SoFlaBassAddict

Great fish. Seeing shots like that really make me want to take a trip up north one day to get a shot at some of those smallies.

Looks like a good day you guys had. Some decent fish right there. This is where you share where the spot is now

My t-rigs and plastics rod is a 6'9" MH Xfast. I can use 1/4oz with no issues with it at all. If I go any lighter, I'll swap over to my 6'6" or 7' spinning rod.

I'd have no clue what I'd actually pick out. That Gambler Sterling sure as hell is really nice looking though...

It's pretty hard to fish them wrong. Steady retrieve, pause, jerk, yo-yo off the bottom, etc etc. It's a really versatile lure. You've just got to figure out what the fish want at that specific time.

Junebug down here is such a productive color year round. But man, it's really hard to beat just plain old black on a 7-10 worm.

Kind of hard not to think about them. My lake is in my backyard. Blacktip? Hell, I've never gone out to intentionally catch a shark. Most of the time they're a nuisance when we go out night fishing for Yellowtail. Chum + snapper = sharks. Im sure one day I will though. I know the ones we've inadvertently caught have been great fighting fish. Just hate having to re-rig after you catch one and they start spinning and wrapping your line around the skin.

Hell, I'm still young by most peoples standards (28), but I love just getting "out" fishing. Catching fish is a bonus. When my father and I were both younger we were excessively serious about our trolling. If we didn't come back with a boat full of dolphin it really was a shot day. Thats not to say that we didn't enjoy going out. But because we were fishing for fish to eat (we like eating), it was very disappointing to not load up the boat. Now that both of us are older it's more of an "cool, were out on the water" kind of thing. Thats not to say that we don't try as hard as we always have to catch fish, it's just not as important now. Hopefully I'll be able to instill that in my daughters at an early age. So far it seems to be working. Here's to fishing...with a little catching mixed in....

I've got a red eye and a series 3 crank in that pattern. Seems to work just fine for me.

Both of those are really possible. It can't hurt to swap out the transducer if you can. I'm sure you don't want to drill more holes into the hull. But you'll have to drill anyways if a new one doesn't work. You could opt for the shoot through hull, I know you've said you fish shallow lakes for the most part anyways. That may not be a bad option.

Gotta love living down here. I went out for an hour and landed three little stinkers, and lost one large fish (all fish you lose are large though). Thank god for some nice weather this evening.

a. You can tell from the sonar return that thats not a solid object. A strong return would be yellow on that graph. The only reason it starts to color a little is because of the ridiculously thick weeds in that area. b. I can swim fairly well, and have looked at lots of the areas behind the house while snorkeling. c. I can pee on the spot from my backyard.

The only thing I could think of off the top of my head while looking at your pictures is transducer placement. That first picture looks like you have the transducer sitting right behind a chine (or whatever you want to call it) on the hull. Could you possibly be having a bunch of bubbles accumulating in that spot throwing off the readings?

Just let me know when you're up in the area. We'll try to get together one of these days. I have landed a few peacocks recently on shad raps and all. Nothing large though. This evening looked great, baitfish jumping everywhere...no bass though. Mind you, I stayed on my dock and only fished for a few moments. I didn't get out and really try to catch anything. Hopefully it's a sign of better things to come though.

The rougher the better is good to maybe 4-6 ft seas. I went out on the Fish City pride drift boat in 8-12 ft seas and that was not a good day at all Size of the seas is all relative to the size of the boat. That being said, you wouldn't catch me out in 8'-12' seas. Especially out near the reef edges where the water starts to get really choppy. Thats a recipe for a big freakin disaster.

The FWC just had their boat out on my lake today. We've been told in the past that they're spraying to control the hydrilla. Fishing usually stinks for a little while afterwards. Unfortunately my lake isn't one of the lakes that borders public view, so there isn't the easement that some of the other lakes in my area have. There are a few lakes around here in other private communities that have some areas that look ridiculously good for fishing because they must leave the natural landscape intact.

x2 You can't go wrong with the stuff. Just keep it out of the house...

So my father and I both had the day off on a weekday (a rarity) so we decided late last night to go out and work along the reef edges for a few hours early in the day today. For some reason, we've also done well on sailfish with cruddy weather. We got out to the reef at around 6 am and got the lines in the water shortly thereafter. Water was a bit choppy and a little chilly. To me that always equates to good fishing offshore. Put a couple of live pilchards out on flatlines, and another out on the kite. Start drifting and wait. First Sail hit around an hour or so after we got settled in, then a second another 10 minutes after the first was released. Two more in the next hour and a half. Mix in a couple of small kings and you make for an enjoyable morning. Home by 11:45 in the morning and happy as hell to have stuck a few fish. Now if I could only get the d**n bass to start biting again I'd be really happy. That is a far cheaper way to go fishing and have fun...

I'll use a 4/0 or a 5/0 twist-lock on the Magnum ultra-vibes. Weightless T-rig with the hook tucked into the back of the worm. Make sure the hook enters the bait the opposite direction of the tail. Lay the worm down flat on it's side, with the cut portion of the tail to the bottom. Enter the hook into the bait by going up through the bottom of the worm. Some guys like doing it the other way. Experiment and pick which you like best.

Those look pretty nice. I may grab a shiner and a bluegill from them. Look like a decent lure.

Both of my daughters are six, nearly seven. They both love fishing. One of them loves it far more than the other. She just enjoys going out and casting her rod and trying to catch fish. The other is just like most kids her age that fish, it's not really fun unless you catch fish.

They wouldn't tell ya if he was using another type. I noticed Ike was using a Shimano Symetre when he caught his record 10lb Trout on CLF Milwaukee. I thought Daiwa was his sponsor last year when that was filmed. I saw he was wearing an Abu Garcia jacket at the classic last month. I love CLF! Ike shows he has all the problems we regular anglers do. Stepped on rods, hooking friends by accident and my favorite...cutting birdsnests out of our baitcasters after a bad cast. If you watch the episode again, you'll see where they talk about it not being his boat, his rods/reels, etc etc. Theres a part where he broke a rod then had the oh crap moment when he realized it wasn't his.

The red eyes are as good as any other lipless. Used correctly, they're great. They've got a nice wiggle as they fall, and like somebody else said, great to rip through weeds. Theres other times when Rat'L'Traps are more effective, and times when Super Spots are better. Like any lure, it all depends on what the fish want at that given time.

If I was closer I'd be more than happy to help you out....theres also the whole I'd have no clue what I'm doing thing. But I can sit in a lawn chair like a mofo.

I promise you that it's not