piscicidal

Randall Tharp and Brandan McMillian own "The Lake". Those two guys are machines out there. It was awesome to see Roland Martin weigh in 26lbs...he was the leader for about 20 minutes yesterday. Wind is down today...I expect some good bags coming in.

Yeah...and some of them are fish!

Not to discourage you, but I couldn't imagine a worse time to come here. The FLW is underway, so I imagine local accomodations are pretty much out of the question. And with 20-30 MPH north winds and ~300 tournament anglers, the fishing is not going ot be the most pleasant, either.

I think MN should have some kind of honorable mention for smallmouth. I lived in Minnesota the first 25 years of my life, living on the upper Mississippi just north of St Cloud. I caught more +5lb smallmouth before the age of 15, than I have +5lb LMB today. And Lake Mille Lacs is just ridiculous. We've had days with 15-20 fish over five lbs. We physically got worn out catching them....

Kevin, I think there were 43 boats, same as last week. Winner weighed ~16lbs. 16 seems like 60 out there right now. Me/Jack (shallow thinker) fished it again. Same as last month for us...two bites all day. Last month, we got two of them. This time we got one (dropped a 2.5lb off by the boat). The pathetic part?? I think we're still in the top ~15 or so in overall standings?? I believe four boats ended up in double digits. A bunch of zeros, again. Four of the top five were in the flats...no surprise there, I guess, with the water levels. If I had a clue where the fish are in those flats, I think we would have tried it. The little bit of time I've spent in there the last couple months (~10hours), I haven't seen a fish...not a bass, sunfish, gar, baitfish, frog, nothing... I have friends that know those those flats alot better than me and they're getting blanked, also. Thank God, the March qualifier is at the Lake. It will be nice to catch some fish for a change....

If I was shorebound and mostly concerned with bass fishing, I would look at the Haines City/Cypress Gardens area in Central Florida. I was there recently with my family (legoland) and was shocked at the number of lakes in that area- most of which seem to have shore access. Central Florida is much more conducive to double digit bass than South Florida.

That's what I'm talking about...let me know when they arrive and we'll go break those bad boys in.

Way to go, Dwight. Nice to see you out there and I'm glad you caught em up. I've been on the other end of a "spro schooling" by Robert and a "rocket ride" by Justin, myself, so I know exactly where you're coming from...

i caught a fish on the lake yesterday with eggs dripping out of her, so there is at least some spawning activity on Okeechobee. Saw a few beds that looked pretty clean also, but were empty.

You didn't catch any snakeheads at Lox did you??? My golf course ponds have become infested with snakeheads and they are huge...I've caught two over 37". I don't throw spinnerbaits in there anymore as the snakeheads will destroy a spinnerbait. They spin like an alligator doing a death roll and just mangle up the wire. Cheapest way to fish them is just buzz a topwater plastic frog on an big EWG hook.

I could fasten a swim bait to an A-rig to make it just as hard (or harder) to come off as a plastic coming off a hook. I have plastics being pulled off hooks all the time by bass. Should BASS outlaw soft plastics as a result? Of course the answer is no... That's not the issue here...No one is arguing against the A-rig on the basis of fish mortality. If so, I could make a much stronger case against multiple treble hook lures such as spooks.

I believe that the recent warming trend has promoted some spawning activity. Pre and post spawn females are being caught, right now. Sight fishing for spawning females has produced some big fish lately also...I think Bobby Lane won on Kissimmee last week catching two 10+ off of beds. My partner Jack (shallow thinker) caught this beauty in the gambler tournament Saturday (7.22lbs). I think this was a post-spawn fish. We were targeting pre/post spawn bass all day.

Eric, You and I are pretty much on the same page when it comes to anything fishing. We fish the same waters, so my very humble advice to you is it seems you are a little underpowered... Fat G made a great suggestion with the 735. That is the perfect South Florida rod for moving baits, IMO... I love it. CB704 versus 705, I say definately 705. The 704 is a bit too soft for what we do, IMO. You should also consider the 805C. I broke a rod tip on mine and fished a tourney on Okeechobee, yesterday. I felt naked without that rod. I missed it even more after watching my partner Jack wrestle a 7.22 bass out of seriously nasty slop using his 805C. I also have the 766 FLIP, but the 805C is awesome... Good luck with your purchases, Eric. I know how hard you've been working and how much fishing you've missed as a result. Treat yourself...you deserve it.

