet for that but I'm not in a big rush. Figured out how to run the transducer cable on the TM so it didn't get pinched up in the mount. I'm really happy how that worked out. Somewhere down the road I need to paint the hull if I've got some time to kill. The last major pieces needed are a couple of carry handles and I need to install the bilge pump. Cost: Hull - $300 (Craigslist) TM & Seat - $70 (Craigslist) Carpet and Plywood - $65 (Home Depot) Rod Saver - $1.77 (I think BPS made a mistake) Miscellaneous junk (rivets, new rivet gun, glue, etc etc) - $40 Of course none of the new tackle that I bought I count into the price. Or the new rods I also bought a new battery that I didn't add into my total. Didn't need it, but it was a safe thing to have a good spare. The depth finder and RAM mount were just shy of 300 bucks. Didn't take long to do. Was done over a few weekends in my spare time as a project with my daughters. I can easily stand on the floor at the front seat without major worry. The bow mount really moves it around nicely. Everything in it is very easy to remove by lifting the piece up so one person can pick it up if need be. The only screwed down part is the bow storage area. The torque from the TM would jerk it off of the mounts, not good. All in all, not too bad. It gets handled a good bit when the wind really picks up. But in a small breeze it's fairly stationary.

haha I felt the same way when I caught my first jig fish, now I have at least 2 rods in the boat with jigs tied on, sometimes 3. Thats not counting swim jigs cause I classify those different. It only gets better from here on out! I've never counted swim jigs either. I've caught plenty of fish on those. But thats not the typical bounce, drag, hop along the bottom type of fishing. Tried again today with no real luck. But the high winds down here are making fishing difficult period.

Mother bleepin success! Finally, a real deal fish on a jig. No tossing it into a bed, no cheating, etc etc. Tossed it to a small point right on the bank, felt no bite, just mushiness. Set the hook and landed one about a pound and some change. It wasn't big, but I don't care. I'm hoping this means that I did something right and theres more fish to come.

Appreciate it guys. As I continue to try and become a better and more proficient angler, I really feel that this is something that I need to spend a lot of time learning. I'm sure theres going to be a lot of frustrating days ahead of trying to really settle down and learn how to use a jig. In a magical world, I'd go out and start using it and just pulling up fish after fish. Unfortunately theres the whole reality thing that stands in the way of that. Thanks a bunch for the suggestions Catt. As much as I hate going to Wal Mart, getting a hold of a jig thats cost effective to learn with makes it far easier. Hopefully with me finally making the switch over to the superlines it will get a bit easier to detect strikes and whatnot. I'm still amazed how different everything feels with braid/fluoro.

So this year has been great for me. I'm catching fish on nearly every lure that I've used, except a jig. I've finally did what I should have done long ago. I've pulled off my go to t-rig from worm rod and tied on a jig. A jig is not coming off of that rod until I feel more comfortable using the things. Right now I've got a 3/8 Evo jig with a Rage baby craw as the trailer. My only complaint is that in most areas of the lake I've got thick heavy grass and I seem to be gathering a lot of this gunk on the jig. I know that this will stop me from feeling bites eventually. I'm assuming in this case I should switch to one of the grass style jigs, but my knowledge on jigs is very, very minimal. If you guys have some suggestions of a decent jig, something that you wouldn't mind losing once in a while, let me know. Hopefully in a few months I'll actually catch a fish or two on these silly things.

I've cut a white sluggo in half then sliced that partially down the middle of it and used that as a trailer on a white swim jig. Worked fairly well.

MOSQUITOES! Man, I forgot how much I hate those little stinkers. Those things along with the Noseeums are making night fishing almost unbearable down here right now. The typical spray in a can junk just doesn't cut it. So what do you do to keep the biting bugs away?

I may try the night fishing, I have been working on my C rig skills . So what do you do at night? The Same things? Same colors? I have seen all black spinnerbaits that are midnight something or other. Guessing these are for night fishing? Pretty much what the other guys said. Large worms, bulkier profile baits. Mind you, thats what I throw a lot of down here anyway, so no real change. Color at night isn't really a factor, it's contrast that's generally the most important thing. Judging by that, black would be the best color at night. But like any time, sometimes black won't work and a different dark color will. Topwater baits can be killer at night. Try tossing out a Rage Shad or a Cavitron buzzbait out. Both of those put out a ridiculous amount of noise. The Cavitron is great at night because you can work it really slowly and still have it make a bunch of noise.

X2 Little heat shrink tubing and voila. Great hook. I use those for almost all of my plastics now.

I've got a man made lake for real estate as well. The water temps get pretty hot during the summer as well. Almost up to 90 already this year. I've become such a huge fan of drop shotting because of the depth of my lake (50 FOW in one area). You've got much less water to work with than I do, so that may not really work out as well for you. Bassin_Fin@tic gave you some good advice on the splitshot right. You may also want to try dragging around a c-rig. Like the other people above me posted, night fishing may be the best thing. Cooler water, lots more bearable on you, should be better fishing all around. Either that, or try early in the morning.

I was hoping for some Kings to roll through the chumslick. I didn't even make it out to the deeper reefs. I was heading that way and turned around. Dropped the anchor and hung just off of a reef in like 15-20 FOW. Fished there for like half an hour before I said screw it and went to play around in the bay. It wasn't a great day to be out fishing.

I use those type of bits a lot at work. Great drill bits. They tend to dull a bit quicker than I would like though. I do like the Dewalt Pilot Points a little better for most of the work I do. They seem to last a little longer. Not sure how those would handle the gel coat though.

Try using them when sitting in a small aluminum boat I can feel the vibrations through the hull from a long way away. Does it drive fish away? I don't think so, they sure catch a lot of fish. Nice job, Retrofan. It's such a versatile lure. You can use them in almost any situation and catch fish on them. One of, if not my favorite style of hard baits.

Sounds like you had a good day up there. I tried to do some offshore fishing and got pounded a bit by the 4-6 seas. Last night it was 2-3..... A bunch of topwater Bass sounds far better than catching a bunch of 12"-14" yellowtails...

If theres no real wind, a 1/4 oz would be what I'd start with. I'd step it up to the 3/8 oz if I wasn't getting hits or if the wind picked up a little. Each person will probably say something different though.

Depends on the depth/cover you're fishing.

So I was out puttering around earlier on the boat tossing a bait towards the banks. I was in about 40 FOW tossing shallow. I was watching the electronics when I found this one huge piece of structure out of the clear blue in deep water. I'm assuming it's a large tree. Seemed to look like one on the sonar. It sits in about 38 FOW and is roughly 10'-12' tall. Also has a large boulder right next to it. I'm planning on marking it, tossing out a buoy and then motoring upwind and dropping the anchor to work the area a bit. I'm going to be using three rods. I've got one rigged with a drop shot. One has a deep diving crank for suspending fish (Series 6 or a Norman DD22). The other I'm thinking I'll use something like a large T-rigged worm with a 1/2oz tungsten weight or a C-rig with a 3/4oz weight. Should I go to a larger weight for that depth? I'm guessing that colors should be fairly dark in water that deep. What else would you toss around there to see whats alive? Braided line with fluoro leader on the worm and crank rod (casting). The drop shot is on a spinning rod. Gimme some tips for fishing something like that in deep water.