piscicidal

Yeah, it's tough to pick one. Kind of like asking which is your favorite kid. The Dobyns DX745 is always with me, even when the other kids are sitting home in timeout...

I'm pretty sure the zoom finesse float. Take one and throw it in a bucket of water and find out.

pointers, poppers, flukes, senkos, shakey head, small traps, sq bills.

What bluebasser said.... If you're using Gammy EWG, make sure you're using the ones with the "superline" designation. The wire size is thicker on the "superline EWG" than the plain "EWG" for this very reason...to prevent bending the hooks when using heavy braid. Or use a sturdy straight shank hook...

Only one? Tough call, but I'd say a mid-sized worm. I'm going with the Zoom U-tail, primarily because it works so well on topwater. You can buzz it on top like a frog. You can T-rig/C-rig it down in the column. Clip the tail and deadstick it like a senko. You can flip/pitch it, if you had to.... Very versatile bait that can be used in different conditions.

Are you primarily fishing toads (moving) or soft-bodied frogs (i.e. spro bronzeeye)? Personally, I prefer ultralight/ultrafast action for the spro frogs (need to move line quickly on the hookset). I use the 7'6MH veritas for this fishing. The carbonlite and smoke rods seem well sutied for this fishing also. For the moving toads, I like a rod with a little softer tip for max casting distance but a solid backbone. I use a Dobyns 735C.

re: "I'll never top this!" 99.9% of the bass fishing population will never catch >500lbs of bass in one day (seems like a fair assumption, catching 300+ with several in the 6-7lb class). That is an amazing day. Congrats!

I'd be happy with TWO fish that weighed 13.55. Great catch!

Great story and fish! I was a smallmouth freak growing up in Minnesota and would kill for one day in the boat with Dwight. A whole week is a true blessing. Dwight, those poor Erie fish are counting the days until you return to good ol' South Florida!

Weightless, T-rigged. When I'm working a fluke, I try to work the bait as if I am trying to make it dart while keeping the bait in place. I'm not sure if that description makes sense, but the point is not to necessarily drag the fluke through the water. If done correctly, the bait will dart in random directions with only a slight amount of forward movement. I like to use a medium power/fast action rod, a small baitcast reel (Curado 50E) and very light braided line (#20 PP) for this kind of fishing. I think it's a little easier to get the desired action using a line that doesn't stretch.

BSJ, My "utility" setup is a Dobyns 735C with a Curado 200E7. Like a utility man in baseball...I can plug this guy into the lineup and he can play just about any position. I can (and do) use it for just about everything: paddletails, frogs, pitching plastics, spinnerbaits, jigs, C-rig, etc... As you mentioned, it's very useful to have a utility rod that can pull double-duty, especially when tournament fishing where you might only be able to bring 5 or 6 sticks.

Awesome Eric! That 804 sounds perfect for the kind of fishing we do. I wasn't in the market for a new rod, but that might have just changed!

We bombed. We had one spot that had decent fish but that storm the night before muddied up our water bad and blew our fish out. We were too far away for a plan "B". Live and learn. That's why guys like Bellits/Feller/Forsell/Sayler/etc... are "kings" of the glades, and I'm the court jester!

Jeremy, I fished Okeechobee yesterday...the fish definitely are in a post-spawn/pre-summer stage. You gotta move around a little bit to find the fish, but when you do find them you'll know it. I had about a 9lb bag at 1:00. By 2:30, I had a 26lb bag. I had a "Ish" moment there, yesterday, with back-to-back 5lbers flipping the 1oz jig. Caught seven fish between 1:30 and 2:30 and the smallest was 4lbs. here's the two biggest...5.70 and 5.85. Pictures are at odd angle...taken with a cell phone. Forgot my SD card for my camera, but you get the idea.

Awesome Shane! Keep wreckin em....

WMD...you are on Bassmaster.com's "Basscam" video from Friday. There's a video showing Andy Montgomery, Chris Lane and James Niggemeyer all working the same stretch of mats in the Monkey Box....

Fishing Cowgirl, Is this Casey Scanlon (see picture)? You said Scanlon was fishing from a Nitro and that it was a rental. Me/Robert (South Fla) were trying to figure out who this was...Thanks.

Nice...I caught a keeper redfish on a trip to Fort Pierce inlet Saturday with my brother (down visiting from Minnesota). We came really close to getting the Florida "Super Slam"...we caught redfish/trout. I broke off about a 32" snook, which I had on for a good 2-3 minutes before he finally got into the mangroves and cut my line. And my brother jumped about a 150lb tarpon...he was about six wraps from being completely spooled before the hook finally gave out.

Yeah, unfortunately, I don't have much on the alley, either. Like you said, though...12pounds probably cashes a check. Someone's gonna do it...so I'm gonna try like heck for it to be me. Good luck to you, Bruce. If you're on any kind of fish then no doubt you're in good shape compared to most the field.

Me and Jack are fishing it. Probably wouldn't have if we had bombed the Okeechobee tourney, but we did pretty good and are currently tied for 10th place in overall standings. If the classic were held today we'd be in. I'm not optimistic going into this qualifier, though. I haven't caught a bass south of Alligator Alley in six months...

Alot of heavy grass in South Florida.... Eel grass, I like using keel-weighted, paddle tail swim baits (skinny dippers/big ez). Thise baits 'swim" though the eel grass in a way that can't be beat. For kissimmee grass, I like paddletails and spinner baits. The spinner bait deflects off stalks and can elicit a reaction strike from fish that do not want to chase a paddletail. Submerged grass, I like ripping rattle traps. For emergent grass (sawgrass/reeds), I like pitching jig/craws. Heavier grass= 3/4-1oz jigs and/or flipping beavers/otter with 1oz weight. Of course topwater frogs (buzzing toads or soft-bodied "spro" type frogs) in all grass, if the conditions are there for top water....

Virtually every fish I have caught 7lbs or over has come on a topwater frog, weedless swimbait/paddletail, or by flipping heavy cover (1.5oz weight with beaver/otter/cricket). Then again, those three baits just happen to be the most effective way to fish the South Florida slop.... I agree that whichever bait offers the most efficient way to present a bait- at the location that the big fish happen to live- is the "best big fish bait" for that situation.

I got two Chronarchs and two St Croix Avids. Total about $500, I guess. Really nice deals on the Chronarchs after the Shimano and BPS bonus bucks rebates. I went in with an arm full of old rods, intent on going hawg wild with the rod trade in. But I showed some restraint. The bait monkey was not pleased.

I'm very partial to the Spro Little John MD. Runs about 8feet deep with 12lb mono.

Sounds like you've got some pre-spawn females staged up off the spawning grounds. Forget those shallow fish. Don't fight the bite...go back out to the ledge and jig up some hawgs!