piscicidal

Went out this morning for a few hours with my son. He wanted to go to Okeechobee, but I wasn't sure if the weather was going to hold out so we went to nearby Loxahatchee Preserve, instead. Arrived about half hour after safe light and started fishing. My third cast of the morning yielded a 4lber...About five minutes later my son is cranking in his topwater frog and I hear a tremendous splash...I look and his bait is gone in a big swirl. I yell at him to set the hook which he does. Instantly his medium action spinning rod doubles over and a huge mouth comes out of the water churning back and forth. Oh-oh.... But, he fought it like a champ, wrestled it out of the weeds a couple times and got her boat side where I grabbed it. Weight was 6.80 lbs...besting his PB by over a pound. At six and a half years old he has now caught a bass bigger than his age twice. We went on to have a tremendous morning of fishing...I had the boat back on the trailer at 10:00 with 15 bass, at least half of those over three, including three over four, and the 6.80. Easily 21-22lb bag in about three hours fishing. I left them biting....my last two fish were a 4.0 and a 4.5. My son saw my fish getting bigger and I think he wanted to go home while he still had me beat (which I was glad to do).

I like flipping 1oz Hack Attack and AT Grassmaster jigs into the heavy stuff on Okeechobee.

No problem Shane. You don't need my help though... that's bigger than any fish I've caught in the last year. That one has to be +8.

Swimjig with a paddletail trailer

LOL, David. You have a club tourney out there? MM41 or the turnaround? I was thinking of heading out there for a few hours Saturday morning.

My flipping setup: Quantum Accurist PT570 (~$80) Dobyns 805C (~$200 on sale) My punching setup: Quantum Accurist PT570 (~$80) Dobyns 766SS (~$130 on sale) Those Accurists are awesome reels for the money....both reels are over five years old and have taken a tremendous amount of abuse in the 2.5years I've owned them. One of the best value deals in bass fishing, IMO. I'm fairly partial to Dobyns on the vertical setups. The 766 is one of the only Savvy rods with the full length cork grip (a must for me personally on jig/flip/punch setups) and is sensitive enough for punching. I love the 805C but that 766 is a very good deal for the money. The rod prices I mentioned above include the 20% that vendors have 2-3 times a year (never pay full price). Either setup gets you within your price range.

Great fish Shane!

When II see a green fish with "shoulders", I start getting excited...about 5lbs.

Spook

A spook, Spro popping frog 75, devils horse, plastic "buzzin" toad (horny toad/JDs/rage, etc), and a pop-R will cover most the bases for you down here.

Fishingator, Keep at it. There's a bunch of +5lb fish @ Holiday Park, Lox, and some of the local ponds/canals. Keep chucking baits at em and it's a matter of time.

I've gone back and forth between braid/mono for spinnerbaits and I like where I'm at right now....7'0" medium/X fast rod with 50lb braid. The braid is great for ripping thru vegetation and for feeling vibration. With this setup, I can easily tell if I'm fouled up and can usually clear it with a good snap. The medium action rod has enough compliance that the fish stays buttoned up.

I bury the hook when punching. If I go exposed/tex-posed when punching, I am spending more time wrestling with baits than I want to. I like to use a straight shank 4/0 (Gammy Heavy Cover) hook, and a small profile bait like a Gambler BB cricket for punching the heavy stuff. On this particular setup, the length of the bait/hook is just right so I can bury the hook right into the tip of the bait up past the barb. My catch rate with this rig is outstanding...in the 90%+ range. I don't believe burying the hook has decreased my catch rate. And frankly...any fish that can't expose the barb with this setup, I don't want to catch. Punching is a big fish technique and I'm looking for 5-10 big bites a day when doing it.

Changing hooks... Shorter 2X hooks will change the wobble of the bait. Add "suspend dots". Tuning the bait...adjusting the eye on the front to get it to run true. File the leading edge to make it sharper. There are probably more adjustments...but these are the some of the ones he mentions in his book. I have taken a dremel to the leading edge of red eye shads to remove the parting line (created at seam on the injection mold) and then touched up with paint afterwards. I can't swear that it improves the action of the bait, but it give me more confidence, which is half the battle.

KVD talks about this in his book (Secrets of a Champion). He has a stash of lures that just run "different" and are known fish producers. He takes a sharpie and marks those with a dollar sign "$". Those baits only get used in tournaments. He'll run baits in the pool making sure he gets the action he wants...then he'll test those baits out in practice. If they produce fish he'll mark them and they'll end up in the tournament stash. The point is...he doesn't just grab baits out of the box and start cranking em. No doubt he goes thru a fair amount of baits to arrive at his stash of known fish producers.

Great job Bruce. Its hard to overemphaasize how impressive your catch was today. An 11 pound win over a great field. We finished ninth today and didn't get half your weight. You guys wrecked em. Congrats!

I'm fishing the KOTG classic Sunday....not sure where it will be at. They announce the location Saturday night in a meeting at BPS. Might fish Lox north tomorrow.

I am currently on my fourth flouro supplier, with disappointing results the first three times. I'm currently using Seaguar Invisx and so far, so good.

My punching setup... - Dobyns 766 - Quantum Accurist 570 (7:1) - 50lb power pro - 1.5/2.0 oz tungsten weight - 4/0 Gammy heavy cover hook The 766 has a great action for punching. Tip is a little soft which is key...both for hookup percentage and flipping distance/accuracy. The Accurist is a great punching reel. Big aluminum frame, heavy duty spool shaft (5.0mm), very fast retrieve (7.0 : 1), very strong/smooth ceramic drag. I like the flippin' switch operation of this reel (unlike the twitchin bar, instagage and others). I have trained myself to flip both left and right handed and I can engage the spool instantly with either hand. Never know when that bite will come flipping and you always have to be ready to hit em quick. I like power pro for this application. There are better overall braided lines out there, but PP seems to "cut" the weeds better than some other brands. When you setup on a big fish and you hear that PP "sawing" through weeds...it's an awesome sound. I like using a small profile bait (i.e. gambler BB cricket) for punching heavy mats as it penetrates the weeds easily. A little lube/scent will also help the bait slide through vegetation. I use a lot of 1oz jigs in heavy cover. But for punching thick mats, i think the smaller 1.5oz weight and smaller profile bait is more effective.

Kindergarden Cop....LOL

Xcaliber XCS100 square bill LC Flat Mini DR Spro Little John MD Strike King 6XD

Necessary equipment... One melanoma removal was enough for me. Be prepared for the good-natured jokes which follow.... "Hey you guys hold up a bank or something?"

Wow...nice boat! That is one okeechobee bass slayin machine. Big O is on my (very) short list for my next boat.

I love topwater frog fishing...it's what got me hooked on bass. Recently, though, it's the 16" snake lure. D***....those things are fun to fish. Twitch them on the top with a sort of walking motion...making them swim in an "S" pattern back. The bass target that thing from yards away, waking on it. Then a huge boil and your line is moving off to the side. Reel down, set, and hold on! The great thing about using this lure...when you get hit on it, it's always a bass and usually big! The hook rate is surprising high with these baits. Bass instinctly attack the head and they attack these lures VERY aggressively. Your forearms will look like Popeye after a few days fishing those things, though.

When you quit winning tournaments on them...