Hey I know that spot.... . Nice work Shane. I would LOVE to be out there this morning. 73 degree for low last night, partially overcast and light wind...I'll bet the frog bite is off the hook right now.

That's the comment I made before on this thread...I wonder what BASS would say about a six-bladed spinnerbait? Because the way I see it, there is no functional difference between a six-bladed spinnerbait and an A-rig with five "decoys" and one center bait with a hook. Unless BASS is going to start legislating what the distance between blades on a spinnerbait can be...

Consider yourself lucky. Usually when a girl is checking me out, she's the one laughing...

I'm going to say Clewiston, FL. What other city has a jumping bass hung up on every streetlight as its Christmas decoration?

Too bad they didn't talk to you first, Steve. You could have told em where the big ones were biting...

I bought a bunch of stuff Friday... LC Cranks and Sebile Magic Swimmers: $5. Koppers frogs: $4. Mirrolure top water spook-type bait: $1 (snook/redfish). Smoking roosters/space monkeys: ~$1. Spent ~$50 on ~$200 worth of stuff. I bought every Lucky Craft and Sebile hard bait they had on clearance. Note: not all the $xx.97 clearance baits had the red tags. Look around you might find a deal you were not expecting.

Personally, I don't think the A-rig provides that much of a competitive advantage that it merits banning. I also don't think that trolling or landing nets provide a big advantage either, but BASS chose to ban those as well. Bottom line, I don't think the decision is about competitive advantage. I think it is about trying to maintain an image of professionalism. The committee was probably concerned about the rapid proliferation of the rig and where it ultimately might end up. Trying to avoid the image of their best professional anglers launching clothesline-pole-looking monstrosities with 12 baits hanging off of it. Same way they don't want the image of their anglers scooping up bass with 8foot wide landing nets. Is the use of landing nets in any way non-sporting? I dont think so..... I wonder what BASS would say to throwing a six-bladed spinnerbait?

Six three pounders is a pretty good day, given the tough conditions. A 15lb bag would have been top-25 at the BFL Saturday. Okeechobee can be tough...yeah, there's a ton of fish but there's also a ton of water.

Yesterday was not that great, although by the time I started fishing the front had already moved in. Strong, cold north winds and bluebird skies made fishing pretty tough. I think the morning bite might have been pretty good, warmer, overcast and slight winds. I did find some fish and like you, Robert, they were staging...I had my best luck WAY off the weedlines (300-400 yards). Was pretty much by myself out there most of the day, although by the time I left there were about six boats with me (some BFL guys doing the old "bent rod" scouting technique). I missed a lot of bites yesterday...they were short-biting the baits. There were so many floating weeds in the area, about the only thing that wouldn't get fouled up every cast was a skinny dipper (anyone have a good idea for adding a trailer to a paddletail, that doesn't get fouled up?). Even with the dipper, we were fouled up every other cast. I think we had a pretty good area...even with the fouled baits, short bites we managed about 12lb bag in ~3hours. We both lost one big fish also. I would guess that some of those BFL guys would take that today...I think it's going to be tough out there. I fished a couple shallow flats/spawning areas up around the shoal and on the south end and did nothing in there. I was fishing with my dad so we were a little bit limited in the type of fishing we could do. I didn't flip at all.

KVD's "Secrets of a Champion" has probably been the most beneficial toward improving my bass fishing. The attention to detail that he puts toward his spinnerbait/crankbait/etc. techniques really struck home with me. I've since become more detail-oriented, and I think I've become a better bass fisherman as a result.

I was at Okeechobee a week ago Saturday. The water temp was 63, with air temp about 48 in the AM. The ONLY way I could catch fish in the morning was punching mats. Later when the water warmed up, I started catching them with moving baits. To answer your question, I think 63 degree water temp is definitely cold enough for these (wimpy) South Florida bass to bury under those mats. Especially, if a drop in temperature preceded it.

If you watch Denny Brauer's jig fishing video on this site, there's a part where he responds to a question about what a jig bite feels like. Denny's response..."I don't know". This is from a guy who has caught more fish on a jig than just about any person on the planet. He says if it feels "different" he swings.